Mike Shinoda has said it’s too early to think about the future of Linkin Park following the death of frontman Chester Bennington.
The singer died in July last year and in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Shinoda has reflected on the past year – and in particular last November’s emotional tribute show held in honour of the vocalist.
The surviving members of Linkin Park were joined onstage at the Hollywood Bowl by artists including Korn’s Jonathan Davis, Avenged Sevenfold’s M Shadows, Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes, Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale and Blink-182.
And looking back at the show, Shinoda has revealed he had Bennington’s voice playing in his in-ear monitors on the night and adds: “I’m used to hearing the songs in a certain way, so we've started making practice tracks.
“So if anybody's missing, we can turn on the album version of their track and practice as if they were there. When you think about some of my parts, we would go back and forth, so I would want to hear that other voice."
He adds: “The week after the show, I was listening back and going, 'God, these people were all really great singers and none of them were Chester.'
“He had such a specific tone and range – an incredible range. He could sing almost any style you wanted him to.
“That led to conversations about what to do next. It became obvious that you can't just hire some schmuck to get up there and sing with us, because they won't be able to hit half the stuff.”
According to Blabbermouth, Shinoda was recently asked about the future of the band, to which he responded: “That's the million-dollar question. There aren't any answers to that at this point."
Shinoda recently released his solo album Post Traumatic and will play at this year’s Reading and Leeds festivals.
