Mike Shinoda Responds to Linkin Park Haters

so much happening in the world of Lincoln Park right now we've got a new song released just today some new stadium shows also announced just today and a brand new interview with Mike shodo where he's seemingly responding to the backlash that the band has been getting in recent weeks since they've announced that reunion including from Chester bennington's own family members where you have his mom and his son saying they feel betrayed by Lincoln Park's decision to reunite you had Chester's mom writing a column enrolling Stone where she said that she was promised she would be

told when Lincoln Park was coming back and unfortunately that did not occur she said a lot of other things as well we're going to recap some of that in just a moment but first this new single out today from the upcoming record from zero which drops in November the new song out today is called heavy is the crown and we got a preview of that where Lincoln Park performed it live in Germany and for those of you that have heard it let me know what you think in the comments but my initial observations on the

first couple of lists is I genuinely really like it if you listen to this song I get strong meteor vibes from it some great screaming in there as well this is to me one of the heaviest songs I've heard from Lincoln Park in quite some time so I'm super optimistic about this record from Lincoln Park it's never going to be like what Chester did and you hear Mike sort of alluding to this in this new interview from what they gave but definitely am am digging What I Hear on this new song this is uh I

think as Nick nocturnal said on Twitter Twi I thought this was great he said this is the most Lincoln Park sounding song I've ever heard and so it seems like Lincoln Park is really going for this and they're really you know not trying to go against the grain and change from what the fans want to hear they're really giving the fans what they want in terms of the sound so you have a lot of very happy people and of course there are many detractors as well there are many people who are unhappy about this for

a number of reasons there are people who are even outraged by this as I have seen in the comments and you know I respect all points of view here so there are certainly warranted criticisms of Lincoln Park I think you're hearing that from Chester son you're hearing that from Chester's mom as well in that column but needless to say Lincoln Park definitely has a right to persist and continue as a band and that is what they are poised to do with this new record and as I said with the panta reunion news if you don't

want to see it certainly don't go um I it doesn't look like they're having any trouble selling out these Arenas and now they're moving up stadiums you've got one just announced in Dallas I think there's another one in Paris and then they're doing another in Brazil and this is going to be in the next few weeks so interestingly enough uh the opening acts on these shows are very very cool I got to give credit where credit is due here you have bad Omens opening up for Lincoln Park at the show in Texas in Dallas they're

performing at a stadium there and then you also have ladies and gentlemen none other than sleep token opening for l lcol park at their show in Paris and I think you have helmet opening for them in Brazil um I I could be wrong but I've got all of the details up on your screen right now and it's very very interesting to see Lincoln Park bringing out bad Omens bringing out sleep token and it's clear that they're really trying to appeal not just to the old school Lincoln Park fans from way back in the day but

really trying to keep their fingers on the pulse of what's happening right now in rock and there's so much to be excited about on that front when you look at Lincoln Park um with both bat Omens and sleep token these are two of the fastest rising bands currently in rock so it it's really neat to see that up on those lineups now what I also think is interesting about this Lincoln Park reunion is what we're seeing from the live production they really have a very unique live production it looks really cool the light show is

insane I still haven't got to see it in person yet but the videos that I'm seeing their production they've also put out some behind the scenes stuff of how that all came together I think that's really interesting now now you have Mike Shinoda in this new interview also seemingly responding to the backlash as much as I think they're going to respond to it so far I think these interviews that we've seen from Lincoln Park have left much to be desired I don't really like when there interviews and from my standpoint they they appear to be

I would suggest maybe there's questions that they can't ask or there are subject matters that are off limits and they're very kind of sheltered style interviews from what I can see and that's not to say that Lincoln Park needs to sit in some interview and have somebody just bashing them or asking them insane questions or anything but certainly there should be maybe some questions to be asked about what is being said about this band on a variety of subject matters and as of yet I haven't really seen that but this is I think as close

as we may get of a response from Mike Shinoda on all of the things that are being said and um you know whether or not they feel the need to respond to this stuff is up to them I do think that these questions and concerns that a lot of people have aren't necessarily going to go away and again I think they're a very smart band I think they're probably aware of all of this stuff I do think that they may not have anticipated before all of these announcements just how intense some of this stuff has

been with family members criticizing the band and and whatnot but this is a little bit of what has been said by Chester's family two members of his family his son and his mom have been very critical of Lincoln Park's reunion and they have said that they feel as though Lincoln Park is trying to erase Chester's Legacy me personally I don't believe that I don't think they're actually trying to eras his legacy and I think they should continue but this is what uh from the family standpoint and they should be heard this is what uh Jamie

