I've been lurking on this board forever and I've chimed in from time to time, but never been very active in the topics on here but I have to speak out on how I feel about the current state of things.
I don't like it at all.
First of all, I respect and understand the DeLeos and Eric's decision to move on without Weiland. By all accounts he has lost his gifts to a great extent and to be completely honest he hasn't been able to perform these songs very well for quite some time although his immense talent allowed him to compensate admirably. He has constantly and consistently derailed their careers.
In 1992, at the age of 12, I was handed a pair of earphones by a friend of mine and the first sounds I heard were, "I am smelling like a rose...." I was hooked. From that day on Stone Temple Pilots were my favorite band and I wanted to be a rock star. STP are the reason I auditioned for my first band, and when I f**king owned 'Plush' for my audition, STP were the reason I landed my first gig as a front man. When that fell apart and I went away to school and moved away, STP were the reason I gave it another try when I read an ad for a guitarist seeking a vocalist and songwriting partner with an STP influence.
Plain and simple Chester Bennington is not the person for this. My trained ears cannot stand the sound of it. He has to TRY to emulate Scott's voice and it doesn't come off as natural at all... Its NOT about sounding just like Scott it is about singing the songs and sounding natural doing it.
I sound better singing these songs and if I do I KNOW they could find someone in all of Southern California who can...
Sorry to rant and I don't know you guys but I had to get that off of my chest to people who I know care about this band as much as I do... I've been listening to a lot of STP lately kind of like you look at pictures of relatives lost long ago...