Chester Bennington and Stone Temple Pilots are parting ways for him to return to Linkin Park. In a lengthy statement, Bennington explained that it was a wonderful two years, and the split was a mutual decision.
After two and a half years of being the frontman of the rock band Stone Temple Pilots, Chester Bennington has announced that he is leaving to return to his former group, Linkin Park.
In 2013, Mr. Bennington, the former lead vocalist of Dead by Sunrise and live rock cover band Bucket of Weenies replaced Scott Weiland, who was feuding with his bandmates – by the looks of things, he is still fighting with them. During their time together, Bennington and STP released an EP entitled High Rise and performed countless concerts.
In lengthy statements, Bennington praised and thanked STP members – Robert DeLeo, Dean DeLeo and Eric Kretz – and vice versa. All the artists made it clear that they decided to end their collaboration in an amicable way. Bennington said one of the main reason he is leaving is to focus on his family and added:
“The last few years have been an amazing experience.I got to create and perform with one of the greatest rock bands of our generation, that had so much influence on me growing up. With the amount of time STP deserves, in addition to being in Linkin Park, and with the needs of my family, one of them always seems to fall short.
The singer gave fans hope by explaining that he will dedicate himself to Linkin Park to finally release the follow-up to their The Hunting Party album, which came out in 2014. He stated:
“Going into this, the four of us … Robert, Eric, Dean and myself knew what we were up against. We decided in due fairness to friends, fans and the legacy of STP that it needs more than time was allowing me. And in all fairness to my bandmates in Linkin Park, as well as to myself and to my family, I’m going to focus solely on Linkin Park so I can contribute 100 percent. It’s been an amazing experience and a dream come true, and I look forward to the future of both STP and Linkin Park.”
In a separate statement, the Stone Temple Pilots members said they were fortunate to work with Bennington. The men revealed:
“What an amazing and beautiful few years we’ve all had together. It was our honor to play and see all of you recently on tour. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time together with Chester not only professionally, but even more so on a personal level. Sadly, it was evident that scheduling and time was working against us. Within this, there is a new beginning. There is an abundance of new music written, some of which is already recorded. We have had the fortune of playing with some very talented singers over the last few months and will continue to do so until each of us feels and knows when the right person arrives.”
The group is hard at work to release new music soon. Stone Temple Pilots performed with Joss Stone Monday night on the Jimmy Kimmel show (see video below) – many, who were not aware of the split, took to social media to ask: “Where is Chester?” Weiland slammed Bennington’s departure by saying:
“[Chester’s] got a band where he gets paid $700,000 a night with, and with STP, the brand is kind of falling apart, which is a shame.”
What are your thoughts on Chester Bennington’s move?
