Last Saturday, when Stone Temple Pilots took the stage in Irvine California, just about everyone in attendance (and thousands watching online) were surprised to see that the band had a new singer: Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington. Reactions were mixed, but there was one negative opinion which you could certainly count on soon enough – that of former singer Scott Weiland.
In a recent post on his Facebook page, Weiland went on to criticize the decision to continue the band as Stone Temple Pilots without him, and even claimed that his former bandmates have no legal right to do so. Read his full statement below:
“A letter to my fans,
Like everybody else out there, I read about my band, Stone Temple Pilots, and their recent performance this past weekend with a new singer. To tell you the truth, it took me by surprise. And it hurt.
But the band that played last weekend was not Stone Temple Pilots and it was wrong of them to present themselves as that. First of all they don’t have the legal right to call themselves STP because I’m still a member of the band. And more importantly, they don’t have the ethical right to call themselves Stone Temple Pilots because it’s misleading and dishonest to the millions of fans that have followed us for so many years.
When I tour on my own, it’s never as Stone Temple Pilots. It’s as Scott Weiland. The fans deserve to know what they’re getting. Like any band that’s stood the test of time and made music for more than two decades, STP had a special alchemy – the four of us together were greater than any one of us apart. So if my former bandmates want to tour with a new singer, that’s their prerogative.
I don’t give a fuck what they call themselves, but it’s not Stone Temple Pilots.
And so I say to you, our fans, I’ll see you out there on the road this summer where I’m touring as ‘Scott Weiland’ with my band The Wildabouts. But don’t give up on STP. I know I haven’t.”
Regardless of whether or not people are in approval of Bennington as a vocalist, it’s easy to see where Weiland is coming from. But still, one look at the setlists for his solo shows and it’s clear that he’s playing mostly Stone Temple Pilots songs anyway – songs that he wrote the lyrics, but not the music to -, making it hard to fully agree with him here.
