In a new YouTube video, The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins discussed Linkin Park’s decision to continue with a new singer. After talking about the band’s new single ‘Over Each Other,’ the rocker resembled Linkin Park to the other bands who continued with a new singer. “When there’s a collaborative project and somebody passes away, there’s an obligation for the others to carry on. Queen with Adam Lambert or with Paul Rogers or with whomever they go out with. It’s like there’s members of that band that deserve the right to play the songs that they’ve contributed to whilst all members are alive and with us. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with carrying on really.”

“Anyway, Mike Shinoda stated that this version of Linkin Park was not about erasing the past but starting a new chapter. I think that’s quite a level-headed sentiment actually, and more recently he’s described feeling empowered with this new lineup,” the rocker continued. “All right, don’t get carried away, and said they were ‘weaving together the sonic touch points we’ve been known for while still exploring new ones.’ Well, that’s good then, because I suppose you’ve got a choice in that instance, you can either just get somebody in who resembles somehow the person that’s passed away, and then just warm over the earlier offerings and just play the old songs.”

“But it seems like they’re doing new stuff which is… I don’t know, it’s always going to be controversial, but I think it’s quite admirable. I fully endorse whomever The Darkness chooses to replace me,” he added.

The band decided to continue seven years after their late frontman’s death. Mike Shinoda has made it clear that he found the lost magic with Armstrong in the band.

“With Chester I had another human being that I could feed him ideas and he could bring them to life like nobody else. He was amazing,” Shinoda said of his late bandmate in an episode of the Live One Podcast. “I didn’t know any better. I hadn’t had so much experience with anybody else. I was just like, ‘Oh this is what it’s like to have a really good singer you can say ‘Hey what about this?’ and they try it and then you both go high five.’ That’s great.”

He added, detailing what it’s like working with other singers: “When I started working with other people, I realized that it’s harder. That’s unusual. [I was like,] ‘They are really good at singing and I think I know how to write a vocal.’ And then we get together, we do it, and everybody’s good at what they do.”

Linkin Park released the third single with the music video. The video was directed by Joe Hahn, who has also directed some of the band’s classic videos like ‘Numb,’ ‘From The Inside,’ ‘What I’ve Done,’ and ‘Somewhere I Belong,’ as well as the recent single ‘The Emptiness Machine.’

The band recently added three new dates to the ‘From Zero’ tour in November, They will take place in Paris, Dallas, and São Paulo.