Members of Stone Temple Pilots and their current frontman Chester Bennington (of Linkin Park) spoke a bit more about their firing of former band vocalist Scott Weiland with Rollingstone.com. That ousting has of course led to numerous legal battles in regards to the bands trademarks.
The groups bassist Robert DeLeo said of the situation:
“It was a very difficult decision to terminate the face of your band. There are many paths to the history of certain bands and each one is a little different, but it all kind of turns out the same at the end. But it was a very difficult decision to do that.
That’s as big as it gets. But we really didn’t have any other choice. I don’t want to get too into that right now because of legal things, but Dean, Eric and I have been saddled by someone for a long time.
We’ve always looked out for Scott‘s best interests and tried to be a great friend to someone who really didn’t care to be friends with us . . . And I don’t think we had any other choice. We knew that was what we wanted before we thought about getting another singer. I think Scott‘s made it very clear, his path and his decisions on what he’s done with or to this band.
So when you’re in that situation, Dean, Eric and myself would rather move ahead. I want to have fucking fun, man, making music. I have the complete luxury of making music for a living. If I’m around people that don’t fucking get that, then I want to be around people who get that.”
Bennington added:
“I really respect the decision these guys have made. I also understand how incredibly difficult having that conversation would be. At the same time, it isn’t a surprise. Everybody who knows the band understands why decisions have been made. This is something I don’t necessarily need – I have a great career with a great bunch of guys who I love deeply, and we make awesome music together. There’s no need for me to do this, but at the same time I do realize this is their life.
This is how they’re gonna pay their bills and put their kids through college, this is how they’re gonna want to spend the rest of their lives. So by saying yes to that means I’m 100 percent in as well.
I didn’t want to dick around with these guys and their future and put a year of time and work on something to go, “I don’t know if I really want to tour on my downtime.” You can’t do that, so for me I need to make sure that I’m honoring everybody that’s involved.”
DeLeo followed up with:
“I had the complete gift, and so did Dean and Eric, of writing music with Scott, and I cherished that for as long as I could. I think now it’s time to embrace this and cherish this. I feel very humbled by the fact the guys in Linkin Park are cool with this. All these guys are great dudes. It’s not about music – it’s about the humanity of it. They’re the kind of human beings you want to be around at this point in life.”
The Stone Temple Pilots will be releasing a new EP with Bennington titled “High Rise” on October 08th.
