Scott Weiland Sues Stone Temple Pilots, Seeking $7 Million in Damages
Nearly two weeks after the remaining members of the band Stone Temple Pilots filed a lawsuit against former singer Scott Weiland, the latter filed a countersuit against his former band.
Billboard reported Monday that Weiland is seeking $7 million in damages from his fellow co-founders, brothers Dean and Robert DeLeo and Eric Kretz. He asked a judge to formally dissolve the band's partnership and prevent them from using the name in the future.
Weiland has allegedly accused the other band members orchestrating his ouster from Stone Temple Pilots.
"How do you expel a man from the band that he started, named, sang lead on every song, wrote the lyrics, and was the face of for twenty years?" said Weiland, according to TMZ.
The band's lawsuit, filed on May 24, alleged Weiland of "violating his duties" as a singer and using the band name to promote his solo career.
"Without relief from the court," the lawsuit stated, "Weiland will continue violating STP's rights, misappropriating STP assets and interfering with the band's livelihood."
Weiland soon after asserted that continuing under the STP name was both illegal and unethical, "because it's misleading and dishonest to the millions of fans that have followed us for so many years."
Entertainment Weekly compared this new situation to one Weiland was tangentially related to in the mid-2000s.
A protracted legal arguement between members of Guns N' Roses' resulted in lead singer Axl Rose holding on to the name of the band. Former members Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum formed the band Velvet Revolver with Weiland as its lead singer, after STP's 2002 breakup. The band released two albums - 2004's Contraband and 2007's Libertad - before Weiland left the band in 2008 to return to performing with Stone Temple Pilots.
Stone Temple Pilots previously weathered a temporary hiatus in the late 1990s. After the 1996 release of their third album, Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop, the other members released an album with singer Dave Coutts under the band name Talk Show. Weiland spent time dealing with personal issues relating to drug addiction and legal issues, and also released the 1998 solo album 12 Bar Blues.
Kretz and the DeLeo brothers announced that Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington would be the new singer of Stone Temple Pilots, and the band put out the new song Out Of Time.
Weiland is currently embarking on a solo tour, playing the entirety of the first two Stone Temple Pilots albums, Core and Purple.
