Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda and Emily Armstrong sat down with Zach Sang show where Shinoda explained how he ‘tricked’ his bandmates into hiring the new singer.
When the topic switched to Armstrong’s work with Shinoda back in 2019, the interviewer asked if it was a Linkin Park related project. When Shinoda clarified it wasn’t, Sang asked how he knew Armstrong was the right person.
“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.”
He then further explained how the rest of the band reacted to the singer. “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.”
While the new singer just recently joined the band, she nearly joined the band years ago. Mike Shinoda recalled that it was drummer Rob Bourdon who first suggested Mike meet Emily, although other friends had made similar recommendations. Shinoda clarified that these suggestions weren’t made to have her replace the band’s lead singer, but it happened to align with Armstrong reaching out to Linkin Park’s members after hearing about the Bennington tribute event.
Armstrong shared that she was interested in participating in the 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. Somebody got word of it at some point, but it was just like, yeah, we already have it all.”
Shinoda later revealed that the reason why they didn’t let Armstrong in was they were already rehearsing the songs and didn’t want to ‘mess with what we were working with.’
Linkin Park’s ‘From Zero’ is now out, and the band has just announced a world tour to support the album.
