Chester Bennington, Linkin Park Frontman, Named New Stone Temple Pilots Singer [VIDEO]
Stone Temple Pilots have added Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington to their line-up, months after sacking long-time singer Scott Weiland.
Bennington and the band played a surprise set at L.A. rock radio station KROQ's annual Weenie Roast concert, performing STP classics like Vasoline and Sex Type Thing.
The group also debuted a collaboration performed with Bennington called Out Of Time, the band's first new output since their 2010 self-titled album. The song was played on the station soon after and a recorded version of Out Of Time has since been released as a free download.
In February, bassist Robert DeLeo and drummer Eric Kretz released a statement saying that Stone Temple Pilots had parted ways with Scott Weiland; shortly afterwards, the singer embarked on a solo tour.
Bennington said he was a fan of STP growing up and that their songs have always had a great influence on him. He added that his Linkin Park bandmates have fully supported his newest endeavor.
"When the opportunity came up to do something creative with them," Bennington said, "I jumped at the chance."
STP guitarist Dean DeLeo is hopeful for the band's future with their newest addition, though he did not specify any plans for other new releases or a tour.
"Chester has a one-of-a-kind voice that we've admired for a long time," wrote De Leo in a press statement. "We know Linkin Park will always be his priority, but we thought it would be cool to try something together. We managed to find the time to record a song and we're all really happy with the result."
The band and their new singer will play another show in Los Angeles at the end of May. However, some fans aren't yet sold on the new group.
Twitter comments about the band's new move included assertions that Weiland was "irreplaceable," "#STP will never be the same," and simply "Chester Bennington new Stone Temple Pilots vocalist? thanks but no thanks!"
One Twitter user even feared for the fate of both bands, in a tweet addressed to Linkin Park vocalist Mike Shinoda: "Is Linkin Park done? Chester W/ STP? Scott Weiland killed two bird with one stone."
Still other fans were more optimistic: "I heard STP featuring Chester Bennington of Linkin Park on vocals instead of Scott Weiland. I'm okay with this. It rocked. " said one tweet.
Weiland has not yet reacted to the news about the new STP line-up, however, his Twitter account still lists him as @ScottWeilandSTP.
Check out the new song Out Of Time here.
