Dean DeLeo and Eric Kretz of Stone Temple Pilots recently called in on-air to speak with WAAF-FM’s host Mistress Carrie of Boston, and delivered great news all around for their band, including an update on Chester Bennington’s recovery from his surgery earlier this month.
Credited as the lead vocalist to both Linkin Park and Stone Temple Pilots, Bennington suffered an injury to his ankle just a few shows into Linkin Park’s winter tour this past January, leading to the rest of the dates being cancelled. “He hurt himself badly,” DeLeo explained, “It was not only a break- the guy tore darn near every ligament in his ankle. They had to go in on each side.
“He has about a five-inch incision on each side. They had to go in and assemble a big bowl of spaghetti.”
DeLeo reassured, however, that Bennington is healing rather quickly, adding that “[Chester’s] just in that mindset and physicality where he wills his body to do that.”
The unexpected break in Linkin Park’s extensive touring has allowed Stone Temple Pilots’ original members to work more with Bennington, whose début EP as lead vocalist (High Rise) was released late 2013 after a small tour with the band in September of that year. The decision to replace original vocalist Scott Weiland with Chester Bennington, was revealed via a surprise live performance earlier in 2013 with the chart-topping single “Out of Time” being released the same night of the performance. Since then, only a few updates on new STP material has come, with Bennington’s priority Linkin Park releasing their sixth studio album The Hunting Party in June of 2014.
While fans await Linkin Park’s return to the stage in May for US and Canadian festivals, Bennington has began writing and recording with Stone Temple Pilots with a spring tour announced for April.
When asked of the new music, DeLeo remarked- “it just kind of sounds like us, you know? I’d like to think it’s not anything we’ve done before, we definitely don’t want to repeat ourselves.”
DeLeo goes on to add, “we want to make sure it has those elements where we’re excited not to just present a great song but something that has great performances on all our parts.”
Carrie questioned whether the writing process and style change with a new vocalist, both agreeing that it didn’t, “everybody just comes into a session with lots of material on their hands, and it’s just a matter of sifting through it.
“Sometimes a song will stand on its own, sometimes I’ll walk in with one or two parts of a song and Robert will say ‘I got another part for that!'”
They say there are no rules, as long as that product puts a ‘tingle in the knickers.’
Stone Temple Pilots have also embraced Linkin Park’s passion to support clean energy and fight climate change, Carrie noting $1 of each ticket will be donated to Music for Relief, Linkin Park’s nonprofit organization to aid natural disaster victims and relief.
You can listen to the entire interview HERE.