Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda and Emily Armstrong recently sat down with the Zach Sang Show, where Shinoda shared how he ‘tricked’ his bandmates into hiring Armstrong as the new singer.
The conversation turned to Armstrong’s work with Shinoda in 2019, and when the interviewer asked if it was a Linkin Park-related project, Shinoda clarified that it wasn’t. He then explained how he knew Armstrong was the right choice for the band.
“I was a little more of a believer earlier because I spent the most time with Emily so I was like, ‘Yeah she’s good,’ and I think the guys are going to like her but I don’t want to be pushy about it. I want to just present what I think I know and let them react. So we just started doing some sessions and I played them.” The rocker admitted, “I even made them like a little very short Dead Sara playlist.”
Shinoda further explained how the band responded to Armstrong’s voice. “Kind of out of nowhere Joe [and I] were sitting there talking about the new music that we were writing and we had over a dozen songs at that point that we liked. Em had sung I think lead on one or a part like a chorus on one or two of them and sung backgrounds on a couple. That was it.”
“It was just me and Joe and Dave [Farrell], and Joe [Hahn] was like, ‘Do you think Emily would just sing? Could we just have her sing all of the stuff?’ He wasn’t being silly, he was like serious,” Shinoda revealed. “He’s like, ‘Do you think we could demo her voice as the lead on certain songs just her on the whole song just to hear what that sounds like?’ I heard him say that I was like, I was like, ‘This dude’s a believer!’ I know she’ll be down to do it, I know he’s gonna hear it, and he’s gonna like it. I’m positive. The fact that he came to that conclusion before even I suggested anything was really, like, that was a big deal.”
Although Armstrong is now part of the band, she almost joined years ago. Shinoda remembered that it was drummer Rob Bourdon who first recommended he meet Armstrong, although other friends had also suggested it. Shinoda clarified that these suggestions weren’t aimed at replacing the band’s lead singer, but it happened to line up with Armstrong reaching out to Linkin Park after hearing about the Chester Bennington tribute event.
Armstrong shared how she felt about joining the tribute show but hesitated at first. “I was like, ‘Oh, I’d really like to do that.’ And I was being vocal with friends and stuff, and they’re like, ‘Why don’t you ask?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, right. I mean, but like, okay. They’ve got everybody.'”
“I was like, ‘Who the f*ck? Why would they want me?’ But I asked, but it was a little too late,” she explained. “Somebody got word of it at some point, but it was just like, yeah, we already have it all.”
Shinoda later explained that they didn’t bring Armstrong in for the tribute show because they were already rehearsing and didn’t want to ‘mess with what we were working with.’
Linkin Park’s ‘From Zero’ is now available, and the band has announced a world tour in support of the album.
