Confirmed: Chester has quit Stone Temple Pilots

[Broman]

The thing that pisses me the fuck off the most about all of this is the lack of people understanding WHY Chester left STP. He has 6 kids, a wife. He is in Linkin Park, one of the biggest bands in the world. Why the fuck would they have to ''slow down'' for one of many Chester's side projects??? They didn't slow down when he was doing DBS. They didn't slow down when he was doing BOW. They didn't slow down when he was doing shit with Camp Freddy. They didn't slow down when Grey Daze wanted to do a reunion show. Chester said from the get go in 2013 that he will never leave LP and LP will always come first because it's the most important thing to him in his life besides his family. Obviously he wanted to leave STP, or he wouldn't have done it. He wasn't forced. He made the call and every single person here should respect that from him. STP was cool, yes, but it wasn't ''better'' than LP. Not even sure why people have to compare in the first place, because they are two totally different bands who have literally nothing to do with each other. But when people are gonna compared it, saying its better than LP, fuck yeah I'm going to speak my mind about my love for LP. Get over it. This was obviously a decision he had to make and he made his choice, respect him enough for that. It's not only about what the fans want. He is only human and will be 40 next year, and he has a big family that he loves and wants to spend time with, what the fuck is wrong with that? We should be lucky that LP even does what they do touring so much and giving us music. LP fans are so ungrateful and disrespectful sometimes.

 

And yeah, Mike and the rest of LP can write music without Chester if they need to. But what if Chester WANTS to be part of it? He loves LP, he should be able to make music with them whenever he wants to. It's not a fans decision what he does. And the MALL soundtrack was largely already recorded and Chester didn't need to be the head creative for that anyways, it was Joe's project. The HT show being released last year, that has nothing to do with Chester or anyone in the band really, that's Ethan Mates mixing it and the band releasing it online for us. LPU demos are already recorded years ago, that's all Mike just picking which demos he wants to share and putting them out. Your argument is basically invalid.

 

Did anybody even read Chester's official statement besides? Because if you did, you should probably understand why he left, it's very understandable.

 

I genuinely feel bad for people like NumbRocker, because I know she was a huge fan of STP. But still, it was going to end eventually. The way I view it is be happy that it happened, not unhappy that it ended. All good things must come to an end eventually

 

Do you even realize that this didn't even last 2 years? Chester clearly states that he always found himself falling short between his family, LP, or STP so one had to go, that's how he was forced to pick, not from a literal aspect. Chester doesn't ever state anywhere in his message that he wanted to leave STP, that's just unprofessional assumption from you. He pulled it off as long as he could, but it was short lived because timing didn't work out.

 

You mention DBS, BOW, and Camp Freddy, but you fail to notice that Camp Freddy is a very quick gig that Mike even participated in and not some full blown tour that Chester is following everyday, BOW was super short run during a time that LP was taking an extended time on working MTM, and DBS is a result that came from 5 years of work, there was no rush to release Out of Ashes because MTM and ATS were also rolling out at a slow pace. Julien K certainly had no set deadlines or pressures to give Chester because they were just working on their very first album, where as STP has been around for many years and were already hoping to release a new album with an October release date.

 

I brought up THP, MALL, DOWNLOAD, and the band's touring because of how much Chester was able to contribute, I'm not here to argue about what he did and didn't down to the bone, and why even bring up LPU? Of course Chester has little to nothing to do with that.

 

"And yeah, Mike and the rest of LP can write music without Chester if they need to. But what if Chester WANTS to be part of it? He loves LP, he should be able to make music with them whenever he wants to. It's not a fans decision what he does."

 

Honestly, where do you pull these assumptions from? No shit Chester loves LP, but there isn't anyone denying him of being a part of LP. You're just putting words into other people's mouths.

[Tako]

Do you even realize that this didn't even last 2 years? Chester clearly states that he always found himself falling short between his family, LP, or STP so one had to go, that's how he was forced to pick, not from a literal aspect. Chester doesn't ever state anywhere in his message that he wanted to leave STP, that's just unprofessional assumption from you. He pulled it off as long as he could, but it was short lived because timing didn't work out.

