Earlier this month, Linkin Park announced it had officially reunited seven years after the death of singer Chester Bennington. A new vocalist, Dead Sara’s Emily Armstrong, would be singing Bennington’s parts at their concerts, which kicked off in L.A. on Sept. 11, and the band had recorded a new album with her. The band’s fans gave the announcement a mixed reaction.
One person who had immediately strong feelings about the announcement was Bennington’s mother, Susan Eubanks. In phone interviews with Rolling Stone, she said the band had promised to notify her if it had any inkling of moving forward. She had run into the group’s other vocalist, rapper Mike Shinoda, in recent years, as well as its turntablist Joe Hahn, but says neither mentioned anything about a reunion. When she learned of the announcement, she felt sudden shock.
“We are thrilled to be back out here,” Shinoda said at a recent concert. “It is not about erasing the past. It is about starting this new chapter into the future and coming out here for each and every one of you.” Eubanks disagrees. Here, in her own words, is how she has been feeling since the band has moved forward. (A representative for Linkin Park did not respond to a request for comment for this story.)
I feel betrayed. They told me that if they were ever going to do something, they would let me know. They didn’t let me know, and they probably knew that I wouldn’t going to be very happy. I’m very upset about it.
I feel like they’re trying very hard to erase the past. They’re performing songs that Chester sang. And I don’t know how the fans are taking it, but I know how I take it. And having [Armstrong] singing my son’s songs is hurtful.
They said they would let the family know if they were going to reunite. They did not. [Bennington’s first wife] Samantha and [son] Draven didn’t know until it was told to the world. It was the same for me and it hurt.
I have seen Joe Hahn a few times since Chester died. The last time was maybe four, five years ago. And he promised that he would let me know what was going on, and he didn’t have any intention of starting the band back up.
And I saw Mike Shinoda about two years ago. He promised to tell the family what was going on. And he did reach out when they were going to release some songs [with Chester on them] that they had that were new. He let Samantha and Draven know, and then Samantha let me know. He tried very hard to recreate a relationship with Samantha. She was willing to do that. They didn’t talk about Chester’s death; they talked about Chester’s life. And that was very important that she would call me and let me know what they talked about: How’s he doing? How’s his family doing? It was all of us. She told him that she has regular conversations with me and Draven as well. And that if he wanted to tell her something, she would be sure to tell me. And he said, “OK.” (In a statement to Rolling Stone following publication of this article, Samantha Bennington, Chester’s ex-wife, disputes Eubanks’ version of the events, saying in an phone call, “I have not spoken with Mike Shinoda since I was married to Chester. I have not seen him since prior to my divorce in 2005. I believe my mother-in-law is mixing up bands between Linkin Park and Grey Daze. Grief and sadness messes with your memory.”)
I found out about Emily Armstrong joining the band on Google. When I go to Google to look for something, the first thing that often pops up is Linkin Park. And I saw that whole thing of, “We have an announcement.” That whole week, they were at the top if you go enter anything into Google.
I actually thought maybe the band was going back out, but that Mike would be the singer; Chester did teach Mike how to sing. He sang a song on [2017’s] One More Light that I thought was beautiful until Chester died, then I couldn’t listen to it anymore. I thought if they were to go back out, it would just be the band not adding a singer.
I tuned into the livestream when it happened. Not on purpose. I thought her singing … I don’t even remember what it is [she was singing], because I didn’t want to hear it. It was just a moment. But it was her, I’m just going to say it, screeching her way through a very high note. And I got out of there as fast as I could.
I cried.
Mike told Chester one time that he thought singing these songs would be better with a girl, because he often put Chester down. And Chester called me and said, “He thinks that they’re going to replace me with a girl.” And I said, “What do you mean?” And he said Mike told him at rehearsal that, “If you decide you’re leaving, we’re going to replace you with a girl.” And Chester was dumbfounded and hurt.
And the fact is that now they did it. So, of course, all that comes right back into my mind. I had a talk with my son about this. I didn’t think they’d probably do it.
Like I said, I thought Mike would go out and sing the songs, and they just wouldn’t sound the same. They wouldn’t be as high or as loud, and it would just be very different. And I would’ve been OK with that, but I’m not OK with this, to have somebody replace him and try to do what he did. I don’t think that there’s anybody in the world that has the same voice. And when I heard that, I was just so repelled that no, they’re trying to do exactly what Chester did, but they’re not succeeding at it.
If I could tell the band members anything it’s that I feel betrayed. You made a promise to me that you would let us know and you didn’t. If you were going to do this, this is the wrong way to do it. Don’t put her out there to sing Chester’s songs and then act like this was always the way it should have been. It’s like making him go away, erasing the past. You don’t have to worry about going through the old songs and finding new ones, new Chester songs to put out. Now you can just put out new songs. But don’t bother to put out Chester’s songs with Emily singing them.
This post was updated on Sept. 19 at 5:30 p.m. ET to reflect a statement from Bennington’s ex-wife, Samantha.