Scott Weiland, left, doing his best Robert Palmer impersonation; Chester Bennington, right, doing his best Scott Weiland impersonation. Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images; Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Despite the bad blood between former Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland and his former bandmates, who fired Weiland from STP this past winter and then sued him (followed by a counter-suit by Weiland), the original vocalist says he has nothing against his replacement, Chester Bennington.
“I don’t think Chester did it in a spiteful way,” Weiland told Billboard, adding that the two singers became friends when their bands toured together on the 2001 Family Values Tour. “The brothers DeLeo can be pretty persuasive…I guess nothing is totally shocking.”
However, regarding the DeLeos, he stated, “I don’t think it was smart for them to [hire Bennington]…I’m surprised they did what they did without checking the legality of it, how they just decided to go and use the [STP] name and go and hire another singer and start playing shows with a name that I still am an owner of.” (via RS)