In a new interview with “The Jasta Show,” SUM 41 frontman Deryck Whibley was asked if he would ever consider joining LINKIN PARK as the replacement for the late Chester Bennington.
SUM 41 performed a cover of LINKIN PARK‘s “Faint” with Mike Shinoda at the 2018 edition of the Reeding and Leeds festivals.
“I think that’s an impossible task; I think those are impossible shoes to fill,” Whibley responded. “I don’t know if they’re ever gonna do anything. I have no idea what that’s gonna look like or who that could be.”
After host Jamey Jasta commented that Deryck‘s vocal style would be a good fit with LINKIN PARK‘s music, Whibley said: “I’ll take that compliment. I don’t know if I could do that. I don’t know if I agree with you on that.”
On whether he would consider joining LINKIN PARK if he was asked to step in and front the band, Deryck said: “That is such a non-possibility that it’s too weird to even, like, sort of ‘joke think’ about it. [Laughs] I don’t know. I don’t know how someone could fill those shoes. I think it would be tough.”
In february, Deryck shared video of SUM 41‘s performance of “Faint” with Shinoda at Reading and Leeds on Instagram, and he included the following message: “A little back story to this performance. We had only decided to perform this song together about a week before the show. We had no rehearsal whatsoever. On the day of the show we (@sum41) were stuck at customs coming into the UK and it didn’t look like we were even going to make it to the show.
“After hours of waiting we were finally cleared and had to try and make our way through all the concert traffic which ended up getting us to the festival 45 min before our show time. We quickly said hello to @m_Shinoda outside of our tour bus, confirmed we were still going to perform together, spoke very briefly about how the arrangement would go and then scrambled to get ready for our set.”
“It was such a blast to perform this song, (which is one my favorites) but also nerve racking at the same time,” he continued. “With no rehearsal and only practicing in a hotel room by myself a few nights before the show, all I wanted to do was to come in with the utmost respect and try my best to honor the music, Chester, Mike, @linkinpark band members and the LP family.
“No one will ever come close to @Chesterbe and that’s not what it was about for any of us. It was purely just about the love of the music. As you can see by the smiles on all of our faces we were having so much fun!”
