In a new interview with Marcelo Vieira, Noodles shared his thoughts on Linkin Park’s decision to choose Emily Armstrong as their new singer.
“I think it’s an amazing and a brave choice for them,” the guitarist shared. “I know a lot of people aren’t going to accept a female singer — just for whatever reason; I think it’s a dumb reason.”
He added, “Emily is amazing. She’s got such an amazing voice. We got to do a tour with [Emily’s longtime band] Dead Sara before, so… I wish those guys the best. I hope they’re as successful as ever, ’cause Emily’s amazing and those guys are just great guys and they make great music.”
In September, Linkin Park announced Armstrong as co-vocalist and Colin Brittain as drummer. They join Mike Shinoda, Dave ‘Phoenix’ Farrell, and Joe Hahn. Alex Feder is touring as the guitarist instead of Brad Delson. The band’s new album, ‘From Zero,’ arrived on November 15.
Some fans criticized the band for choosing Emily to replace Chester Bennington, partly because of her ties to the Church of Scientology. After naming her the new singer, Linkin Park started their ‘From Zero’ world tour with select dates.
Mike Shinoda recently spoke with Complex and discussed bringing the band back. He talked about the process of the album, “The full time I was turning gray and losing hair. There were definitely big moments when I was like, ‘Are we doing the right thing I don’t know.’ I feel like the music got me through it. I feel like as we were making the songs every time I really sat and I listened to what we were making.”
The rocker continued, “It felt reassuring. It felt like, ‘Yeah, this has got the DNA of Linkin Park in it even though it’s different.’ I know it’s there, I don’t have to guess. So at the end of the day the big question, the challenge really was how do we present it? I know it’s there but in order for someone else to realize that they’re going to have to give it a chance, so how do we set up the best version of an invitation to come give it a chance?”
Linkin Park will play three shows in Mexico in late January and early February. In mid-February, they’ll perform in Japan and Indonesia. In April, they start a U.S. tour in Austin, Texas. A second U.S. tour will run from late July in Brooklyn to September 24 in Seattle.
