Scott Weiland Countersues Stone Temple Pilots: "How Do You Expel a Man From a Band That He Started?"

Singer files countersuit his former bandmates after they accuse him of breach of contract

Scott Weiland isn't going away without a fight.

A week after Stone Temple Pilots sued their former frontman for breach of contract, the singer fired back with a $7 million countersuit, alleging that his ex-bandmates conspired to kick him out of the band he cofounded nearly 25 years ago.

"How do you expel a man from a band that he started, named, sang lead on every song, wrote the lyrics and was the face of for 20 years, and then try to grab the name and goodwill for yourselves?" states Weiland's complaint, filed Friday in L.A. Superior Court, per RollingStone.com. "You don't, but three of the instrumentalists from the band 'Stone Temple Pilots' (the 'Band') tried."

In addition to monetary damages, Weiland is also looking to prevent STP from touring with Linkin Park's Chester Bennington on lead vocals.

The oft-troubled artist, who fronted Velvet Revolver for four years after first parting ways with STP, told the Arizona Republic last week about the Core rockers touring and recording without him: 

"Their managers, who are just basically booking agents, to put it lightly, they have no problem with STP and its legacy being destroyed. A 22-year band who sold more than 40 million records and had numerous No. 1 hits, numerous No. 2 hits, top 5, top 10. Two Grammys. They don't give a [bleep]. As a matter of fact, I think they're getting paid per hour. So I wouldn't...do it. And they can't do it without me."

"So they can say Guys From STP," he added. "But they've already done two bands and failed."

In the suit they filed May 24, STP's Robert DeLeo, Dean DeLeo and Eric Kretz accused Weiland of trading on the band's name to promote his solo career and having his lawyer try to get L.A.'s KROQ-FM from playing STP's new single, "Out of Time."

"When I tour on my own, it's never as Stone Temple Pilots. It's as Scott Weiland. The fans deserve to know what they're getting," Weiland wrote on his blog in response.

According to his lawsuit, he is asking for at least $5 million in compensatory damages, as well as $2 million per "willful use" of the STP name "per mark, per type of goods or services sold, offered for sale or distributed."

"Our purpose in taking this action is not to hurt Scott," STP wrote on its website last week. "We want to move forward productively, and Scott's choices and actions have prevented us from doing that."

Weiland said back in February that he learned of his "supposed 'termination'" from the band the same way most people did—via the media.