Seven years after Chester Bennington's death, Linkin Park have announced their reunion. The tour started on September 11th in Los Angeles, a new album is on the way. The role of singer is entrusted to Emily Armstrong of Dead Sara. The announcement has caused quite a bit of controversy.
Susan Eubanks, Bennington's mother, has a couple of things to say. She explains to Rolling Stone that the band had promised to let her know if they were planning to continue as Linkin Park. She has met with both Mike Shinoda and Joe Hahn in recent years, but neither has mentioned the possibility of a reunion. She was therefore shocked by the announcement (the band did not comment on her words when contacted).
“We’re happy to be back,” Shinoda said in concert. “It’s not about erasing the past. It’s about starting a new chapter.” Eubanks disagrees. Here’s what he had to say. (Kory Grow)
I feel betrayed. They said they would let me know if they decided to do something. They didn't and they probably knew I wasn't'It would have been nice. This thing made me angry.
They are doing everything they can to erase the past. They are playing live the songs that Chester sang. I don't know what the fans think, I know what I think: the fact that Emily Armstrong sings my son's songs hurts me.
They said if they were going to do a reunion they would talk to our family. They didn't. Samantha (Bennington's first wife, ed.) and Draven (the son, ed.) they found out with the official announcement. Me too and this hurts me too.
I've seen Joe Hahn a couple of times since Chester died, the last time was maybe four or five years ago. He promised to keep me updated, m'he said he had no intention of getting the band back together.
A couple of years ago I also met Mike Shinoda. He also promised to keep the family updated. He actually did so before releasing unreleased songs that they had on hand that Chester sang. He told Draven and Samantha, and she told me. He tried to build a relationship with Samantha, she wanted to too. They didn't talk about Chester's death, but about what he had done in life. I really appreciated the fact that she called me and told me what they were talking about, how he and his family were doing. In turn, Samantha explained to him that she was in contact with me and Draven, and that if he wanted to tell her something she would then tell me. He nodded (Samantha Bennington denies this version and says that she hasn't spoken to Shinoda since the time she was still married to Chester: «I haven't seen him since before the divorce in 2005. I think my mother-in-law gets confused between Linkin Park and Grey Daze. Pain and sadness alter the memory», ndr).
I only found out about Emily Armstrong joining the group through Google. When I open the Internet, the first news that comes up is often about Linkin Park. That's how I found out about the announcement in that week when everyone was talking about it on the Internet.
I thought the band would announce their comeback with Mike as vocalist. It was Chester who taught them how to sing. He sang a piece of One More Light which is beautiful, even though I never got to listen to it again after Chester died. I thought if they decided to continue, they wouldn't do it with a new voice.
I came across the livestream and saw her singing. I don't remember what song it was, I didn't want to hear it at all. At that moment I heard her voice, let me tell you, screeching on a very high note and turned it off as quickly as possible.
I cried.
Mike once told Chester that a girl would play those songs better than him. He liked to put him in trouble. Chester called me: “He wants to replace me with a girl.” “What are you talking about?”, I replied. He explained to me that at rehearsals Mike had told him that “if you decide to leave, we will replace you with a girl.” Chester was shocked and hurt.
It's a story that comes to mind now that they actually did it. I talked to my son about it. I didn't think they would do it.
As I said before, I thought Mike would sing and the songs would be different, not so high pitched and not so loud. Well, that would have been fine with me. I'm not fine with someone replacing him trying to replicate what he did. Nobody in the world has his voice. I've heard the result and it's nauseating: they're trying to replicate Chester's style and they can't.
If I could tell the band one thing, it would be this: I felt betrayed. You promised to let me know and you didn't. Not only that, this is the wrong way to do a reunion. Don't have her sing Chester's songs and pretend that this is the way things were supposed to be. It's making him disappear, it's erasing the past. Don't dig up old songs, don't look for unreleased Chester. Release new ones. Don't release Chester's songs sung by Emily.
From Rolling Stone US.
