Mike Shinoda talked to Rock Antenne about the condition of Linkin Park, nearly two years after the death of singer Chester Bennington. Read excerpts of the interview.
“I see the other guys [in Linkin Park] here and there – not all together usually. Usually, it’s just one on one. But I’m sure we’re gonna get together soon and just hang out – hang out and see what’s up.”
Asked if he would ever consider searching for a new Linkin Park vocalist, Mike replied:
“That’s not my goal right now. I think it has to happen naturally. And if we find somebody that’s a great person that we think is a good personality fit and a good stylistic fit, then I could see trying to do some stuff with somebody.
“Not for the sake of replacing… I wouldn’t wanna ever feel like we were replacing Chester.
“There’s a couple of things. One, we all thrive making and performing music, and so to not do that, I think, is hard. It definitely would be hard for me.
“I didn’t wanna spend the last year not doing it, and I knew that the band was not ready to do it, so I wanted to go do it myself.
“Similarly, though, I know the other guys, they love to get onstage, they love to be in the studio, and so to not do that would be – I don’t know – almost unhealthy. If doing that means that we need to have some other people in the mix in order to do it and do it well, then we would do that.
“And the other thing is, out of respect to the fans. I think there are many fans that want to continue to see the guys onstage and wanna continue to hear the music, and if we put a show up online, they’ll wanna come.
“So as long as that connection and the interest is there, I think that’s a driving force to figure it out. But, like I said before, it has to happen naturally.
“I’m not running out and putting up ‘vocalist wanted’ posters. I think that’s wholly inappropriate and probably a terrible idea.”
