He'd known that Bennington was a fan � but he didn't know how much of a fan. And after Bennington had accepted the role that became available when STP sacked Scott Weiland, he told DeLeo the whole story.

The guitarist tells Nikki Sixx on his Sixx Sense radio show: "I was on a European tour, in my room, late at night. I turn on the TV and there's Linkin Park doing this massive festival, and Chester's hitting it with a Stone Temple Pilots shirt on. It put a smile on my face, it brought me back to home, and I could feel my heart again.

"When the time came to think about a singer we reached out to him."

Bennington, who readily describe accepting the invitation as a "no-brainer," went on to record the track Out Of Time with STP, who launched it in May as their first musical act without Weiland.