The Stone Temple Pilots Are Suing Their Ex-Frontman Scott Weiland
Victim or Villain?
Being in a band is complicated sometimes, it’s a little bit like being married to different people at the same time, and things can become heavy and nasty. I thought that the Stone Temple Pilots were done with Scott Weiland but they are now suing him! Why? Because they claim he has been misusing the band’s name to promote his solo career.
The band is accusing their ex-frontman of ‘hijacking its name and songs to promote his solo career’. They even claim that Weiland’s lawyer called Los Angeles popular radio KROQ to tell them that they would infringe Scott Weiland’s rights if they ever play the band’s new single ‘Out of Time’.
They filled the lawsuit in Los Angeles on Friday, and they are also accusing Weiland of being chronically late to concerts, of interacting with band mates only through lawyers or managers, and overall they are blaming his drug addiction for his poor performances. The lawsuit also states that ‘the band endured much strife and lost significant opportunities because of Weiland’.
Weiland responded by posting a message on his facebook page:
‘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.
~ Scott’
The rest of the band disagrees of course, they think they own the rights of the name Stone Temple Pilots, of the music, and overall they have had enough of him! They want a judge to block him from even calling him a former member of STP.
Scott Weiland was fired from the band back in February and was recently replaced by Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington at this year’s KROQ Weenie Roast. All this is exactly like a bad divorce when both parties are claiming the rights of the children, and it’s gonna be even nastier. One thing is certain, STP will never be the same.
