According to loudwire.com, Chester Bennington’s mom, Susan Eubanks, says she feels “betrayed” by Linkin Park over their reunion and the addition of new vocalist Emily Armstrong. Eubanks told Rolling Stone that following the death of Bennington in July of 2017, the surviving members of Linkin Park promised her that they would discuss any potential revival of the band with her prior to making any official decisions.
However, Eubanks claims that no one in the band had reached out to her prior to working with Armstrong and she claims she feels betrayed by the band. “I feel like they’re trying very hard to erase the past. They’re performing songs that Chester sang. And I don’t know how the fans are taking it, but I know how I take it. And having [Armstrong] singing my son’s songs is hurtful,” she wrote in a post for Rolling Stone.
Eubanks further asserted that Bennington’s first wife, Samantha Marie Olit, and their son Draven, were also unaware that Linkin Park were reuniting with Armstrong as their new vocalist until it was announced to the world. She claims that over the last couple of years, both Joe Hahn and Mike Shinoda personally made a promise to her that they would fill her in on any happenings with Linkin Park.
Hahn and Shinoda apparently let Olit and Draven know when they were planning to share the previously unreleased tracks that Bennington sang on “Lost,” “Friendly Fire” and other tunes. Eubanks says she learned about the song releases from Olit rather than the surviving members of Linkin Park.
“I found out about Emily Armstrong joining the band on Google,” Eubanks continued. “I actually thought maybe the band was going back out, but that Mike would be the singer; Chester did teach Mike how to sing. He sang a song on 2017’s One More Light that I thought was beautiful until Chester died, then I couldn’t listen to it anymore. I thought if they were to go back out, it would just be the band not adding a singer.”
Eubanks recalled tuning into the livestream concert that took place in Los Angeles on September 5, which was Linkin Park’s debut with Armstrong. She only heard a brief bit of the performance because she did not want to hear it. “But it was her, I’m just going to say it, screeching her way through a very high note. And I got out of there as fast as I could,” she said. “I cried.
Photo Credit: Shareef Ellis
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