After replacing for two-and-a-half years the lead singer Scott Weiland of the American rock band from San Diego, California - Stone Temple Pilots, on Monday, Chester Bennington made a public declaration that he was leaving the band to focus on his other group - the rock band that rose to international fame with their debut album Hybrid Theory - 'Linkin Park.'

The American musician, singer and songwriter - Chester Bennington and Stone Temple Pilots' members Dean DeLeo (guitarist), Eric Kretz (drummer) and Robert DeLeo (bass player and harmony vocalist) issued simultaneous official accounts of facts insisting that the disband was amicable.

Chester Bennington stated, "The last few years with STP have been an astonishing experience," Bennington also said, "I got to create and bring off music with one of the greatest rock bands of our generation, that Stone Temple Pilots had so much influence on me growing up. With the amount of time STP fully merits, adding up to being in Linkin Park, and with the needs of my family, one of them always seems to fall apart."

Chester Bennington added, "Going into the situation, the four of us ... Robert, Eric, Dean and myself, are aware of  what we were up against. We came up in due fairness to friends, fans and the legacy of Stone Temple Pilots, that it needs more than time was allowing me. And in all fairness to my Linkin Park bandmates, as well as to myself and to my family, I'm going to focus solely on Linkin Park so I can pitch in 100 percent. It's been an awesome experience and a dream come true being with STP, and I look forward to the future of both Stone Temple Pilots and Linkin Park."

On the other hand, STP's three remaining members - Robert DeLeo, Dean DeLeo and Eric Kretz, noted that "making arrangements and time was working in opposition to us," but they stayed hopeful and confident that Stone Temple Pilots will persistently make music in some form.