It is safe to say that Stone Temple Pilots allows Chester Bennington a different type of creative opportunity than what he has in Linkin Park. The rocker addressed the balancing of the bands and his creative output in a new interview with ARTISTdirect.

Bennington has been taking advantage of a break in Linkin Park's schedule to return to Stone Temple Pilots and the band has been working on a follow up to their High Rise EP of late. When asked about the writing process with Stone Temple Pilots, Bennington stated, "It is fun to write these songs. With Linkin Park, things are pretty literal. There's not a whole lot of poetry going on or clever lines that may not have a direct meaning, but have some underlying meaning with what's going on. Writing for STP, I get to be a lot more poetic. I get to be a lot more clever with my wording. It makes it a lot of fun because I get to be more colorful."

He goes on to add, "It's so f---ing crazy and it's cool. With the melodies, I'm getting funky and stepping out of my comfort zone, which is fun. It's definitely something I enjoy doing because it helps me think differently in terms of how to get a point across. In Linkin Park, because there are two writers with Mike and I, we both need to believe in what we're saying to get a point across. As the only writer of lyrics and the only one who has to believe it as we perform it, it allows me to be a little more colorful in my phrasing, which is super fun."

Though an official release date has not been announced, Bennington did state that the band is trying to take the musicality to a different level and bring a lot of energy to the forthcoming release. In the meanwhile, look for Stone Temple Pilots hitting the road this spring. Dates can be found here.

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