Linkin Park have officially made their return, and the band announced that Dead Sara singer Emily Armstrong would fill the role of the late Chester Bennington. There has been mixed reactions to the announcement, but negative sentiment is tied more to Armstrong’s previous involvement with Scientology and support of disgraced actor Danny Masterson.
KISS bassist/singer Gene Simmons weighed in on the pick in a new interview with Forbes. In short, he’s all for it. “It’s great. I listened. I saw some videos,” he said. “The new female singer, great! She fits the band. She sounds great and good luck to them.”
Simmons said bands should carry on if they want to even if the members change. “There are bands that tour, Lynyrd Skynyrd, lots of bands that barely have any original members or no original members. People want to hear those songs,” he added.
“Van Halen — a band I supposedly discovered or found, they had signed to me and all that — and I personally preferred the Roth era Van Halen. It was great. There was nobody like him, it changed what lead singers were. Once Roth left, ‘Oh boy, that’s the end of it!’ No, actually they literally got bigger with Sammy Hagar. All those ‘rules,’ who made the rules anyway? In rock ‘n’ roll, there are no rules.”
Simmons concluded: “So, if they — and they will — sell lots of tickets, Linkin Park, then the public has spoken. End of story. And they will do great.”
