Mike Shinoda remains uncertain about Linkin Park’s future

(Image credit: Greg Doherty - Getty)

Mike Shinoda has said it’s too early to think about the future of Linkin Park following the death of frontman Chester Bennington.

The singer died in July last year and in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Shinoda has reflected on the past year – and in particular last November’s emotional tribute show held in honour of the vocalist.

The surviving members of Linkin Park were joined onstage at the Hollywood Bowl by artists including Korn’s Jonathan Davis, Avenged Sevenfold’s M Shadows, Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes, Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale and Blink-182.

And looking back at the show, Shinoda has revealed he had Bennington’s voice playing in his in-ear monitors on the night and adds: “I’m used to hearing the songs in a certain way, so we've started making practice tracks. 

“So if anybody's missing, we can turn on the album version of their track and practice as if they were there. When you think about some of my parts, we would go back and forth, so I would want to hear that other voice."

He adds: “The week after the show, I was listening back and going, 'God, these people were all really great singers and none of them were Chester.'

“He had such a specific tone and range – an incredible range. He could sing almost any style you wanted him to. 

“That led to conversations about what to do next. It became obvious that you can't just hire some schmuck to get up there and sing with us, because they won't be able to hit half the stuff.”

According to Blabbermouth, Shinoda was recently asked about the future of the band, to which he responded: “That's the million-dollar question. There aren't any answers to that at this point."

Shinoda recently released his solo album Post Traumatic and will play at this year’s Reading and Leeds festivals.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.