During her recent appearance on The Sailor Jerry podcast, tattoo artist and TV personality Von D was asked by host Matt Caughthran about Linkin Park’s addition of Emily Armstrong as their new frontwoman. Von D – who was a close friend of the late Chester Bennington – admitted that she is not a fan of the band’s new era.

“To be honest, I think it’s dumb,” she said. “I knew Chester, and he was so awesome. I don’t like it when bands reunite without a singer – like when The Doors came back with another singer, get out of here. It’s not Jim Morrison. Very few bands have been able to switch singers seamlessly.”

She continued: “This is a gimmick. First of all, you’re having a girl replace a guy. That’s just strange to me.” Addressing the argument that by moving forward Linkin Park are “paying homage,” she added: “Then you’re a cover band, and you’re doing karaoke. At this point in time, I’m like, we have the technology to make a damn hologram. Make a hologram if you’re going to do it.”

“If I was a hardcore Linkin Park fan, I would want to see the original singer. I don’t want to see some girl pretending like she’s doing a caricature of something.”

“This isn’t cool. Is this a money grab? I question the sincerity of it,” she said. “And if that offends Linkin Park fans, I’m sorry, but that’s just my personal take on it. I’m just like, ‘Just change the name of the band and start a new band, if you want to do that, and cover some songs.’”

Linkin Park photo by James Minchin III