first said about this says he's not even able to get into contact with Mike shenoda Chester's son jimie said in part hey Mike people aren't having a difficult time wrapping their head around around the prospect of Lincoln Park Reinventing itself they're having a hard time wrapping their head around how you hired your friend of many years Emily Armstrong to replace Chester Bennington knowing Emily's history in the church and her history as an ally to Danny Masterson is what it is and two quietly erase my father's Life and Legacy in real time not only during a

band interview meant to clear the air about certain aspects of Lincoln Park's history and future but during International prevention month now only 48 hours or so after Lincoln Park introduced Emily Armstrong as the new singer of Lincoln Park she did have to issue a statement in response to her past association with Danny Masterson you had a member of the Mars vulta calling her out as well for that and I think that played a big factor in her releasing the following statement here's what she had to say at the time she wrote hi I'm Emily I'm

new to so many of you and I wanted to clear the air about something that happened a while back several years ago I was asked to support someone I considered a friend at a court appearance and went to one early hearing as an observer soon after I realized I shouldn't have I always tried to see the good in people and I misjudged him I've never spoken with him since unimaginable details emerged and he was later found guilty to say this clearly as possible I do not condone abuse or violence against women and I empathize with

the victims of these crimes now I think it seems quite likely that Emily was born into Scientology and if anyone can look into Scientology it's a complex situation if you're born into that and so she doesn't really speak on it um she hasn't really opened up about that subject matter I don't know if she will but at the end of the day it seems like her support in uh Danny Masterson's trial early on is somehow linked to that because he was a noted Scientologist now as for Chester's mom she posts a very stunning statement in

Rolling Stone where she goes into a lot of detail about what Chester said to her about Lincoln Park she alleges in her statement that her son Chester told her that Mike had previously said to him that he would replace him with a female vocalist and that also the members of the band had promised her that they would let her know about this reunion here's a little bit of her statement you can read the entire thing over at Rolling Stone Chester bennington's mom Susan Eubanks told Rolling Stone 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 Emily singing my son's songs is hurtful later in her statement she alleged that Mike shenoda would often put Chester down and she claims that her son Chester told her that Mike told him that they would replace him with a woman if he ever decided to leave the band she wrote 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 so you hear the perspective of Chester's family but it's also important to hear the perspective of Mike and the rest of the band as well I I'm not a person who believes that a band should not continue because they go through something which in this case is a horrific tragedy I don't think the band should not be able to come back I do think you should hear what the family has to say but I don't think that you should just act as though the group has no right to return and um

so I I support their return for sure and so this is what Mike has to say he's very much saying this is not about trying to be like Chester this is not about trying to erase him or anything he's he's really labeling this Lincoln Park 2.0 here's what he said in a new radio interview in a new interview this week with BBC Radio 1's new music show Mike shenot seemingly addressed the backlash the band has been facing since they announced their reunion to date the band is mostly shied away from commenting on the matter and

this is the first time that shenoda has seemingly addressed some of the controversy in an interview he said this is intended to be a new chapter of Lincoln Park the old chapter was a great chapter and we loved that chapter it ran its course and now we were faced with the challenge of well okay if you start from scratch with another voice what do you do Mike says when he initially met Emily there were no plans of reforming Lincoln Park back in 2019 he said the intention wasn't to start the band up again we were

just slowly coming together and then eventually things just started to fall into place with Emily and with Colin our new Drummer we talked about putting her voice on things we'd already written that only had my voice on them once we did that we were like that sounds really good and we should try that on even more songs of Emily singing in the band he says passion is the driver of her vocals he said when she sings it's like the passion and she's just 100% her that's the best part she's not trying to be Chester she's

not trying to be anybody else she's her and that's why it works he says the band has meticulously prepared for their Liv shows he said we rehearsed more for this than we've ever rehearsed for anything in our lives these shows are us figuring out our intuitive ways of how we move and play on stage and making it even more effortless and so Mike is really saying this is just a new era of the band they're not trying to replace Chester they just had to figure out how they're going to move forward and you know I

think no matter who they chose as the vocalist it was never going to be a perfect situation I do think it seems like they didn't really anticipate some of the stuff with Emily but overall I really like the new songs their live performances look really good uh this song heavy as the crown is catchy as hell got to say it's a fantastic song and so is the emptiness machine so I'm looking forward to hearing more from that you can also check out the dates up on your screen the new shows they just announced earlier today

you've got bad Omen sleep token helmet cannot imagine what those shows are going to look like with those awesome upcoming rock bands there's just so much momentum happening in rock and metal right now so that's your latest update here from Rock feed appreciate you tuning in if you're new here be sure to subscribe with notifications on for the latest news and updates