Linkin Park made a significant announcement on Thursday, introducing Emily Armstrong as their new lead vocalist and revealing plans for a world tour and a new album.
The band — comprised of Mike Shinoda, 47, Brad Delson, 46, and Dave Farrell, 47, — thrilled fans as they revealed that the Dead Sara rocker, 38, will be their new vocalist during a live performance event.
The rock group also announced plans for their Zero World Tour, starting on September 11 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles.
This will be their first run of live performance since the tragic death of frontman Chester Bennington – who took his own life aged 41 in 2017.
Linkin Park kept the surprises coming as they unveiled their new single — the first new music since Chester’s death — titled The Emptiness Machine. It is the lead track for their upcoming album dubbed From Zero.
Linkin Park made a significant announcement on Thursday, introducing Emily Armstrong, 38 (C) as their new lead vocalist and revealing plans for a world tour and a new album
It comes seven years after the tragic death of frontman Chester Bennington – who took his own life aged 41 in 2017; He is seen in 2017 in New York City
They also announced that Colin Brittain, 37, who’s a songwriter and producer for G Flip, Illenium and One OK Rock, will join the group as a drummer.
Their From Zero World Tour will visit Los Angeles, New York, Hamburg, London, Seoul, and Bogota.
Pre-sale tickets for the tour will be available for the LP Underground fan club starting Sept. 6. The general sale will start the following day on Sept. 7.
The band shared a number of clips from Thursday’s performance to their Instagram, including Emily singing The Emptiness Machine.
The event was broadcast live and can be watched on Linkin Park’s official online channels for the next 24 hours.
Emily grew up in Los Angeles, and co-founded the band Dead Sara with guitarist Siouxsie Medley in 2005.
Armstrong’s electrifying voice and the band’s energetic live shows quickly gained them a loyal following.
Dead Sara has released three studio albums: Dead Sara (2012), Pleasure to Meet You (2015), and Ain’t It Tragic (2021). They’ve also released several EPs and singles throughout their career.
According to a press release, Shinoda, Delson, Farrell and Hahn ‘quietly began meeting up again in recent years’ and ‘rather than “trying to restart the band,”‘ they worked with numerous musicians and ‘found a special kinship with Armstong and Brittain.’
‘Before Linkin Park, our first band name was Xero. This album title refers to both this humble beginning and the journey we’re currently undertaking,’ Shinoda shared.
The band — comprised of Mike Shinoda, 47, Brad Delson, 46, and Dave Farrell, 47 — thrilled fans as they revealed that the Dead Sara rocker will be their new vocalist during a live performance event
The rock group also announced plans for their Zero World Tour, starting on September 11 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles
Linkin Park kept the surprises coming as they unveiled their new single titled The Emptiness Machine. It is the lead track for their upcoming album dubbed From Zero
They also announced that Colin Brittain, 37, (L) who’s a songwriter and producer for G Flip , Illenium and One OK Rock, will join the group as a drummer
The tour will be their first run of live performance since the tragic death of frontman Chester
The band shared a number of clips from Thursday’s performance to their Instagram, including Emily singing The Emptiness Machine
Emily grew up in Los Angeles, and co-founded the band Dead Sara with guitarist Siouxsie Medley in 2005
Armstrong’s electrifying voice and the band’s energetic live shows quickly gained them a loyal following
‘Sonically and emotionally, it is about past, present, and future — embracing our signature sound, but new and full of life. It was made with a deep appreciation for our new and longtime bandmates, our friends, our family, and our fans. We are proud of what Linkin Park has become over the years, and excited about the journey ahead.’
He added that the band feels ‘really empowered with this new lineup and the vibrant and energized new music we’ve made together.’
The ‘In The End’ hitmakers have been on hiatus since the tragic death of Chester.
Nearly seven years after his sudden death, the band dropped a song. The previously unreleased track, Friendly Fire, was written during the One More Light (2017) sessions, which was their seventh and final studio album, but it was held off the record.
It served as the lead single for their new greatest hits album, titled Papercuts – Singles Collection 2000-2023, that dropped on April 12.
As part of the promotion the band also released a music video for Friendly Fire that features never-before-seen studio and live footage.
Lead guitarist Brad revealed that the track ‘was always one of our favorite songs from the One More Light sessions,’ but they just could’t get it right by the end of recording for the album, according to People.
‘Something about it wasn’t quite right so as close as it got to the finish line, we chose to set it aside for later,’ Brad added.
The guys in the band hadn’t thought about the song for years, but it resurfaced when they began choosing the tracks for the greatest hits compilation.
‘When we started looking for an unreleased track to include on our greatest hits collection, I was blown away by the power of the song, the power of the storytelling, the power of the vocal, the sonic landscape and I actually thought that it was closer than maybe we had realized at the time,’ the guitarist explained.
Linkin Park has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide; (L – R) Shinoda, Bennington, Joe Hahn, Farrell, and Brad Delson pictured performing in 2008 in Mountain View, CA
The group formed in 1996 and rose to international fame with the huge success of their debut studio album, Hybrid Theory (2000), which went on to sell more than 32 million copies; band pictured circa 2000
The band has mostly been on hiatus since the Linkin Park and Friends: Celebrate Life in Honor of Chester Bennington tribute concert in October 2017; Chester seen performing in 2017
The band’s rapper, guitarist and co-founder, Mike, confessed that the time the guys spent together assembling the tracklist for Papercuts was a ‘joy.’
‘Each song in this collection is both a singular moment on our timeline and an evolving story that is as much ours as it is yours,’ the musician and producer, said.
‘From our first release, One Step Closer to the brand-new Friendly Fire, this tracklist spans all our chapters so far.’
Formed in 1996, Linkin Park rose to international fame with the huge success of their debut studio album, Hybrid Theory (2000), which went on to sell more than 32 million copies worldwide over the years.
The debut featured the strength of the four hit singles One Step Closer, In The End, Crawling and Papercut.
Linkin Park would also garner more mainstream success with the release of their follow-up album Meteora (2003), which went on to sell more than 16 million copies.
They went on to maintain their staying power throughout the years, despite taking hiatuses to work on side projects, with all five of their remaining albums that were released, including One More Light (2017), which dropped two months before Bennington’s death by suicide on July 20, 2017.
In all, Linkin Park has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide.
Bennington left behind his wife of 11 years, Talinda Bentley Bennington, 47, and six children; seen with Talinda in 2012
Bennington left behind his wife of 11 years, Talinda Bentley Bennington, 47, and six children.
The band has mostly been on hiatus since the Linkin Park and Friends: Celebrate Life in Honor of Chester Bennington tribute concert in October 2017.
The band did release another previously unreleased song Lost, featuring Bennington, for the 20th anniversary of the Meteora album in February 2023.
The Papercuts album features 20 tracks: Crawling, Faint, Numb/Encore, Papercut, Breaking The Habit, In The End, Bleed It Out, Somewhere I Belong, Waiting For The End, Castle Of Glass, One More Light, Burn It Down, What I’ve Done, QWERTY, One Step Closer, New Divide, Leave Out All the Rest, Lost, Numb and Friendly Fire.
