Linkin Park announced Thursday during a live performance event that Emily Armstrong, lately of the band Dead Sara, will join the band to try and fill the shoes of Chester Bennington. Bennington was the lead vocalist of Linkin Park until his untimely July 2017 death, and the group hasn’t released any new music since — until now.
Colin Brittain, a songwriter and producer for G Flip, Illenium and One OK Rock, will also join the band as a drummer, as reported by Variety.
The new group has apparently secretly being spending time together and collaborating for a while to build up a natural chemistry before a first-ever live performance Thursday in Los Angeles.
Linkin Park, which is composed of Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Phoenix and Joe Hahn along with its two new members, also announced a six-date arena tour. The group will be hitting Los Angeles, New York, Hamburg, London, Seoul, and Bogota, among other cities.
After spending time with both Emily and Colin, the group noticed an “exceptional friendship and a natural chemistry,” according to Shinoda.
Now in the forefront of the public eye as a member of Linkin Park, Emily Armstrong is nonetheless receiving some backlash on social media for her connections to the Church of Scientology and convicted rapist Danny Masterson. The Los Angeles-born musician, who left high school early to pursue her dream career, was spotted at the Church of Scientology’s 44th Anniversary Gala in 2013. However, whether Armstrong remains associated with Scientology remains unclear.
The announcement of the new bandmates came with a new single release, “The Emptiness Machine,” which is the band’s first new music release in seven years. The song is the lead track for an upcoming album dubbed “From Zero.”
The album will arrive on Nov. 15 via Warner Records as the group’s first full-length offering since 2017’s “One More Light,” which came out two months before the death of Bennington.
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