Linkin Park member Mike Shinoda knew the reunion would be difficult, but that’s why he wanted it to be different.
The band’s co-founder opened up about the band’s decision to invite new singer Emily Armstrong for an interview with Los Angeles radio station Alt 98.7. In his interview, Shinoda admitted that some fans were upset that the group could not find a singer whose voice resembled the late leader Chester Bennington.
“We just want Emily to be Emily. The songs are the songs. Emily is Emily… There was a time very early on, like 2020, 2019, whatever — like, I miss myself watching the video… I think a video of a cover band, a Linkin Park cover band, popped up in my feed. They were all like, ‘Oh my God, this guy So good. They sound a lot like Chester’,” he said speak. .
He went on to share his reactions to the band’s covers.
“Your brain likes it to get better and better and better as it gets more real and closer to reality, and then the moment before it becomes exactly like reality, your brain goes completely the opposite direction… back to ‘I hate it’ because your brain can tell that it’s trying to be fooled and no brain likes that,” Shinoda added.
“So when I saw a YouTube video or an Instagram video of this cover band, I was like, ‘That’s really interesting, but also kind of creepy that it sounds so much like Chester.’ I didn’t like it, it made me feel strange. It made me immediately know that it wasn’t the move for us. [the cover bands]I just don’t like it for us… These bands do really well, but I wouldn’t put that in my band,” he revealed.
Linkin Park announced that they would return to music in September and revealed Armstrong as their new co-vocalist. The new vocalist caused division among the group’s fans as well as Bennington’s family members.
His mother criticized the band for their “crying” new singer.
“I felt betrayed. They told me that if they were going to do something, they would let me know. They didn’t tell me and they probably also knew that I [wasn’t] will be very happy. I’m very sad about that,” Susan Eubanks said. Rolling Stone.
“I thought she was singing… I don’t even remember what it was [she was singing]because I don’t want to hear it. It was just a moment. But it was her, I was just going to say it, screaming through a very high note. And I got out of there as fast as I could,” Eubanks added.
Eubanks’ comments came shortly after Bennington’s son criticized the decision to bring Armstrong back to Linkin Park.
He claimed that Shinoda “quietly erased my father’s life and legacy in real time…during international suicide prevention month.”
Bennington tragically passed away in July 2017 and was found in Palos Verdes Estates, California. His death was ruled a suicide. No notes were detected.
TagsLinkin Park, Chester Bennington, Mike Shinoda