Chester Bennington’s mother reveals she felt ‘betrayed’ by Linkin Park

THE Linkin Park announced in early September the band’s new lineup, which includes Mike Shinoda, Joe Hahn, Brad Delson and Dave “Phoenix” Farrell. Emily Armstrong took over the vocals, while Colin Brittain replaced Rob Bourdon. The group previously headed by Chester Bennington will also release a new album in November.

The news was well received by some fans and disappointing for others. In the case of the mother of Bennington, Susan Eubanksthe news was shocking and made her feel “betrayed”. She reflected on the matter in a text published in Rolling Stone USA. Read below in full:

I feel betrayed. They told me that if they were going to do something, they would let me know. They didn’t tell me and they probably knew I wouldn’t be very happy. I’m very upset about this.
I feel like they’re trying really hard to erase the past. They’re playing songs that Chester sang. I don’t know how the fans are reacting, but I know how I feel. And having Armstrong singing my son’s songs is painful.
They said they would let the family know if they were going to get together. They didn’t. [A primeira esposa de Bennington] Samantha and [o filho] Draven they didn’t know until it was announced to the world. It was the same for me, and it hurt.
I saw Joe Hahn a few times since Chester died. The last time was maybe four or five years ago. He promised he’d let me know what was going on and said he had no intention of starting the band again.
I saw Mike Shinoda about two years ago. He promised to tell the family what was going on. And he actually reached out when they released some music [com Chester nelas] that they had, that were new. He warned Samantha and Dravenand then Samantha warned me. He tried very hard to recreate a relationship with Samantha. She was willing to do it. They didn’t talk about her death. Chester; they talked about the life of Chester. And it was very important that she called me and told me what they talked about: “How is he? How is his family? It was all about us.” She told him that she had regular conversations with me and Draven and that if he wanted to tell her something, she would make sure I knew. He said, “Okay.”
(In a statement to Rolling Stone after the publication of the article, Samantha Benningtonex-wife of Chesterdisputes the version of events of Eubankssaying in a phone call: ‘I don’t talk to Mike Shinoda since I was married to Chester. I haven’t seen him since before my divorce in 2005. I believe my mother-in-law is confusing the bands between Linkin Park and Grey Daze. Grief and sadness mess with your memory.’)
I heard that Emily Armstrong was joining the band through Google. When I go to Google to look for something, the first thing that often comes up is Linkin Park. And I saw all these ads saying, “We have an announcement.” That whole week, they were at the top if you Googled anything.
I really thought that maybe the band would get back together, but Mike would be the vocalist; Chester he taught Mike to sing. He sang a song in One More Light that I found beautiful until Chester die, and then I couldn’t hear it anymore. I thought if they were going to get back together, it would just be the band, without adding a new singer.
I watched the live broadcast when it happened. Not on purpose. I think I heard her singing… I don’t even remember what it was. [que ela estava cantando]because I didn’t want to hear it. It was just a moment. But it was her, I’ll say it like that, screaming in a very high note. And I got out of there as fast as I could.
I cried.
Mike once said to Chester that he thought singing these songs would be better with a woman, because he often put down Chester. And Chester called me and said, “He thinks they’re going to replace me with a woman.” And I asked, “What do you mean?” And he said that Mike told him in an essay: “If you decide to leave, we will replace you with a woman.” Chester was perplexed and hurt.
And the fact is that now they did it. So of course, all of this comes back to me. I talked to my son about it. I really didn’t think they would do that.
Like I said, I thought that Mike I would sing the songs, and they just wouldn’t sound the same. They wouldn’t be as loud or as intense, and it would be very different. And I would have been okay with that, but I’m not okay with it, with someone replacing him and trying to do what he did. I don’t think there’s anyone in the world with the same voice. And when I heard that, I was so repulsed, because they’re trying to do exactly what I did. Chester did, but they are not able to.
If I could say one thing to the band members, it would be that I feel betrayed. You promised me you would let us know and you didn’t. If you were going to do it, this is the wrong way to do it. Don’t put her in there to sing the band’s songs. Chester and act like it’s always been right. It’s like making it disappear, erasing the past. You don’t have to worry about revisiting old songs and finding new, unreleased songs from Chester to release. Now, you can just release new songs. But please don’t release the songs from Chester with the Emily singing.