Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda on Life After Chester Bennington, in His Own Words

[Guest Nicole]

On July 20, 2017, the music world lost one of its most innovative artists in Chester Bennington. The singer and front man was best known for his work in the genre-bending rap-rock group Linkin Park, which rose to fame with its 2000 debut album Hybrid Theory. For almost 20 years, the singer, who died at 41, shared vocal duties with founding member and longtime friend Mike Shinoda. Just two months before BenningtonÂ’s death, the California rock stalwarts would release their seventh album, One More Light, and BenningtonÂ’s last.

Over the past seven months, Shinoda has been figuring out how to heal following Bennington’s passing. Last October, Shinoda — along with the remaining members of Linkin Park — held a tribute concert in honor of Bennington where they performed a selection of career-spanning songs at the Hollywood Bowl with special guests including Blink-182, Korn’s Jonathan Davis, and Machine Gun Kelly. It was the first and only show they’ve played since Bennington’s death. In the time before and after the show, Shinoda has been reflecting, painting, and making his own music. At the top of the year, he released his Post Traumatic EP: a trio of songs that captured the darkness he felt as he processed losing his friend. In June, he’ll release his first solo album. In his own words, Shinoda tells Vulture about the grieving process, his solo project, and the future of Linkin Park.

The past seven months have been a roller coaster. Even as a kid, whenever things were going on that were hard for me to deal with, I would always turn to art. I was always drawing and sketching in notebooks. In fact, my parents used to joke that if they gave me a pen and a pad at dinner, they could literally sit and have a meal with their friends for as long as they wanted. It’s been cathartic — one of the things that’s helped me navigate what has happened.

Read more: http://www.vulture.com/2018/03/linkin-park-mike-shinoda-interview-chester-bennington-death.html