After a seven year hiatus following the tragic death of the band’s lead singer Chester Bennington, Linkin Park returned to the stage with a series of sold out shows, a new album and two new members. Now, they’re sharing their story.
In 1996, three high school students in Agoura Hills, CA, joined together to make a band. Mike Shinoda, Rob Bourdon and Brad Delson had an interest in rock music, and wanted to add their own alternative flare to the genre. After adding new members, including current turntablist Joe Hahn and bassist Dave Farrell, they officially named their band Xero. Then, following some changes in the group two years later, Xero needed a new lead singer. A vocalist from Arizona named Chester Bennington immediately stood out with his insanely broad vocal range and signature raspy sound. In 2000, the group officially adopted the name Linkin Park, and their success soared.
Their album Hybrid Theory was the best-selling album of 2001, they started a successful music festival called Projekt Revolution, toured across the world in sold-out stadiums, and won two Grammy Awards. In 2017, just as their seventh studio album One More Light was released, everything came to a crashing halt with Bennington’s unexpected death at the age of 41. The shock of his passing, mixed with feelings of uncertainty about the group’s future, led to Linkin Park’s breakup.
In late 2024, seven years after Link Park split, rumors began circulating online that the group may be returning with a new lead singer. Fans tried guessing who the new vocalist was going to be. Filling Bennington’s shoes was no easy task, as his unique singing style greatly contributed to the group’s success in the 2000s. Then, at a special live-streamed concert event later that year, Linkin Park broke the internet by announcing their return and debuting their new lead vocalist, Emily Armstrong, originally from the rock band Dead Sara.
Shortly after the announcement, Linkin Park released a brand new album called From Zero, a nod to the group’s original name back in the 90s. The album featured vocals from Armstrong, and percussion from the group’s second new member, Colin Brittain. For their first major world tour following Linkin Park’s return, the band sold out major stadiums within minutes. They were greeted by thousands of fans across the globe, including an electrifying performance in São Paulo, Brazil, which is featured in the group’s newest project: Unshatter.
Unshatter gives fans an intimate, raw look inside the group’s reunion and eventual return to the stage. Directed by Linkin Park’s DJ Joe Hahn, Unshatter includes interviews with all the band’s current members, recording sessions, archival footage and high-quality footage of the From Zero tour. It highlights the unique personalities, and complicated group dynamics, that made Linkin Park’s rebrand so successful.
Linkin Park at the Los Angeles premiere of ‘Unshatter’
Photo by The Knockturnal
In an interview with The Knockturnal, Linkin Park’s co-founder and co-lead vocalist Mike Shinoda talked about the film’s development.
“Luckily we had footage kind of rolling throughout the whole, I mean the last ten years. And to be able to go from, you know, complete uncertainty, like not knowing if we even had a band anymore, or what would happen, we didn’t know what it would be called, we didn’t know who we would be doing it with, and for Joe [Hahn] to take thousands of hours of footage and tell the story of the band’s rebirth is really a special gift,” said Shinoda.
After Unshatter’s premiere at The AMC Theater at The Grove, the band sat down with Blink 182’s vocalist Mark Hoppus for a Q&A about their experience filming the movie, returning to the stage and honoring the band’s legacy.
“Me seeing it now, that I’ve come so far, it’s crazy what we went through. I don’t think I processed it all. I don’t think you humanly can, so it’s really really cool to have that,” said Armstrong, as she reflected on her experience becoming the band’s lead singer.
Linkin Park’s other new addition, Colin Brittain, shared his feelings on the group’s close family-like bond.
“I think that the music industry can be kind of lonely sometimes if you let it. So having brothers and sisters, older brothers and sisters; this is going to sound so sappy, but having older brothers and sisters or people that you look up to that you already respect, who’ve been through it, who can encourage you, it’s just a really great feeling, and I don’t think I really processed that part of it until seeing the finished movie,” said Brittain.
As the post-screening conversation came to a close, attendees at the screening were invited to an exclusive after party at Alma in The Grove. Fans waited eagerly outside the movie theater, posters and headshots in hand, as they asked members of the band to autograph their memorabilia. Inside the after party, Alma served margaritas and appetizers to keep the celebration going into the evening.
Unshatter is playing in select movie theaters nationwide.
