Not surprisingly, Scott Weiland is none too pleased that his former Stone Temple Pilots band mates replaced him with Linkin Park”s Chester Bennington at a performance at the KROQ”s 21st annual Weenie Roast multi-artist concert in Irvine, Calif. last weekend.
But if he”s mad, the remaining members of Stone Temple Pilots are really angry. They filed a lawsuit on Friday in Los Angeles, demanding that Weiland stop using the name Stone Temple Pilots or, more dramatically, sing STP songs.
The lawsuit alleges that Weiland communicated with his former bandmates only through intermediaries and was chronically late. His alleged ongoing substance abuse issues caused the band financial harm, according to the Associated Press (h/t Billboard). Furthermore, the suit claims that Weiland has strong-armed radio not to play “Out of Time,” the new single with Bennington as singer.
Weiland”s Facebook statement doesn”t address the lawsuit directly, but stresses that the remaining members also have no right to use the name. Below is his statement in full.
“A letter to my fans,
Like everybody else out there, I read about my band, Stone Temple Pilots, and their recent performance this past weekend with a new singer. To tell you the truth, it took me by surprise. And it hurt.
But the band that played last weekend was not Stone Temple Pilots and it was wrong of them to present themselves as that. First of all they don”t have the legal right to call themselves STP because I”m still a member of the band. 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.
When I tour on my own, it”s never as Stone Temple Pilots. It”s as Scott Weiland. The fans deserve to know what they”re getting. Like any band that”s stood the test of time and made music for more than two decades, STP had a special alchemy – the four of us together were greater than any one of us apart. So if my former bandmates want to tour with a new singer, that”s their prerogative.
I don”t give a fuck what they call themselves, but it”s not Stone Temple Pilots. ?And so I say to you, our fans, I”ll see you out there on the road this summer where I”m touring as ‘Scott Weiland” with my band The Wildabouts. But don”t give up on STP. I know I haven”t.”