Linkin Park has officially made their highly-anticipated return this afternoon, and in doing so, they sat down for a revealing interview with Billboard. After months of building hype and swirling rumors, the band introduced their new lineup—featuring Emily Armstrong on vocals and Colin Brittain on drums—during a live-streamed performance in Los Angeles.
Not only did Linkin Park unveil their fresh lineup, but they also dropped new music, while announcing their upcoming album, From Zero, slated for release on November 15. On top of that, they confirmed the first leg of a world tour, giving fans plenty to look forward to.
In their Billboard interview, the diamond-certified nü-metal legends opened up about how the reunion came to be, the reasoning behind their choice of new members, and why long-time drummer Rob Bourdon decided to step away from the band.
While Armstrong steps into the massive shoes left by the late Chester Bennington, Bourdon remains the only original member from the band’s classic era who isn’t returning. The rest of the core lineup—Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Dave “Phoenix” Farrell, and Joe Hahn—is back, ready to carry Linkin Park into their next chapter.
The interview also revealed that the band first crossed paths with Armstrong in 2019 and developed a collaborative relationship over the following years. As they began writing together, they kept things open-ended rather than trying to create specifically for Linkin Park. Over time, as their creative vision solidified, the direction for the new music became clear. Reflecting on that period, Farrell shared:
“It’s so fun to look at it from this vantage point now, but in the midst of it, we didn’t know where it was going. I sincerely didn’t know if it was going to be something completely different than Linkin Park or a new version of it. In my head, I would shut down when I started asking myself, “OK, well, if this is new stuff, then how do you play old stuff?”
Mike was talking earlier about him doing music [after Bennington’s death] — I was the opposite. For a long time, I was like, ‘I don’t want to do any music. That hurts. I want to avoid that’ It took a while to get to a stage where I started feeling like this is actually energizing. And that was the shift for me, where it went from like, ‘Is it Linkin Park? Is it something else?’ Emily feels like Linkin Park, Colin feels like Linkin Park. The six of us working together, figuring stuff out — that’s energizing, and I want to keep doing it. It was like filling a battery instead of draining it.”
Regarding the challenge of stepping into Bennington‘s role, Armstrong commented:
“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.”
Shinoda also voiced his confidence in Armstrong‘s talent and the band’s resurgence, stating:
“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.”
Regarding Rob Bourdon‘s decision to step away, Shinoda provided the following explanation:
“Rob had said to us at a point, I guess it was a few years ago now, that he wanted to put some distance between himself and the band. And we understood that — it was already apparent. He was starting to just show up less, be in less contact, and I know the fans noticed it too. The Hybrid Theory rerelease and Papercuts release, he didn’t show up for anything. So for me, as a friend, that was sad, but at the same time, I want him to do whatever makes him happy, and obviously everybody wishes him the best.
I had done sessions with Colin — I met him around 2021, when I got an invite to a session with a couple of different writers, and Colin was one of the guys in the room, and I immediately clicked with him. He’s playing drums in the live show, and drums are his first instrument, but he plays guitar and bass and keyboard, and he produces and mixes.
We have a similar way of looking at music, of starting from scratch, and I really enjoyed working with him and bouncing ideas back-and-forth. I don’t know if any of these songs are going to be released, but we had done something with grandson, Bea Miller, Sueco — just getting in the room together to make stuff. And then when Linkin Park started making stuff, for whatever we were going to do, it was just like, “Oh, Colin. We’re making stuff. You should come over.”
There’s plenty more to uncover, including their insights on the new album, how they kept their comeback under wraps, and much more, all available over at Billboard.
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