 

You mention DBS, BOW, and Camp Freddy, but you fail to notice that Camp Freddy is a very quick gig that Mike even participated in and not some full blown tour that Chester is following everyday, BOW was super short run during a time that LP was taking an extended time on working MTM, and DBS is a result that came from 5 years of work, there was no rush to release Out of Ashes because MTM and ATS were also rolling out at a slow pace. Julien K certainly had no set deadlines or pressures to give Chester because they were just working on their very first album, where as STP has been around for many years and were already hoping to release a new album with an October release date.

 

I brought up THP, MALL, DOWNLOAD, and the band's touring because of how much Chester was able to contribute, I'm not here to argue about what he did and didn't down to the bone, and why even bring up LPU? Of course Chester has little to nothing to do with that.

 

"And yeah, Mike and the rest of LP can write music without Chester if they need to. But what if Chester WANTS to be part of it? He loves LP, he should be able to make music with them whenever he wants to. It's not a fans decision what he does."

 

Honestly, where do you pull these assumptions from? No shit Chester loves LP, but there isn't anyone denying him of being a part of LP. You're just putting words into other people's mouths.

 

Actually, it lasted over 2 years. He joined in May of 2013. He was still part of the band in May of 2015. High Rise was released in October 2013, he just played a show with STP at the end of October 2015. So not sure what you're talking about. And even so, this is Chester's decision, it really doesn't matter anyways.

 

The other projects he has been a part of actually did take some time. Not sure if you were a fan back in the day, because I didn't see you around back then, but Chester actually completely postponed DBS (at the time Snow White Tan) to work on MTM with LP. It originally was supposed to come out in late 2005, then 2006, etc. He further postponed it so he could tour with LP for MTM too, and resumed work on it after PR 08 and released it the following year. The other bands I mentioned were live bands and may not have taken away a lot of time away from LP, but still. He also largely helped Julien-K get started, he even taught Ryan how to sing. He ended up being executive producer for their album in 2009, too. He even postponed the Grey Daze reunion in 2003 so he could continue work on Meteora as well, and I'm sure as you know, Bobby died before they could reschedule it. Bottom line is that Chester has sacrificed a lot in the past for LP as well, this isn't anything new for him. He also has said in several interviews back in the day that he had troubles being away from Talinda on tours, which inspired songs like Inside Of Me and other songs, watch the KROQ DBS 2009 interview on YouTube. He likes being with his family, if he's constantly doing LP and STP, he can't spend very much time with them. Once again, this is his personal life and it's wrong for any of us to tell him how he should spend his time. He is a family man and always has been, he said family is even more important to him than LP (which is obvious anyways). Another thing I just remembered is a video that Mike posted on his blog back in 2010, when Chester returned to work on ATS for all that DBS touring, and Chester said ''DBS kicked ass. LP kicks a whole bunch of ass.'' And was happy to work with LP again. Obviously he likes it this way, and he has made the call, so I think everyone should be understanding.

 

The thing that annoyed me the most was how Hahninator basically implied that he was forced to do it, which is not fair, the way he worded it. LP has been very supportive of him doing STP from the beginning and are supportive of any of the members doing stuff outside the band. Chester has made the call himself. It looks his being away from his family so much is his main reason, read some of his tweets, read his statement, etc. And there's nothing wrong with that. He had a lot of fun doing it but he is putting that chapter behind now. They made an EP and toured A LOT in the US. They also ended on good terms. Read the official statement. No hard feelings or anything between STP and Chester. The fans should have that attitude as well.

 

Further more, anyone who loves STP can still be a fan of STP. They are going to continue on with a new singer. They are planning on making new music it seems and are still going to tour. Any of you guys can still go to STP shows and support them that way. Chester encouraged it as well. Just because Chester is leaving (who wasn't the original singer anyways), doesn't mean you can't still be a fan of the band! They're even performing tonight on Jimmy Kimmel.

[hahninator]

I remember seeing some footage of when LP was recording THP, Chester jokingly said something along the lines of "All I do is sleep and they wake me up when they need me to sing". It makes me believe that he wasn't able to fully contribute to the writing process as much as he usually does since he was doing a lot of extensive touring with STP at that time.

