Mike Shinoda Says This Isn’t a Linkin Park Reunion, It’s “Intended to be a New Chapter”
Some more insight into how the reformation of Linkin Park came to be was shed during a recent interview with BBC Radio 1‘s New Music Show With Jack Saunders. In the conversation (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), vocalist Mike Shinoda revealed that things started rolling back in 2019 after he met the band’s new vocalist Emily Armstrong.
“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. [I] 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.”
Ever since the reveal of the band’s new lineup back on September 11, things have been up and down for the band. They’ve gone on tour around the world, announced a new record, and put out a couple singles in the form of “The Emptiness Machine” and “Heavy Is The Crown”, but they’ve also been hit with scandal after details regarding Armstrong’s ties to Scientology and convicted rapist Danny Masterson tarnished the public’s perception of her.
Hearing how Shinoda met Armstrong five years ago, it’s almost impossible that the band didn’t know those issues might come up, so who knows what the vetting process was like. Still, Shinoda said he’s excited to continue with this iteration of Linkin Park. He says it’s not just a new beginning, but a way to honor the late Chester Bennington.
“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.”
From Zero will be released on November 15, but you can preorder your copy today.
FROM ZERO WORLD TOUR 2024
September 28, 2024 | INSPIRE Arena – Seoul, South Korea
November 3, 2024 | La Defense Arena – Paris, France
November 8, 2024 | Globe Life Field – Dallas, TX
November 11, 2024 | Coliseo Medplus – Bogota, Colombia
November 15, 2024 | Allianz Park – São Paulo, Brazil
FROM ZERO TRACKLIST
- From Zero (Intro)
- The Emptiness Machine
- Cut The Bridge
- Heavy Is The Crown
- Over Each Other
- Casualty
- Overflow
- Two Faced
- Stained
- IGYEIH
- Good Things Go
