Emily Armstrong is now a member of Linkin Park, but the Dead Sara vocalist almost sang with the band years earlier. During a chat on the Zach Sang Show (seen below), it was revealed that one of her first interactions with the band came during the period in which they were putting together the Chester Bennington celebration of life performance at the Hollywood Bowl.
How Emily Armstrong + Mike Shinoda First Met
Within the chat, the two musicians were asked how they first met. Mike Shinoda recalled that he felt it was drummer Rob Bourdon who initially wanted Mike to meet Emily, though he admits other friends had also made the suggestion. Shinoda clarified that those suggesting they meet were not doing so with the intent of pushing her to be the singer of the band. But this coincided with Armstrong also reaching out to Linkin Park’s members for the first time after hearing about the Bennington celebration.
READ MORE: What Linkin Park Performed at 2017’s Chester Bennington Tribute Show
Armstrong recalled her interest in taking part in the show, but hesitated before doing so. “I was like, ‘Oh, I’d really like to do that.’ And I was being vocal with friends and stuff, and they’re like, ‘Why don’t you ask?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, right. I mean, but like, okay. They’ve got everybody.'”
“I was like, ‘Who the fuck? Why would they want me?’ But I asked, but it was a little too late,” she explained. “Somebody got word of it at some point, but it was just like, yeah, we already have it all.”
Shinoda recalled in the discussion hearing that Armstrong had reached out and he explained, “We were literally, it was like the week of or something. We were already rehearsing all the songs. We had so much on our plates to get that show together that we didn’t want to mess with what we were working with.”
In retrospect, Shinoda said that worked out better for everyone involved. “[It] was lucky that it didn’t work out that way because, by not having Emily present in that kind of space, later when we got together and started making new things and getting to know each other and stuff I think it was more of a blank slate,” he added.
Emily Passed the Test
As the band has reiterated in past interviews, Armstrong was initially among several musicians brought in to work on music when the original members started to be creative again and it wasn’t until later that she was considered not only to sing with the band but to join them in relaunching Linkin Park.
Within the discussion, Mike Shinoda revealed that the choice of Armstrong came about organically and he recalled one specific moment where the idea of reviving Linkin Park took a big step forward.
“I think the one big turning point … was kind of out of nowhere Joe [Hahn], we were sitting there talking about the new music that we were writing and we had over a dozen songs at that point that we liked and Em had sung I think lead on one or like a part of a chorus on one or two of them and sung backgrounds on couple and that was it at that point. And it was just me and Joe and Dave [Farrell], and Joe was like ‘Do you think Emily would just sing? Could we just have her sing all of the stuff?,’ and he wasn’t being silly. He was serious he’s like ‘Do you think we could demo her voice as the lead? Like on certain songs just her on the whole song just to hear what that sounds like?'”
“I heard him say that I was like, ‘This dude’s a believer!’ I know she’ll be down to do it, I know he’s gonna hear it, and he’s gonna like it. I’m positive. The fact that he came to that conclusion before even I suggested anything was really, like, that was a big deal.”
Linkin Park’s From Zero is out now and the band just announced a world tour in support of the record. Get the album and find tour dates and ticketing info through their website.
Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda + Emily Armstrong Guest on The Zach Sang Show
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