The Stone Temple Pilots announced today on their website in a single sentence press release that they have fired their lead singer. The press release read: “Stone Temple Pilots have announced they have officially terminated Scott Weiland.”
The news broke after Weiland denied rumors yesterday that he was no longer a member of the band. “STP has not broken up,” Weiland told Rolling Stone. “I haven’t quit. I haven’t been fired.”
He did mention that “there were some hurt egos,” to Rolling Stone. “But that’s the way it is. No one has ever fired anybody in STP. We’re like a family. It’s also a partnership. I started the band. We’ve always kept things going. We’ve taken time off before. They’ve done their own projects and I fully support that. No one has been fired and I haven’t quit. That’s all hearsay.”
The story of Weiland’s possible departure all stems from an announcement by Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash on Minneapolis/St. Paul radio station 93X last December that Weiland had been “fired from STP.” According to the band’s website, it now seems that the rumors are true.
Weiland reunited with STP in 2008 after the group took a five year hiatus. The band would go on to release a self-titled album in 2010, their first in nine years, and would tour extensively throughout the world. STP even released their first concert film, Alive in the Windy City, on DVD and Blu-ray in 2011.
Now the future of STP is uncertain. Scott Weiland is kicking off his solo tour Purple at the Core on Friday and the band has yet to release any more details on the split.
Will Weiland remain touring solo? Does this mean there is new music from Velvet Revolver on the way? Who is going to become the new lead singer of STP?
All of these questions remain to be unanswered at this time.
