Well, it’s turning in a story-line for a new soap opera called “The Young and the Oh So Restless“! Scott Weiland has filed a multi-million dollar countersuit against his former band, Stone Temple Pilots, just one week after the group sued him. According to Rolling Stone, Weiland is seeking compensatory damages in excess of $5 million and an additional $2 million for each “willful use” of the Stone Temple Pilots name. In his suit, which was filed Friday (May 31st), Weiland states, “How do you expel a man from a band that he started, named, sang lead on every song, wrote the lyrics and was the face of for 20 years, and then try to grab the name and goodwill for yourselves? You don’t, but three of the instrumentalists from the band ‘Stone Temple Pilots’ tried.” Oddly, Weiland presents as evidence in his lawsuit the same partnership agreement cited by the band in their own lawsuit. Weiland claims that the 1996 agreement, amended in 2010, makes it impossible for the band to keep using the Stone Temple Pilots name without him. The group filed its lawsuit on May 24th, accusing Weiland of using the band’s name to advance his solo career, while claiming that his poor performances and late arrivals at concerts, in addition to his addiction struggles, harmed the band’s career and that they “endured much strife and lost significant opportunities.” The group also claims that Weiland’s lawyer has tried to interfere with airplay of the new STP single, “Out Of Time,” which features Linkin Park‘s Chester Bennington on vocals. The group plans to make more new music with Bennington as the lead singer and has played live with him twice. STP’s suit claims that the band owns the name Stone Temple Pilots, as well as its songs, copyrights and trademarks. The suit asks a judge to block Weiland from performing any STP songs in his solo shows and from even calling himself a former member of the band. STP fired Weiland in February after reuniting with him in 2010 for a series of tours and one self-titled album. The band had previously been on hiatus since 2002, primarily due to the singer’s struggles with drugs and alcohol. In an open letter on the band’s website, STP told fans that the purpose of their lawsuit was “not to hurt Scott. We want to move forward productively, and Scott’s choices and actions have prevented us from doing that.” (Thanks Pulse.)…I was surprised yesterday by a phone call from Brent Smith of Shinedown! What a great guy he is. He is such an inspiration to me! This kid, along with his tremendous band Barry Kerch, Zack Meyers and Eric Bass, has done an amazing job with their career, taking things to the next level each and every chance they get, and you couldn’t find a nicer group of people anywhere! Anyhow, Brent told me all about the plans for the upcoming Carnival of Madness tour, which will be tremendous this time around with carnival/circus performers and great production. And he is so stoked to be touring with the likes of Papa Roach, Skillet, In This Moment and to help introduce We As Humans to the fold. I was told more dates will be rolled out in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. Your friends here at hardDriveRadio will be offering a chance for you to see the tour in some exotic U.S. location, so definitely make sure you are a registered hardDriveRadio Radical! See the home page! Brent and I also walked down memory lane about the past 10 years of Shinedown, and what’s coming up, including their July Canadian run opening for Kiss! You can also check out their new live studio EP called Warner Sound Room which is available on iTunes. They did 5 songs, 4 from Amaryliss and a cover of Carole King‘s “I Feel The Earth Move.” Pretty cool! Be listening for this interview in the coming weeks on both hardDrive and as the Featured Artist of the Week on hardDrive XL! (Man, we talked for 57 minutes!)….Also this week, I will have Serj Tankian on the hotLine from his home in LA. I will have to find out how his winter was in New Zealand. How awesome to have a home there, right? And we’ll find out about his solo endeavors and what is the latest with System Of A Down…..New albums out today for Filter, The Sun Comes Out Tonight. Check Vevo on Thursday for the music video for their latest single “What Do You Say.” And Queens Of The Stone Age drop Like Clockwork…. . Something you may not know is Josh Homme of the Queens originally wanted Trent Reznor of nine inch nails to produce the record with him, but Trent was working on the new nin cd. BTW: Thursday, the new nine inch nails single drops!…Sick Puppies are expected to premiere the video today (June 4th) for “There’s No Going Back,” the first single from the trio’s upcoming album Connect. Frontman Shim Moore told us the track, co-written with legendary songwriter Desmond Child, was an important one for the album: “It’s kind of a theme for the record in a way, because when we were writing these 100-plus songs that we wrote for the record, there were a lot of songs that we could have chosen to put on over other ones that would have been catering to something our label wanted, something certain fans wanted — we definitely spoke to our fans a lot when we were making the record, but when we came up with these songs, especially working with Desmond Child, you discover what is making a song a great song, and anything else really isn’t gonna cut it.” Love those Pups!….If you remember, the last time Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction dropped by the hardDrive studios in NYC, a weird incident occurred. He wouldn’t cooperate in the interview, which pissed me off and actually made me cry! (I was so mad, I cry when I am that angry!) Anyhow, later that day, he sent me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers to apologize. He’s an odd fellow. Since we’ve seen him do some strange things like suspend from hooks through his back, has had scarification, and now this. He recently participated in an art ritual in the California desert: a bloodletting ceremony, with his blood used to paint a portrait of his late mother, Constance Navarro. Dave was bled through a cut on his forehead, with the blood collected in a wine glass to use in the painting. (Check out Dave’s pictures @DaveNavarro on Twitter.) The revelation in our interview was that his mother was murdered by boyfriend John Riccardi in March 1983. Dave was only 15 years old at the time of his mother’s death. Riccardi was arrested in 1991, thanks to a viewer tip after Navarro appeared on the television series America’s Most Wanted. Meanwhile, Jane’s Addiction will release a concert document called Live In NYC on June 25th. The set will be issued on DVD/CD, Blu-ray and double LP vinyl, as well as standalone DVD and CD. The show was filmed and recorded at New York City’s Terminal 5 on July 25th, 2011. I was there. It was filmed in 3D at the time. See Jane’s this August and September on the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar with Alice In Chains.
