The mother of the late Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington has said she feels “betrayed” by the nu-metal band’s decision to reunite with a new vocalist without notifying her.
Bennington died by suicide in 2017. Earlier this month, Linkin Park announced they are reuniting for a new album and tour with singer Emily Armstrong.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Bennington’s mother Susan Eubanks claimed that the band are “trying very hard to erase the past.”
She said her son’s bandmates had assured her they would inform her if they planned to reform.
“I feel betrayed,” she said. “They told me 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 [wasn’t] going to be very happy. I’m very upset about it.”
Eubanks said she had previously been in contact with songwriter and co-vocalist Mike Shinoda about releasing archive songs featuring Bennington’s vocals, but had been caught unawares by the reunion announcement.
“I found out about Emily Armstrong joining the band on Google,” she said. “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.”
Eubanks also recalled that Shinoda had once told Bennington that Linkin Park would sound better with a female singer, and that her son had told her that if he were ever to leave the group they would likely replace him with a woman.
“I don’t think that there’s anybody in the world that has the same voice,” she said. “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.”
Writing for The Independent, music critic Mark Beaumont argues that Linkin Park are putting their legacy at stake by reuniting.
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“Ultimately, it’s in the band’s hands – not those of Bennington’s family – as to who they feel will best serve their music going forward, not to mention who they’d be happiest sharing a tour bus with for years on end,” writes Beaumont.
“Reviews of Armstrong’s performances with the band have thus far hailed her as an exciting and inspired successor to, rather than a replacement for, Bennington. But unless these valid criticisms are swiftly and comprehensively addressed, the Linkin Park comeback might well be doomed from the off, in danger of stalling in the quicksand of public opinion.”