Bring Me The Horizon frontman Oli Sykes recently sat down with 101 WRIF and talked about his musical influences, one of which being Chester Bennington. Sykes mentioned how he associated Linkin Park and Chester’s voice with his childhood, and described how his death affected him:
“I definitely felt like a part of my childhood died when [Chester] died, of my innocence. I don’t know. But I didn’t cry because I didn’t know him as a person. [I felt] a kind of disbelief, I guess. And the same when we played the gig. It was almost like you’re not doing what you’re actually doing; you’re not actually thinking about it like what it really is.
Like I’m here, stood up… It’s basically his funeral; I’m playing his funeral. You don’t think about it like that. You just do it. I don’t know. Grief’s weird.”
Chester Bennington was found dead in his home on July 20, 2017, and it was later explained that he took his own life. In November 2017, Oli gave an in-depth interview about Chester. He described how he reacted when he first heard Linkin Park:
“I must have been about 13 when I first heard Linkin Park and, to be honest, music had never played that much of a part in my life to that point. Then I saw a Linkin Park video on Kerrang! TV, and it made me think, ‘Fucking hell, this is really cool!'”
In the same interview, he also mentioned his feelings about Bennington’s musical talent, and his influence:
“Chester’s voice was a huge inspiration, too. He was someone I looked up to. He was the benchmark, because I don’t think anyone sounds like him. He was such an iconic and unique singer. I don’t think anyone sounded like him before, and I don’t think anyone will ever again.”
It wasn’t the first time Sykes vocalised his admiration towards Bennington. In a 2022 interview, he mentioned that Bring Me The Horizon’s 2013 album ‘Seprimental’ was heavily influenced by Chester’s singing style.
You can watch the whole interview below.
