“She’s not trying to be Chester, she’s not trying to be anybody else” – Mike Shinoda shares more details on Linkin Park’s future plans

Seven years after lead singer Chester Bennington’s death in 2017, Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda discussed the band’s comeback with new music and a new vocalist in a recent interview with BBC Radio 1’s New Music Show With Jack Saunders. Linkin Park made their webcast debut earlier this month with new singer Emily Armstrong and drummer Colin Brittain. Together with Shinoda, Brad Delson, Dave “Phoenix” Farrell, and Joe Hahn, the two have rejoined the group. Shinoda and Armstrong will share vocal responsibilities. For the foreseeable future, guitarist Alex Feder will replace Delson at all Linkin Park performances. “The Emptiness Machine” and “Heavy Is The Crown,” two brand-new tracks from Linkin Park, are already available. These tracks will be featured on the band’s upcoming album “From Zero,” which is scheduled to be published by Warner on November 15. It will be the first full-length release from Linkin Park since “One More Light” in 2017.

It’s insane. I mean, we have been planning this moment for a long time. So to take you back, I met Emily in 2019, I think. Just had heard her name through some friends. We wrote a couple things and just kind of messed around. And it was more about meeting than it was about writing a song. The songs were fine, but it was more about who is this person. And eventually we just started — Joe and Dave and I started — getting together more and more often. And the intention wasn’t to start the band up again or whatever. We were just slowly coming together, and eventually things just started to fall into place with Emily and with Colin, our new drummer. The new album, it came together as the band came together. We were doing sessions with some other writers and other singers and other performers and stuff. We just found ourselves wanting to call Emily and Colin back. And I remember Joe and I talked about putting her voice on some things that we had already written and only had my voice on them. And once we did that, it was, like, ‘Oh, that sounds really good. We should try that on even more songs.

He also mentioned the first time he heard Armstrong sing.

Her band that she was in was called DEAD SARA, and I heard a song called the ‘Weatherman’. And her singing, just the way she approaches the way she sings, the passion was the driver and the style was a function of — it was the vehicle that got it out of her system. And I always love that.

What are the plans for the group now, and how does the band intend to deal with Bennington’s legacy? His reply was:

The album comes out the second week of November. And I hope that when people hear it, they really understand this is not meant to be a redo or a rewrite of Linkin Park. This is intended to be the new chapter of Linkin Park. It’s, like, the old chapter was a great chapter and we love that chapter. And that ran its course. And now we were faced with the challenge of, ‘Okay, if you start from scratch with another voice, what do you do?’ And Emily’s voice, like when she sings the thing, man, it’s like the passion… She’s a hundred percent her. That’s the best part, is she’s not trying to be Chester, she’s not trying to be anybody else. She’s her, and that’s why it works.

It’s important to bond as a group.

Yeah, it’s a constant evolution. I mean, we rehearsed more for this than we’ve ever rehearsed for anything in our lives. My reference point is always like a good basketball team — you don’t get the behind-the-back pass, the no-look pass unless you just know where everybody’s gonna be. You know exactly where they’re gonna be. For me, that’s the metaphor, is like these shows are us figuring out each other’s intuitive way we move and play on stage and still making it even more effortless and more muscle memory.

The band added three more live shows in Paris, Dallas, and São Paulo.