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The Offspring’s Kevin ‘Noodles’ Wasserman has said that Linkin Park choosing Emily Armstrong as their new singer is an “amazing and bold” move.
Armstrong, who previously co-founded the band Dead Sara, was unveiled as the new vocalist for the nu metal band in September, taking over the role previously occupied by the late Chester Bennington, who took his own life in 2017.
The initially warm reception to the band’s return, which also saw drummer Colin Brittain join the new line-up, quickly became divisive after it emerged that Armstrong seemingly had ties to Scientology and convicted rapist Danny Masterson.
She has since issued a statement to “to clear the air”, and Mike Shinoda has continually insisted their reunion tour is “not about erasing the past“.
The band have since released their eighth studio album ‘From Zero’, their first full body of work in seven years, and will embark on a massive world tour in 2025 with their new line-up.
Now, The Offspring’s guitarist Wasserman has had his say on Linkin Park’s change in direction. In an interview with Marcelo Vieira, he described their addition of Armstrong as “an amazing and a brave choice for them” (via BLABBERMOUTH).
“I know a lot of people aren’t going to accept a female singer – just for whatever reason,” he said. “I think it’s a dumb reason. Emily is amazing. She’s got such an amazing voice. We got to do a tour with Dead Sara before.”
“I wish those guys the best. I hope they’re as successful as ever, ’cause Emily’s amazing and those guys are just great guys and they make great music.”
Shinoda recently spoke about going with Armstrong ahead of someone with a similar voice to Bennington: “We just want Emily to be Emily,” he said. “The songs are the songs. Emily is Emily… There was a time early on, like 2020-ish, 2019, whatever – like, I remembered I was watching videos… I think a video of a cover band, a Linkin Park cover band, showed up in my feed. Fans were loving it. They were all like, ‘Oh my God, this person’s so good. They sound so much like Chester.’”
“So, when I was watching this YouTube video, or Instagram video, of this cover band, I was like, ‘That’s really cool, but it’s also creepy that it sounds so much like Chester.’ I don’t like it, it weirds me out. It made me immediately know that it wasn’t the move for us. I don’t like it. I like it for [the cover bands], I just don’t like it for us… These bands do a great job, but I wouldn’t put that in our band.”
’From Zero’ was given a three-star review by NME, who described the record as having “an intriguing mix of sensational, knockout stadium rock and some perplexingly tired songwriting”.
Linkin Park’s 2025 tour, meanwhile, kicks off in Mexico City on January 31 and will include one stop at London’s Wembley Stadium on June 28. Special guests for the extensive run of shows will be Queens of the Stone Age, Spiritbox, AFI, Architects, Grandson, Jean Dawson, JPEGMAFIA, and PVRIS. Visit here to buy UK tickets, and here for international tickets.
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