When I heard that Stone Temple Pilots (STP) joined forces with Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington, I couldn’t see the fit. Bennington has his own style and Scott Weiland is an awesome showman with a loyal STP fan base.
I listened to STP in the 90s and they are one of my grunge era favorites. I loved the album Core and the song Creep was one of my favorite music videos of that time.
Weiland has known issues with drugs and I hope he can one day overcome his addictions.
He is a great songwriter and showman.
This merger thing with STP gives me mixed feelings since Bennington is a good singer and I like Linkin Park.
However, I don’t agree with Bennington getting added to the STP name.
If your going to collaborate with someone new do not confuse or piss off your fan base, simply change your band name, after all it is a new project and sound.
The new STP five track EP titled High Rise will be released on October 8.
I did check out the new songs from STP’s official website. The track “Out of Time” is ok but I didn’t like the collaboration enough to download anything.
Weiland left STP before over tensions between the band and joined supergroup Velvet Revolver before reconciling back with STP in 2008.
According to an article from Los Angeles Times, the turmoil between Weiland and the rest of the band caused them to terminate him as their frontman back in February.
Weiland responded with:
“Not sure how I can be ‘terminated’ from a band that I founded, fronted and co-wrote many of its biggest hits, but that’s something for the lawyers to figure out.”
He further stated in the article:
“First of all they don’t have the legal right to call themselves STP because I’m still a member of the band,” he wrote on his website. “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.”
I am on Weiland’s side in that his former band mates are acting hasty and should walk away from the name, especially since they are writing new music with Bennington!
Weiland on the other hand is doing a Purple to the Core tour which is covering the music from STP’s best albums Purple and Core but he is performing under his solo project Scott Weiland & The Wildabouts.
You can check out the latest tour dates from Weiland’s site, www.scottweiland.com.
I have always raved that STP is one of the best concerts I have ever attended.
Weiland is an impressive frontman who is pretty tough to match. He has that quality about him where your eyes follow his every move and your waiting to see what he will do next.
I have seen STP twice in concert and the first time was in the summer of 1999.
I will never forget the first show which was for the No. 4 album.
Weiland come out shirtless in black pants doing his slither dance, at one point he came out draped only in the american flag which he dropped (on purpose) and then streaked off the stage. He interacted a lot with the fans and he even ran over to fans seated in the nosebleed section and performed a couple of songs.
They performed everything from the No 4. album and they also did all of their hits, Sex Type Thing, Vaseline, Plush, and Interstate Love Song.
I thought it was cool that they still played all of their hits. Usually a band will perform new material and then do a couple hits but STP truly performs for their fans and we love every minute of it!
I still like Linkin Park and Stone Temple Pilots separately but I wish both sides the best of luck.
I also hope the turmoil clears between Weiland and his former band mates.
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Music Reportage 