Guitarist and co-vocalist Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park dropped by KROQ in Los Angeles Friday -- hot on the heels of the band's major announcement of new music and new bandmates -- to give host Nicole Alvarez a rundown on the new LP era.

Linkin Park just made their 2024 return with a special livestream event on Thursday (9/5) unveiling new vocalist Emily Armstrong (formerly of Dead Sara) and drummer Colin Brittain to fans -- as well as their first new music in seven years, “The Emptiness Machine,” off of the forthcoming album FROM ZERO set for release on November 15.

When Nicole spoke with Mike at the beginning of last year during the band's Meteora 20th anniversary celebrations, he had just shared their archived track “Lost,” featuring late singer Chester Bennington, which at the time led fans to wildly speculate about an imminent reunion.

“What's important to know here is that we didn't have like a moment where we said, ‘Hey, let's get the band back together,’” Shinoda explains. “We didn't have a moment where we said, ‘Let's try out singers.’” People had made a few suggestions, he admits, his favorite being an ‘American Idol’ voice style competition. However, that would have been “the opposite of what we felt was the right thing,” he says, “because our band is built on natural chemistry and relationships… it's just very important.”

At the start of the year he explains, the rest of the band had started talking more often, even approaching ideas like beginning to make some music again. “It doesn't have to be Linkin Park,” he says of those early discussions. “Let's just get together and be creative and have fun -- and that's what we did. It was more about just spending more time together, and then the more time evolved into songs, and the songs evolved into, ‘Let's invite some other people in and see how that feels.’”

Eventually, the band landed on Emily Armstrong, and “the stuff we make with her is special,” he says. "I don't know why it's special, it just feels special, and even though the things we've made are good, I bet we make stuff that's great with her if we just do it more often.”

“We also met Colin [Brittain] who’s playing drums for us now,” Shinoda adds. “Colin is a writer and producer that I met in a session, like some random session a few years ago, and just instantly clicked with him. So, once the six of us all started to get together with Brad and Joe and Dave, it was like, it just slowly came into focus.”

In the process of working on new music with Emily, an older track was resurfaced, “The Emptiness Machine,” with the intention of getting her to learn the words and see how it sounded. “She came in and crushed it,” Shinoda says, “and we were like, ‘That's like Linkin Park!’ You can't listen to that song and say it's anything else. At that point too, we were considering, ‘Should we call this a different band name?’ And when she was singing on certain things, it sounded so much like the band it's just, for me, I was just like, ‘That feels good.’"

As far as the critics go, “We've all talked about it with each other and with her a million times and we're still talking about it. One difficult thing that people are experiencing is just that they've heard Linkin Park for so long with Chester's voice and the idea of somebody else being in that role feels really different. I know that, in the context of the music that's not released yet, I know that I love it. I think her voice is incredible.”

“The best thing for people who have such a strong connection to Chester to know,” he explains, “is that Chester was a one-of-a-kind person and a one-of-a-kind-voice and Emily is also a one-of-a-kind-person and a one-of-a-kind voice. She's not trying to be him. She's trying to be her, and it so happens that I think she, singing on these songs, sounds like Linkin Park.”

Don't miss Nicole Alvarez's full chat with Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda above and stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists right here on Audacy.

Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Nicole Alvarez