 

Maybe this time around, Chester wants to contribute more to LP7 then he did to THP. I don't really see why there needs to be so much argument about it lol.

 

That was joking in a way, but essentially true to an extent. He didn't have much of a role in the initial THP process. Brad and Mike did most of it apparently and brought the rest of the band in. I am actually ok with that because I like The Hunting Party a lot (minus UIG and Summoning). The rest of the CD, I thought LP did a good job and it was a hell of an upgrade from Living Things. I wish they had played more of it live, but anyway I listen to THP a lot so that writing style worked well for them.

 

Chester definitely wants to write more. The band was fully involved in the MTM process and that album ended up being 10/10 fantastic, even the b-sides. What an impressive album for the band to "come back" with and release as their third CD. So if they all are together this time from the start (which is exactly what is happening) then I think we'll get a good end product again.

 

The thing that annoyed me the most was how Hahninator basically implied that he was forced to do it, which is not fair, the way he worded it. LP has been very supportive of him doing STP from the beginning and are supportive of any of the members doing stuff outside the band. Chester has made the call himself. It looks his being away from his family so much is his main reason, read some of his tweets, read his statement, etc. And there's nothing wrong with that. He had a lot of fun doing it but he is putting that chapter behind now. They made an EP and toured A LOT in the US. They also ended on good terms. Read the official statement. No hard feelings or anything between STP and Chester. The fans should have that attitude as well.

 

Perhaps I was a bit harsh in my wording. I meant it in this way - LP forced him to quit in the sense of, they entered the studio after the European Tour ASAP. These were obviously the plans WAY back in January/February because this is one reason why LP didn't reschedule their canceled tour. They had the whole year planned out and wanted to make an album starting in September. STP and Chester figured this out in the summer and likely agreed the timing couldn't work out. I don't think Chester quit SOLELY because of his family but moreso a combination of two things:

 

1. There is no time for STP to record an album, and with LP doing an album right now, they have to postpone any STP touring (see: canceled 2014 STP shows).

2. He wanted more downtime to be with his family, he's always on the road at least according to him.

[Tako]

That was joking in a way, but essentially true to an extent. He didn't have much of a role in the initial THP process. Brad and Mike did most of it apparently and brought the rest of the band in. I am actually ok with that because I like The Hunting Party a lot (minus UIG and Summoning). The rest of the CD, I thought LP did a good job and it was a hell of an upgrade from Living Things. I wish they had played more of it live, but anyway I listen to THP a lot so that writing style worked well for them.

 

Chester definitely wants to write more. The band was fully involved in the MTM process and that album ended up being 10/10 fantastic, even the b-sides. What an impressive album for the band to "come back" with and release as their third CD. So if they all are together this time from the start (which is exactly what is happening) then I think we'll get a good end product again.

 

 

 

Perhaps I was a bit harsh in my wording. I meant it in this way - LP forced him to quit in the sense of, they entered the studio after the European Tour ASAP. These were obviously the plans WAY back in January/February because this is one reason why LP didn't reschedule their canceled tour. They had the whole year planned out and wanted to make an album starting in September. STP and Chester figured this out in the summer and likely agreed the timing couldn't work out. I don't think Chester quit SOLELY because of his family but moreso a combination of two things:

 

1. There is no time for STP to record an album, and with LP doing an album right now, they have to postpone any STP touring (see: canceled 2014 STP shows).

2. He wanted more downtime to be with his family, he's always on the road at least according to him.

This is a much better post and I understand you now. Like I said earlier, I genuinely feel bad for people like NumbRocker and yourself because you guys really liked STP with Chester. I liked it too... Just not as much as Linkin Park. I bought High Rise on CD and Vinyl, bought the 98KUPD CD with Pretty Penny and went and saw the band 4 times - once in 2013, once in 2014 and twice in 2015. I'm not going to say that I'm sad that he is leaving because I always wanted him to focus only on Linkin Park but I did support him as a fan through this period. I know I can be hard on people and come across as rude and unreasonable but Chester is my favorite person in the world and I look up to him more than anyone else. Not in a weird stalker type of way like that one fan did, but I certainly think he's a really cool person and makes awesome music. My heart lies with LP, though, LP is what got me into music in the first place. I bought Meteora on it's release day and have been a fan ever since.

