Stone Temple Pilots hang a 'help wanted' sign in the window

There is nothing desperate at all in the Stone Temple Pilots search for someone, anyone to do the singing bit:

2016 marks a new year for Stone Temple Pilots…

Point of fact: 2016 marks a new year for everyone. That's pretty much how new years work.

A year of hope, optimism, and most importantly, new music! We are immensely proud of all that we have been able to share with you over the years. Music, music, music. We very much want to continue doing that, but that’s going to take a little help from all of you.

As you know, prior to the untimely passing of our brother in arms, Scott, we had been working with the incomparable Chester Bennington. What you also likely know is that having Chester front two bands of this size and scope was too much for one man to be able to do and so regretfully we had to move onto a new chapter together. This is where you come in…

Let's just look at that sentence there again, shall we?

What you also likely know is that having Chester front two bands of this size and scope was too much for one man to be able to do and so regretfully we had to move onto a new chapter together.

Let's look at it again.

What you also likely know is that having Chester front two bands of this size and scope was too much for one man to be able to do and so regretfully we had to move onto a new chapter together.

That's three times we've read that sentence, which is figure is at least six times more than it was read before it was published.

We are officially announcing that we are seeking a new vocalist to front Stone Temple Pilots. We’ve already heard from many talented people, but want to make this an opportunity for many more so we’ve set up a way for you to do just that.

This is the reverse of when someone calls a place to tell them they've got a bunch of fantastic job offers but just wanted to see if you're hiring right now to give you an opportunity to get on board.

"Hey, look at all these talented people who want to front our band"
"We should definitely see if there are any other talented people who want to front our band by putting a message on the internet".

Rockobit: Scott Weiland

One of the saddest things about music commentary are those deaths where you hear the news, and don't feel even a sliver of surprise. So it is with Scott Weiland, found dead on his tour bus, outside a motel, at the age of 48.

The BBC might need to think of a different way of describing how Twitter reacts in circumstances like these:

Tributes have been paid to US singer Scott Weiland, former frontman with Stone Temple Pilots, following his death while on tour in Minnesota.

Slash, with whom Weiland performed in rock supergroup Velvet Revolver, wrote on Twitter that it was "a sad day".

"RIP Scott Weiland," said Dave Kushner, another Velvet Revolver member.

Neither of those, strictly speaking, are tributes. Kushner's tweet is half a step away from being "Kushner marked a news story about Weiland as 'read'"; Slash's is an acknowledgement, but barely more than that.

Which isn't to criticise either of them - 140 characters to capture the scatterbug life of a person they know isn't going to work, so what can you do? But perhaps the question is whether the report is doing more than saying which of his friends had heard the news.

At times, Weiland could be refreshingly honest. Despite telling Rolling Stone this, in 2013:

As far as Velvet Revolver goes, I'd love it if it happened. But it's not something I can count on, and it's not something that I can control. If it happens, it'll happen. It would be a great thing. I know the fans would love to see it, but I respect that Slash has a solo career and he wants it to succeed the same way that I would like my solo career to succeed. Having said that, whether things work out in a timely fashion, and if it's quarterbacked right by the team and we all work together . . . it's all very sensitive right now, but I'd like to do it. It would be fun.

... his BBC obituary recalls a different story:

Set adrift, he recorded a well-received solo album, 12 Bar Blues, and joined the rock supergroup Velvet Revolver - later admitting he did it for the money. "I can't call it the music of my soul," he told Spin magazine.

Scott Weiland currently at denial stage

Scott Weiland - recently fired again from The Stone Temple Pilots - is finding it as hard to believe he's been canned as the rest of us find it hard to believe the Stone Temple Pilots are still going:

"I learned of my supposed 'termination' from Stone Temple Pilots this morning by reading about it in the press," the band's on-again, off-again lead singer said in a statement obtained by E! News.

"Not sure how I can be 'terminated' from a band that I founded, fronted and co-wrote many of its biggest hits, but that's something for the lawyers to figure out. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to seeing all of my fans on my solo tour which starts this Friday."

Sacked? Who's been sacked?

"No one has ever fired anybody in STP," the 45-year-old rocker continued. "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."

Heh, you just don't understand what the guys are like. They're always with the jokes - 'you're fired, you're sacked, we pissed in that before you came in, here's a restraining order...'

This just in: He's now at the stage where he believes it's a cunning plan:

Weiland said, "STP is not broken up. It's a whole thing to try to boost ticket sales."

Has Scott paused to think through why pretending to break up and dump Weiland would make people more likely to buy tickets?

Stone Temple Pilots fall silent

Stone Temple Pilots have axed their US tour halfway through; Scott Weiland's vocal cords are almost literally in pieces. If they pressed on with this tour, he might never be able to sing again. And that would be a bad thing. (Stone Temple Pilot's perspective only.)

A Singer Must Die, but not yet: Weiland is grounded

Scott Weiland managed to take his flight out the air last night: He suffered a seizure en-route from LAX to MIA, forcing the scheduled American Airlines plane to make a non-scheduled stop at Dallas Fort Worth. Weiland went to hospital; he's fine now. It doesn't say in any of the reports, but we're betting the rest of the passengers mumbled complaints just nosily enough to avoid seeming too harsh-hearted.

Scott Weiland to sign off on autobiography

Scott Weiland has been invited to write his memoirs. No, we can't understand why, either, other than Slash and Nikki Sixx and everyone else seems to have had a go. Naturally, he's not being asked to write it himself, and David Ritz, the man behind "auto"biogs of Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles, will do the difficult bit of changing the 'uh... and then... uh' into something approaching prose of the quality such a book deserves.