Linkin Park rocker Mike Shinoda came close to quitting music after the death of his bandmate Chester Bennington.
The musician paid tribute to the group’s late vocalist while performing solo sets at the 2018 Reading and Leeds festivals in England over the weekend (25-26Aug18).
However, he has now shared that it is remarkable he’s back on stage at all as he initially struggled to enter his home recording studio after Chester’s death in July 2017, which was ruled to be a suicide.
“At a certain point, I didn’t think I was going to make music anymore,” Mike tells Britain’s Daily Star newspaper. “I got into the studio to get over the anxiety of that. My studio is in my house, which is where Chester and I would record together, so it was full of memories. I wouldn’t be able to stay for long at first, but soon the ideas I was playing turned into songs.”
He eventually returned to recording and made Post Traumatic, a solo album including songs he wrote in the wake of Chester’s death – and made a triumphant appearance at the famed British rock festivals.
“I want you guys to sing it so loud that Chester can hear you,” the rocker told the audience before leading the crowd in singing In the End alone at his piano at Reading on Saturday.
He also opened up to fans about his struggles with anxiety after his friend’s death, declaring to the crowds: “Getting up here and doing this for me is really fulfilling, and it’s really an accomplishment just to kind of get over my own anxiety about doing it again.”
After his own solo set, the 41-year-old also came out to perform with Sum 41 – with whom he played Linkin Park’s 2003 track Faint.
