In a UK exclusive interview with Music Week, Linkin Park have opened up on their comeback album and revealed how they kept their huge reunion under wraps.
The American icons' eighth studio LP From Zero – their first record since the tragic passing of legendary vocalist Chester Bennington in 2017 – was released via Warner Records on November 15 and is heading for the top of the charts with both strong physical sales and heavy streaming consumption.
In the Midweek sales flash last night (November 18), From Zero had so far amassed consumption of 26,632 units (Official Charts Company), including 18,329 physical copies, 3,971 downloads and 4,322 sales-equivalent streams. The album so far has greater consumption than the next five records on the chart, while its streams are also the biggest so far this week, ahead of major pop acts (an impressive result for a rock act).
Linkin Park's 2024 line-up includes new recruits Emily Armstrong of LA rock band Dead Sara as co-vocalist and Colin Brittain as drummer, who join original members Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Phoenix and Joe Hahn (founding drummer Rob Bourdon has not returned).
They have already notched the group's highest charting single to date in From Zero's lead track The Emptiness Machine (176,137 sales, OCC), which peaked at No.4.
“We’re really enjoying ourselves,” said Shinoda. “Each show has been getting a little looser, a little bit more fun. Sometimes we use a basketball analogy, that when a team is really in sync and has chemistry, that’s when the dunks happen."
We’re not a typical band. We do a lot of things differently. That’s part of what makes it work
Mike Shinoda
Speaking in the December issue of Music Week, Shionoda revealed they had initially tried sessions with external co-writers before whittling down the process to the six band members.
“The album was the driving force and we were writing songs to figure out who the band was,” said Shinoda, “The album came into focus as the band came into focus. By the time we’d made a record and included Emily and Colin in how to make a show, then came the fun part. That’s when we thought about including the fans, to make it an event.
“We’re not a typical band. We do a lot of things differently. That’s part of what makes it work.”
The album's release was preceded by six arena dates across four continents in September, including a date at The O2 in London, heralded by a multi-faceted announcement less than three weeks earlier.
“We’d been offered a show that was really worth considering, which was a year, 18 months away,” disclosed Shinoda. “It got to the idea of getting on stage happening. When we first talked to Emily, it wasn’t, ‘Hey, do you want to be the singer?’; it was, ‘Do you want to do this show? Does that sound weird or does it sound great?’”
“I couldn’t imagine how it would come together," added Armstrong. "It was so strategic and genius from the band and crew. I’ve never been a part of something like that. It’s bigger than me, it’s bigger than us – this band belongs to the world.”
Their freshly announced 2025 tour leg, which launches in January, hits stadiums and arenas across North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America, including a June 28 headline show at London's Wembley Stadium. The run also includes several notable festival slots around the globe, including Sick New World, I-DAYS and Novarock.
"For us, having some shows in front of people under our belts matters," said Shinoda. "There was a period where we weren’t sure we’d be playing together again, so to be able to do it is obviously incredible!"
“I welcome the challenge, but it was hard to know what [I was] getting into until I dived in"
Emily Armstrong
Armstrong said she was already relishing her new role.
“I welcome the challenge, but it was hard to know what [I was] getting into until I dived in,” she said. “It’s even overwhelming just thinking about it; you’re trying to process it, but you can’t, so I’m just cruising. I’ve got one job, so I do that, and everything else falls into place."
Linkin Park have shifted more than 100 million records worldwide, with their 2000 debut album Hybrid Theory selling a purported 32m copies. In the UK, it is certified six times platinum with sales of 1,994,881, according the Official Charts Company.
Their most recent LP was 2017's One More Light (164,656 sales), which came out two months before Bennington's death by suicide. Armstrong, who first met the band in 2019, discussed the late singer's influence on her career journey.
“That mix of singing and screaming, of energy and empathy that he possessed had a monumental impact on me that made me think, ‘I’m going to be this type of singer,’” she said. “And now, somehow, I’ve worked my way up from singing punk rock, to singing folk, to where I am now. Chester continues to be an inspiration for me, and has shaped me so much as a musician, in how I sing and wanting to make the listener feel something.”
Shinoda revealed how the band were able to maintain a cloak of secrecy around their reunion, new album and global live dates.
“We had to go out to the crew, to people who mix front of house, to managers of other bands as we looked for openers for next year,” he said. “So all these people knew and yet none of them really told anybody. That we got to the launch and the only piece of info anybody had was ‘I think it’s a female singer’ is unbelievable.”
For her part, Armstrong explained that she exercised caution.
“It was hard to keep it to myself, so if I was hanging out with friends I didn’t drink because it’s truth serum!” she said.
Shinoda finished by discussing what would constitute success for Linkin Park 2.0.
“We just have to do our best with the things we have control over,” he concluded. “It’s about keeping ourselves focused so that we’re being inspired, detail-oriented and enjoying the process.”
Subscribers can read the full Linkin Park Music Week cover story here.
