Chester Bennington revealed in a new interview with A-Sides that the band considered changing its name after it dismissed original singer Scott Weiland and began working with Bennington in early
2013.
"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."
Bennington continued, "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. Why? 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."
Bassist Robert DeLeo told The Pulse Of Radio not long ago that keeping STP going after changing frontmen was never in question. "From the beginning, it wasn't 'Hey, let's together
and write a song' or 'Hey, let's get together and do this show.' It was 'Hey, let's get together and continue STONE TEMPLE PILOTS with a lot of integrity,'" he said. "That's
really what the intent was. It's something that Eric [Kretz, drummer] and Dean [DeLeo, guitar] and myself have worked at for a long time, and we've been trying to
hold up the whole integrity of this band for a long time."
STONE TEMPLE PILOTS' next round of tour dates will begin on September 15 in Cleveland.