Jeff Gutt Found Out About Chester Bennington's Death In The Studio With STP

Jeff Gutt had two big pairs of shoes to fill when he joined Stone Temple Pilots: not just original frontman Scott Weiland's, but Chester Bennington's, too. The Linkin Park singer joined the band after they parted ways with Weiland in 2013, and fronted it for two years before leaving in 2015 due to commitments with Linkin Park. Just months after Bennington took his own life in 2017, Gutt stepped foot onstage for the first time as STP's vocalist. During a new interview with Rolling Stone, Gutt opened up about Bennington's death.

"It happened right in the middle of us recording that first record [2018's Stone Temple Pilots]. It was just horrendous," he said. "I found out before it hit the news, so it was just devastating. You can’t reach out to anyone because you don’t know who knows yet, and you don’t want to be the one that’s like, 'Did you hear?' And I have some friends that were really super close to him, and they’ve struggled as well from the same thing. So it’s a tough thing for sure."

"It happened on Chris [Cornell]’ birthday, and I had a really strange feeling in my stomach when I saw him singing 'Hallelujah' at Chris’ funeral," Gutt added. "Chester was on the guest list for a friends and family STP concert [we did before the official debut at the Troubadour]. He asked me if I was OK with him going. So right there it tells you everything to know about Chester. It’s his former band, and he’s asking me if he can come. He came up and did 'Pruno.'”

Gutt and STP are heading on tour this summer with Our Lady Peace and Soul Asylum. See a full list of dates here.