STP considered name change says Chester

Chester Bennington says he talked Stone Temple Pilots out of changing their name when he replaced Scott Weiland.

The Linkin Park frontman took over from the sacked Weiland in 2013 and admits that there was some concern over whether continuing to go by STP was the right thing to do.

But he felt that because so many of the people who created the band’s legacy were still onboard, they should resist the temptation to rebrand.

Bennington tells A-sides (via Blabbermouth): “We did talk about maybe changing the name of the band, and just doing something new. Honestly, my thing was like, ‘Why give up what you guys have worked so hard on? This is your legacy, you don’t have to give it up just because one person didn’t do things the way that everybody wanted them to go, didn’t do things everybody planned. We should be able to move forward.’

“I mean, where is the music coming from in the first place? There’s no question when you hear the new music that it’s Stone Temple Pilots, because it’s coming from the guys who write the music. It’s coming from the source. So, when the source is there, then it’s still pure.”

Last month, Bennington said Weiland had departed the STP job long before he was officially fired. He said: “For me, it wasn’t inserting myself in someone’s shoes. I felt that position had been vacant for a long time. Even though Scott was there, honestly, I don’t think he had ‘been there.’”

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.