Mike Shinoda Wanted Reunited Linkin Park To Avoid Sounding Like A Cover Band

In a new interview, Mike Shinoda opened up about reuniting Linkin Park seven years after the death of the band’s vocalist Chester Bennington. The band’s founder/guitarist also defended his decision to bring in Emily Armstrong as the new singer for the group instead of a Bennington sound-alike. “We just want Emily to be Emily,” he said. “The songs are the songs. Emily is Emily.” Shinoda also recalled “a time early on, I was watching videos of a Linkin Park cover band. Fans were loving it. They were all like, ‘Oh my God, this person’s so good. They sound so much like Chester.’” Shinoda saw that and knew he wanted Linkin Park to go in a different direction. “I was like, ‘That’s really cool, but it’s also creepy that it sounds so much like Chester.’ I don’t like it, it weirds me out,” Shinoda recalls. “It made me immediately know that it wasn’t the move for us.” (Consequence of Sound)