Metal Anarchy

During a recent interview with Billboard, Linkin Park’s new vocalist, Emily Armstrong (Dead Sara), opened up about the pressures of taking on the parts of the late great Chester Bennington. According to her, “there is a passion to it that [she is] hoping [she] can fill.”

Armstrong said the following about being asked to join the band following some writing sessions that weren’t initially being labeled as Linkin Park:

“They’re like, “Hey, um, just a couple questions.” And we were recording at the time. “Hey, so, you know, we got some shows coming up, and some big festival stuff. And, you know, it’s a year out, and we think that you’d be great. We think you could sing all the old songs, and we love what you do and what’s happening with this whole process…” I’m just like, “Cool, coo coo coo cool!” I had already talked to the people around me, and Dead Sara, who were like, “Absolutely. If they ask, it’s a no-brainer.” I’d already put my feelers out just to make sure, and they were putting their feelers out on me. It was like Melissa McCarthy in The Heat: “That’s why you don’t feed stray cats!” I had just kept showing up; I was the stray cat. But that was the moment.

So then imagine hearing that, and then you have to nonchalantly waltz back into the studio, and they’re like, “OK, Emily, let’s think of another line, we’re working on the verse!” I can’t f–king think of anything else, and I have to pretend that I’m not [freaking out]. I’m there for another few hours, and I’m just trying to play it cool, because they played it so cool. But there’s f–king no way you can process it. I remember we were there late that night, and afterward I was panicking in the best way: “Is it real?” For three days at least, I don’t ever remember touching the ground. And then everything was different when I came back down — knowing my life was going to be different, in the best way. I came back to a dreamland.”

She also added:

“There is so much to this band — this is a very, very important band to this world. And the integrity of the band was really helpful in keeping me grounded. There were so many of those moments where it was like, “Holy s–t,” when you talk about the size of the shows, stuff like that. I’m on cloud nine, but then it hits you that there’s a lot of work to be done.

And going into these [older] songs, by a singular voice that’s beloved by so many people — it’s like, “How do I be myself in this, but also carry on the emotion and what he brought in this band?” That was the work that I had to do. The feeling, the energy, was already there as we were doing the album, so it’s just incorporating that feeling. [I had] to identify what the song meant to me as a singer, not just as someone listening to it. You got to marry the technical part and the emotion. It’s Chester’s voice, and it’s mine, but I want it to still feel the way I feel when I listen to the song, because that’s what the fans love. There is a passion to it that I’m hoping I can fill.”

Vocalist, guitarist, etc. Mike Shinoda also shared some praise for Armstrong:

“Now that we’re getting ready to do some shows, it’s been better than I imagined. Emily was always going to be able to hit the notes and scream the parts. It’ll be a question of, ‘How does it land with people?’ And I don’t know how it will. But I know that, when I hear it, I love it.”

Linkin Park’s new album, “From Zero,” will be released on November 15. The effort will be the band’s first to feature Armstrong on vocals and Colin Brittain on drums. Further details on the record can be found HERE.