Shakespeare assured us that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” but is that true for band names? In a recent interview with A-Sides. Chester Bennington reveals that Stone Temple Pilots considered changing their name after they parted ways with Scott Weiland to leave and added the Linkin Park singer to their lineup. Would you have liked the Rock Temple Pilots or the Stone Church Drivers the same? You can check out the 20-minute interview above.

"We did talk about maybe changing the name of the band, and just doing something new,” said Bennington. “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 went on, "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 and it can still go on in a way that I think when people come see up play live, they know this is the band that I wanted to come see."

Earlier in the interview, the singer spoke about it being a dream of his to be in STP. “I always said early on, 20 years ago, ‘Man – if these guys knew where I was they’d f—king call me up and we’d go out and make sh-t happen,'” he revealed. “That’s not like something I would say that was a plan obviously, but...so when I said yes it was literally about, ‘Man, I want to go play these songs and play them the way I saw them played when I saw these guys,' because their music is that important to me."

The group plan to put out their first full length album with Bennington this fall. They say they have the instrumentals for six songs cut and they began working on vocals right before they headed out on their spring tour.

On June 27, Bennington will perform with Linkin Park on the second day of the Loudwire Music Festival. If you haven’t already, you can still nab tickets here.

 

More From Rock 96.7