SKILLET's JOHN COOPER: 'I Always Thought Me And CHESTER BENNINGTON Were Gonna Eventually Be Good Friends'

During an appearance on The Chuck Shute Podcast, SKILLET frontman John Cooper was asked for his opinion on LINKIN PARK's decision to recruit DEAD SARA's Emily Armstrong as that band's new co-vocalist. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "You know what? I will be honest and say I don't really have an opinion. Probably the reason is because LINKIN PARK, it's one of my favorite bands of all time. 'Hybrid Theory' is in my top 10 favorite rock albums ever, probably top seven. And I thought it was genius.

"This might sound silly to people. I never met Chester, so we weren't friends. I never met him. As dumb as it sounds, I always thought me and Chester are gonna eventually be good friends, 'cause we have so much of the same influences and fanbase," John continued. "We sing about the same things. I think me and him are cut from the same cloth. I just thought we're gonna be buddies. And I'm still not over his death. It still grieves me to this day.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm just being honest with you. I don't care who they got for their lead singer," Cooper added. "I'm not ready to move on yet. But I am happy for them that they are. They're doing something new and they're trying something new, and I think that's cool. I think trying something out of the box, it could be a really good thing, but I don't really have an opinion on the route that they went yet. And I hope that that's not a copout. That's just my honest answer."

When Shute noted that a lot of people have been critical of LINKIN PARK's decision to carry on with a new vocalist, Cooper said: "Replacing a singer is really hard. There have been a few amazing times where it's happened and it's been brilliant — VAN HALEN probably is the first thing that comes to mind. Every once in a while you strike gold, and I'm not saying that they haven't; I've got no opinion on that. It's very difficult to do, because if you're the singer, even if you're not writing the songs — now, of course, Chester did take part in writing the songs, as far as I understand — but even if you don't write the songs, all the people listening to those songs identify with the singer 'cause he's the one singing the lyrics. And so you've got hundreds of millions of people all over the world who, when they think of LINKIN PARK, they think of 'Chester gets me. Chester understands where I'm at. Chester, he would be my friend. If he only knew me, he'd be my friend.' That sounds cheesy, but I'm telling you, I've met these people. That's what it's like when you're a fan. I thought Chester would like me. I thought we were gonna be friends. So it's very hard. And what we have to wait and see is if they create a new identity that when people start hearing new LINKIN PARK music, do they hear Emily and go, 'Emily gets me. She knows who I am and I'm on her page.' That's a very hard thing for a singer to do. But when people do, it's amazing. I'll tell you who does that, funny enough, is the singer for SEETHER. We're touring with SEETHER. SEETHER's lyrics are like that. People connect with Shaun [Morgan]. They go, 'He gets me.' They did the same with THREE DAYS GRACE, BREAKING BENJAMIN, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH. People, they connect with those singers. That's a hard person to replace, man. It's hard."

LINKIN PARK introduced its new lineup during a September 5 live performance event, with Armstrong and Colin Brittain, a songwriter and producer for G FLIP, ILLENIUM and ONE OK ROCK, joining Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Dave "Phoenix" Farrell and Joe Hahn. LINKIN PARK also released a new single, "The Emptiness Machine", and announced an upcoming album "From Zero", which will arrive on November 15 via Warner. It will mark LINKIN PARK's first full-length effort since 2017's "One More Light", which was the last LINKIN PARK album before Bennington's death.

Speaking to Audacy's KROQ, Shinoda discussed the scrutiny Emily will encounter as the replacement for an iconic singer like Chester. He said: "We've all talked about it with each other and with her a million times, and we're still talking about it. One difficult thing that people are experiencing is just that they've heard LINKIN PARK for so long with Chester's voice and the idea of somebody else being in that role, it feels really different. I know that in the context of the music that's not released yet, I know that I love it. I think her voice is incredible. And the best thing for people who have such a strong connection to Chester to know, just to know about me, is that Chester was a one-of-a-kind person and a one-of-a-kind voice, and Emily is also a one-of-a-kind person and a one-of-a-kind voice. She's not trying to be him. She's trying to be her. And it so happens that I think she singing on these songs sounds like LINKIN PARK."

Chester Bennington photo credit: Tom Preston (courtesy of Speakeasy PR)