Mike Shinoda on not wanting Linkin Park reunion to sound like a cover band

nme.com:

Mike Shinoda has opened up about not wanting the newly reunited Linkin Park to sound like a cover band.The band’s co-founder opened up about the band’s decision to bring on new vocalist Emily Armstrong (formerly of Dead Sara) in an interview with Los Angeles radio station Alt 98.7, and acknowledged how some fans were upset that the ‘Numb’ hitmakers didn’t find a singer with a similar voice to the late frontman Chester Bennington.“We just want Emily to be Emily,” Shinoda 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.’”#LinkinPark #HelpfulHondaMusicLounge #emilyarmstrong @Linkin Park ♬ original sound – alt987fm He continued, comparing his reaction of watching the covers to the “uncanny Valley”. “Your brain likes it better and better and better the more it gets more real and close to the real thing, and then the moment before it becomes exactly as real, your brain goes completely the opposite direction … right back down to ‘I hate it,’ because your brain can tell that it’s trying to be tricked.

And nobody’s brain likes that.“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.