 

This is going to be my last post in this thread because I feel like I've said what I wanted and don't want to go off topic or argue with people, but basically my entire point of it all is that Chester obviously had to make a difficult decision and I think we should support him in it. It's probably really hard to be away from your young kids and wife and everything else a lot during the year. You think of a lot of families that come home from work everyday and get to spend time with their family everyday, etc, but Chester has to be on the road a lot during each year (sometimes a lot more than others) just with LP alone and then on top of that he had to be on the road with STP and worry about how he was gonna fit in time to make new music with them too, etc. He probably just realized that he is getting older and wants to spend more time with his family. He mentioned last year in an interview that he had to miss his kids graduation, he had to miss his youngest kids first day of school, etc. because he was on the road and it sucked.

 

You're also right about MTM, that album was unique (you know as well as me) that the whole band worked on that one, all contributing ideas, even letting Joe and the rest of the guys review Mike and Chester's lyrics, etc. I think the band works well this way, when each member can focus on the album, just like MTM and ATS. Chester recently said in an interview before the Monster Mash show last week that he thinks ATS is still their best album because everyone was allowed to be creative and weird and the whole band came together, etc. I remember Cbester saying in 2013 that before he left for tour with STP, Mike was writing indie electronic songs and when he came back at the end of 2013, Mike was writing super heavy music. Maybe Chester wants to be part of the process this time and I think there is nothing wrong with that. It's obvious LP was always his baby (he said that before) and we know LP is very important to him, so if he feels like he wants to just do LP, he should just do that..

[FLAME-XIII]

finally, now his voice will get more vacation

[Numbrocker]

Maybe this is just a sad time for me and Mark because we have similar feelings for Chester. I got into LP because of Chester. DBS was a let down because too much electronic was added in for me. STP was finally what I thought DBS would be, but better because the DeLeos are amazing musicians.

 

I got a chance to see my favorite singer in an intimate venue for under $50. Not something I can say about LP. Very biased because of that intimate setting I got HUGE interaction with Chester and the rest of STP. LP is so rehearsed now to me. Chester, just my opinion, was having more fun with STP.

 

I hope so much we get the unreleased songs or get a reunion tour. Joss Stone isn't doing it for me, but STP definitely will have me as a fan for life. It was just so nice to go to a show and see the whole band into the crowd and show.

 

Again if you didn't see STP then I don't think you'd get that this is a huge shame that this Era has ended. I want Chester to he happy and I had no doubt he'd pick LP over STP, but I think a lot of people were worried because, even if they don't admit it, they could see how much Chester enjoyed STP.

 

Plus I think Chester got way more creative input with STP. LP is Mike's bandband and I don't think that's ever been in question. So definitely don't think he left STP to work more with LP. I belive that STP asked for more of his time and Chester couldn't give it because of lp/his family. Now if lp/Mike pressured him... We'll probably will never know. The only significant part to me is that I saw my last STP show and wasn't prepared for it all to end.

[lpliveusername]

[hahninator]

Great post. I agree completely. I just wish they had told us so we could have seen multiple shows at the end.

 

I watched the Joss Stone performance on Jimmy Kimmel. It was awful, truly terrible.

[stich]

I watched the Joss Stone performance on Jimmy Kimmel. It was awful, truly terrible.

I can even sing it better

[spraypaintninkpens]

What Numb said hit the nail on the head. LP has and continues to be in coast mode. That's why the prospect of these side projects were so exciting.

Edited November 10, 2015 by spraypaintninkpens

[hahninator]

What Numb said hit the nail on the head. LP has and continues to be in coast mode. That's why the prospect of these side projects were so exciting.

 

The injury to Chester really killed any momentum they had from Carnivores and the sold out European Tour. It was a series of unfortunate events from there on out. Before that, they weren't able to work out any new songs to add to the live show because Carnivores was 25 shows, longer than any tour since Projekt Revolution 2007 I believe. They had to take time off before Europe, and then weren't able to get ALITS or anything worked up before the Winter Tour.

