Mike Shinoda says walking away after Chester Bennington’s death would’ve been “a sh*tty way” to end Linkin Park in a new interview.
Linkin Park’s return in 2024 came with a bold new lineup and a divisive new sound, but for founding member Mike Shinoda, it was never just about keeping the band alive, it was about rewriting its ending.
Appearing on the Broken Record Podcast, Shinoda opened up about the group’s decision to bring in Emily Armstrong (of Dead Sara) as Linkin Park’s new frontwoman seven years after Chester Bennington’s death – now eight years as of yesterday. The choice, he explained, was driven by a desire to avoid leaving the band’s story on a devastating note.
“I think that one of the things that really drove us is the idea that if we had just like hung it up and said, ‘Okay, that was a good run,’ and called it quits, that is such a shitty way for the band to end or stop making new music,” Shinoda said. “That is an awful story. No one wants to read that book. And instead to be able to say, ‘And then the guys dusted themselves up off and got up again,’ that, to me, is exactly the book I wanna read.”
He acknowledged the backlash from long-time Linkin Park fans, especially those clinging to the band’s early records. “The open-mouth breather, neck beard misogynist metal fan who loved our first two records and hasn’t listened to the band since… he’s gonna hate this band and be vocal about it. So, that’s okay,” Shinoda said. “Because that person’s gonna get replaced by ostensibly a 15-year-old girl who’s, like, ‘I’ve never been into like loud music before, and I wanna learn to play guitar now.’ And I love that.”
“I mean, before anybody knew anything, we were, like, ‘Okay, here’s a laundry list of the things that people are not gonna like [about Linkin Park].’ … [These were] all of the things that they ended up not liking, all the things that anybody on the Internet argued about and continues to argue about our band. If anyone thinks that we didn’t think of those things, they’re crazy. We live and breathe this band. We thought of all those things. We went, ‘Okay. Is that okay? That’s gonna be okay, right?'”
He also addressed whether the band ever tried group therapy in the aftermath of Bennington’s passing. “That type of thing… hasn’t worked well for us because we just feel like the person, if there’s a mediator, that they don’t know us at all. Because they don’t,” he said, adding that emotional intelligence and mutual care have been key to maintaining the band’s chemistry. “If I’m doing something that’s making him or her uncomfortable or upset, then I’m hurting myself.”
Linkin Park’s current lineup includes Shinoda, Armstrong, Joe Hahn, Dave “Phoenix” Farrell, drummer Colin Brittain, and guitarist Brad Delson, though Delson hasn’t joined the band on the road. His live duties have been taken over by Alex Feder.
Their 2024 comeback album From Zero debuted to critical acclaim, powered by lead single ‘The Emptiness Machine’, and made Linkin Park the only rock band to surpass two billion streams that year.
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