Dust off your vocal cords! Stone Temple Pilots has announced the launch of open auditions for a new singer following founding member Scott Weiland's unfortunate death.

Back in December of last year, Weiland was found dead on his tour bus due to a drug overdose while on the road with his band Scott Weiland & the Wildabouts. Although he was not the singer for Stone Temple Pilots at the time, it was a major loss to the band. Artists from all walks of life, as well as Weiland's wife and family, have all paid tribute to the late rocker in one form or another.

Taking Weiland's place over the past few years as a touring member was Linkin Park's Chester Bennington, who also recently stepped down as frontman of the band to focus on his main gig (which will hopefully result in a band new Linkin Park album sometime in the near future).

Now, during a brand new interview with Rolling Stone, the band's guitarist, Dean DeLeo, elaborated on how the band is planning to proceed without either singer. "We kind of came to the realization a while back that the situation with Chester was not really allowing us to do all that we would have liked to have been doing. His involvement with Linkin Park and, of course, his family limited the time that we had with him," he stated.

DeLeo added: "We've played with a lot of singers over the last several months, and we felt that we'd be doing ourselves — meaning Robert, Eric and I — a disservice if we didn't allow all the talent that is out there to become a part of this. So, good or bad, we opened the floodgates."

The auditions, which will supposedly run for the next 30 to 60 days, will only consider those who inspire the band, DeLeo proclaimed. "You know Glen Campbell said to me a long time ago, "Dean, you got to live it to write it" — and you kind of know when that person walks into a room. I want to be hit in that place in my soul where music buries itself. That feeling, man. That's what we want."

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