 

Chester's injury, the canceled tour with no makeup dates, his rehab required (aka he was in pain almost all year long on stage), the disappointing summer shows where fans were leaving in mass at the rock festivals along with one of them being flat out canceled, and the short European Tour just made it a weird year. And no headlining shows sandwiched between the May/June festivals. Highlights were Orlando and Nashville since they started the year on fire, and China and the Euro shows.

 

LP seemed to have no interest in playing more songs from THP even though Chester just said in the Monster Mash interview that the album was made to be played live. They don't want to change the set and they want to make it as predictable as possible (see: Rob's comments in Europe). Basically, I feel like they wanted to end this touring cycle as quickly as possible after Chester's injury because they wanted to make another album. There was no LPU Summit this year either even though they were thinking about doing one or two.

[Kirstie]

I've been away so I'm late to this disappointing news.

 

I'm mostly disappointed in Chesters commitment here really, it was a worry we all saw instantly so why didn't he, or his family? I'm sad that all this groundwork has been put in establishing himself in the band (both he, lp and their fans taking a lot of stick from stp fans*) but it was a waste of time. I'm mostly disappointed that I never saw them live, which I always knew was unlikely (living in England where STP weren't big at all) but still, I've loved STP for a long time, loved Scott and obviously love Chester so I naturally would've wanted to see them live.

 

From the very beginning of this I could never understand why they didn't just 'Guest' Chester, not officially sign him up but say that he was casually part of the band, right now they were writing and touring with Chester but he wasn't officially in the band, it would have helped with the legal stand point a few years ago and it would have made it easier for Chester to walk away which I think I felt would always happen and leave them free to see other singers, an open relationship!

 

Urgh and it was Scott to announce it! That is both hilarious and cringeworthy at the same time!

 

*i have an unfortunate habit of getting seriously wound up when people slag off my band, it's my weakness and I've found myself in a few disagreements on STP's fb page.

[Tako]

I thought the 2015 shows were actually pretty good. 2014 was obviously an epic year for LP, every show was flawless and they had greet energy that year. They played a lot of great shows and a lot of great places, etc. When Chester broke his ankle, that sucked, it fucked up the momentum. Still can't believe they were gonna do 2 big US tours for this album, that was really generous. Sucks that almost the whole tour was canceled but Chester had no choice. Rock In Rio was great, I love that show, the band sounded amazing. Rock On The Range was decent, but no Brad sucked and everything. The rest of the summer shows were ok, average shows. I think it's awesome that they made a new set for this year. Papercut with the new intro is great. ALITS and FTI, wow awesome. Welcome being played, awesome. The China shows were not that great to me, Beijing sucked. The Europe tour after that was amazing. Monster Mash was one of my favorite shows, the recording is so good, plus the zombie shit was epic. BlizzCon was decent but Chester was sick so it wasn't the best performance, but still good. LP seemed to have had a lot of fun this tour. Seemed really happy. Chester especially.

 

They said the same with LT, about wanting to play the album live, but they can't fit the whole album in a set without sacrificing huge hits. It's understandable. I think it's fine that they played half the album. With THP, they should have added War and maybe Keys. The rest is ok. But still, I did like the set this year a lot and I don't think the shows were bad at all.

 

Next cycle will be something amazing.... Mike said he feels some of LP's best work is upon them, Chester quit STP to be 100% focused on LP, Warren said the band has already been working a lot on it, etc. This new album will be amazing. The tour will probably be even better. I bet they going to promote this album huge since they didn't with THP, come back with a huge hit single, tour with some great bands for a US tour, etc. The set will no doubt be changed as well.

 

We're just in between cycles right now. It's like this every time it happens, people get pissed off and bored, people start to criticize because they're bored, etc. Once next summer rolls around, LPL will be much different.

[mrfox]

Holy f*** I thought Joss Stone is a guy, this is completely different STP and real disaster, poor STP fans

[Gigito1995]

Holy f*** I thought Joss Stone is a guy, this is completely different STP and real disaster, poor STP fans

i wouldn't even feel sorry for stp fans , a lot of them are assholes and even some of them said that joss stone is better than chester

[JozM]

This Joss Stone collab is obviously a once off (well at least I think it is). No way is she a replacement for Chester.