In a recent YouTube video, The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins shared his views on Linkin Park’s choice to continue with a new singer. Talking about the band’s new single, ‘Over Each Other,’ Hawkins compared Linkin Park to other bands that kept going after losing a member. “When there’s a collaborative project and somebody passes away, there’s an obligation for the others to carry on,” he said, mentioning examples like Queen with Adam Lambert or Paul Rodgers. “It’s like there’s members of that band that deserve the right to play the songs that they’ve contributed to whilst all members are alive and with us. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with carrying on really.”
Mike Shinoda described the new phase for Linkin Park as a new chapter rather than erasing the past. Hawkins noted that Shinoda feels encouraged by the new lineup and aims to combine their familiar sound with new ideas. He added, “Well, that’s good then, because I suppose you’ve got a choice in that instance, you can either just get somebody in who resembles somehow the person that’s passed away, and then just warm over the earlier offerings and just play the old songs.”
“But it seems like they’re doing new stuff which is… I don’t know, it’s always going to be controversial, but I think it’s quite admirable. I fully endorse whomever The Darkness chooses to replace me,” Hawkins added.
Linkin Park made the decision to move forward seven years after Chester Bennington’s passing. Shinoda, speaking on the Live One Podcast, shared memories of working with Bennington: “I didn’t know any better. I hadn’t had so much experience with anybody else. I was just like, ‘Oh this is what it’s like to have a really good singer you can say ‘Hey what about this?’ and they try it and then you both go high five.’ That’s great.”
Discussing working with other singers, he said it was challenging: “When I started working with other people, I realized that it’s harder. That’s unusual. [I was like,] ‘They are really good at singing and I think I know how to write a vocal.’ And then we get together, we do it, and everybody’s good at what they do.”
Linkin Park has also released a third single with a music video directed by Joe Hahn, who previously directed several of their classic videos, including ‘Numb’ and ‘What I’ve Done.’ They recently added three new shows to their ‘From Zero’ tour in November, with dates in Paris, Dallas, and São Paulo.
