STONE TEMPLE PILOTS have apparently settled on their new singer, according to former FILTER guitarist Geno Lenardo. The Pulse Of Radio reported that Lenardo watched the band’s new lineup perform at rehearsal over the weekend, with Lenardo writing on social media, “Feeling blessed I just got to see my friends from STONE TEMPLE PILOTS play a really tight set of classics.” He added, “I can’t comment on who’s singing but I can tell you he is one of the finest musicians and singers I’ve ever known. STP will reveal it in their own time.”

The new singer is believed to be Jeff Gutt, a one-time “X Factor” contestant whom Lenardo has worked with before. A report from NBC 9 News/ET in Denver last November claimed that STP had chosen Gutt and was writing and recording new material with him. STP denied the report at the time, saying through a representative that no decision on a vocalist had been made yet.

STP has been without a singer since November 2015, when Chester Bennington — who joined the group in early 2013 after they dismissed original frontman Scott Weiland — departed so he could spend more time with his main band LINKIN PARK.

Weiland, who reunited with the group in 2010 after an eight-year hiatus, died in December 2015 of a drug overdose while on tour with his solo outfit.

STP last performed live, with Bennington on vocals, for a one-off reunion performance in California in March 2016.

The band held an open call for singers last year, reportedly receiving thousands of submissions and narrowing that down to a handful of prospects with whom the group members got together to jam.

Fonte: Blabbermouth.net