STONE TEMPLE PILOTS Bassist On Split With WEILAND: 'Over Time, It Wasn't Really About The Music Anymore'

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS bassist Robert DeLeo recently spoke to Bill Bodkin of Pop-Break.com about the band's decision to fire its former lead singer, Scott Weiland, and join forces with LINKIN PARK's Chester Bennington.

"When you're a band that's had a career like we've had and you're considering terminating your singer, people kinda react to that like 'riiiiight' [because] I think with any band that's the person [the lead singer] people relate to the band," he said.

"I felt that over time, it wasn't really about the music anymore. It was, for live purposes, the novelty of what condition Scott was going to be in. It gets very frustrating to have to be in that position with someone over that amount of years."

He continued: "Chester was really the only person we thought of having come in. He was a fan of STP and when we talked to him his full idea was 'If we're going to do this, I want to do this honoring the past but moving forward in a direction with contributing something valid to music.' That's where we really agreed in the utmost — having that sentiment of moving forward.

"There's a lot of songs that I'm really anxious to play, especially with someone who can sing those songs and perform those songs the way they were written.

"We're right in the midst of getting a five-song EP together. We have 'Out Of Time', which is currently out there as a single and we have another song called 'Tomorrow', which was recorded when we did 'Out Of Time'. We're looking to release that EP in October and that's really exciting because we're moving forward and we're creating new music that we're all really proud of."

Asked if there was a backlash from the STP fan base because of Chester's involvement, Robert said: "I think there was going to be. How many have people have terminated their singer and wanted to terminate their singer? [laughs]

"Look, man, anyone can go online and be what they call a 'hater' or have an opinion and that goes in many different directions. We're just really trying to do something that feels good and not only honors the catalog of what we have but moving forward musically.

"Looking at the last 10 years of STP, not much has gotten done and that's very, very frustrating to live with. I don't want the next 10 years of life to be like that. I want the next 10 years to be great and we contribute or at least try to contribute really valid music. It's really what I got into this for — to write the best songs I can write."

Robert was also full of praise for his new bandmate, telling Pop-Break.com, "Chester is an amazing human being.

"Coming in, we knew we wanted to do this right and sing our songs the way they were supposed to be sung and move forward as a band.

"LINKIN PARK will always be his first priority and we respect that.

"The guys in LINKIN PARK have been amazing with all this.

"Everyone likes to be surrounded by amazing people. We have a great management team, everyone's excited and working hard. We've got a lot of work to do.

"There's people out there that really don't like the fact Scott isn't in the band. We have to go out there and prove ourselves. Our goal is to play the best set of songs we can play and really make that count."