When Scott Weiland revealed to Alternative Nation in November prior to his death that Chester Bennington had quit Stone Temple Pilots, Highly Suspect singer Johnny Stevens revealed at the time that Dean DeLeo had called him and asked him to join STP. Just a day after Weiland’s announcement and Stevens’ revelation, STP confirmed that Bennington had left the band.
During an interview with WRIF earlier this week, Dean DeLeo had some harsh words for Johnny Stevens for breaking the ‘confidentiality’ of their ‘man to man’ conversation.
“I did reach out to John, when was that? Last August, I reached out to John, and ummm…yeah, the way John tells it is not actually what went down. I did reach out to John. We spoke, and I think John is an immense talent. Great, great singer. But I did not offer him a gig. I merely asked if he was interested in possibly getting in a room, and God bless him, he stuck to his guns, and he had the courage and the confidence to stick with his band, and you know, those guys are up for a couple of Grammys.”
He added, “One thing that really saddened me about that is it was very early on. It was all the way back in August, when I spoke to John, man to man. You know, I don’t use that term loosely. Man to man I asked for his confidentiality in this, and well, it shows you what kind of man he is.”
The DJ then said Highly Suspect is a great band. There was an awkward silence, and Dean annoyingly said, “Yeah.”
