Mike Shinoda Unsure of Linkin Park’s Future, Longs for AC/DC Situation
In January, Mike Shinoda said Linkin Park have "every intention" of continuing after the tragic loss of Chester Bennington in July of last year. Now, he doesn't seem as certain as he speculated the band's future in a new interview.
"I don't know," Shinoda said on the Inside the Studio podcast when addressing the question of whether Linkin Park will continue or not. "That's the million-dollar question, right? And, unfortunately, I've said it before, but, unfortunately, there aren't any answers to that at this point," he affirmed.
Linkin Park are not the first band to have their future hang in the balance following the death of a singer and Shinoda noted AC/DC's situation after Bon Scott died. "I wish we were in a Brian Johnson / Bon Scott situation where it's, like, no, the guy, our best friend, who sang for the band who passed away, he literally said, 'This is the guy,' and we listened to the guy and the guy's definitely the guy, and we all love hanging out with him, and we want to play with him," he explained, lamenting, "That's not a normal. That didn't happen to anybody else, really. That hasn't happened to us."
The decision to move ahead also comes down to getting the go ahead from five remaining band members, which is difficult as Shinoda pointed out. He said if Linkin Park received an offer to play a show in Germany, a discussion must take place. "You have one guy who's, like, 'I definitely don't want to do it,' and you have one guy who says, 'I don't know. Maybe. Maybe we shouldn't do it,' and two guys who say, 'We definitely need to do it,' and then there's concerns," detailed Shinoda.
Personally, he's unable to deal with "all that noise" at this time, but clarified, "It's not a knock on anybody else. Any one of us could be the outlier opinion, the minority voice on something, but I definitely need some more simplicity in terms of decision making."
For now, Shinoda has been focused on his solo career, releasing the Post-Traumatic EP earlier this year. The EP's title will also serve as the title to his full length record, which comes out June 15.
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