Filter frontman Richard Patrick told ABC News Radio that he saw Chester Bennington at Chris Cornell’s funeral, “I was absolutely shocked that Chester committed suicide. I was shocked. I mean, the reality is that he seemed to have everything going on. The last time I saw him was at Chris Cornell’s funeral. And he saw me and came running over and we hugged.. and we didn’t really have much to say to each other than, like ‘Are you OK?’ ‘Yeah, I’m OK. Are you OK?’ ‘Yeah, I’m OK.’ He sang ‘Hallelujah’ and it was like, pitch-perfect and totally clear and, you know, he did a really great job. I couldn’t have done that. That’s one of the things about Chester I liked, he was just like fearless.”
Patrick also discussed Bennington on Instagram, “I’m really trying to make sense of my life right now… This is Chester and I singing a Scott Weiland song in Boston when Chester filled in for Scott in STP. Both Scott and Chester are dead now… the last time I saw Chester it was at Chris Cornell’s funeral. Chester and I didn’t even say anything but we hugged for 2 minutes… all our friends knew we were grieving. Chester said, ‘I’m going to sing for his family.’ I instantly thought to myself… Chester has the perfect voice for ‘Hallelujah.’ Sure enough he sang it perfectly. I mean pitch perfect.
There was so many perfect things about Chester… Truth be told we use to kid each other about stuff. We had very similar singing styles. We’re both tenors who utilized the scream. I would always make a joke about my voice being the first on radio! So he owed me royalties! I thought Chester had it going on… when Chester got the STP gig I was really happy… I instantly thought of how hard it would be for me to learn 30 Stone Temple Pilot songs. All those lyrics, I have such a hard time with that. I asked Chester how he learned all the songs so fast and he said ‘I use four forms of learning. 1. Reading the lyrics. 2. Writing the lyrics down. 3 Singing along with the song (which builds muscular memory) and 4. Reciting them with my eyes closed!’
I was like… holy shit! I asked him how he was in such good shape he said ‘I train four different ways to have maximum effect.’ I said okay I get it you’re fucking awesome… He could tell I was a little sad because I HATE getting older!! He said ‘Richard do you know I smoke four cigarettes a day?’ I said ‘wow, the armor’s got a little chink in it and what’s with you and the number 4 for god sakes?’ We laughed. If you were to ask me who would still be alive Chester or I? I would have said Chester. I can’t believe how fucked up this is… what is happing??? How bad can it be that people kill themselves???!!!! If you’re thinking about hurting yourself please tell someone. Mental health is so important!!!”
