When Linkin Park returned from a long break last September with vocalist Emily Armstrong and drummer Colin Brittain, founding member Brad Delson announced that he would not join the band on tour anymore. Alex Feder stepped in as the live guitarist instead, performing for the first time during a one-hour live stream concert in Los Angeles the same month.

Mike Shinoda explained Delson’s decision to step back from live performances during an interview with the Zach Sang Show.

“In case anybody doesn’t understand the dynamic, our guitarist Brad is our guitarist,” Shinoda noted. “He’s in the band, but he’s realized that in terms of his—it’s kinda like a mental health thing. He doesn’t love the touring and the live show lifestyle, and so he is our guitarist, but he’s not playing live.”

The singer continued, “So, he found a guy named Alex who’s spectacular, really good guitarist, and they get along great, and Brad chose Alex to play his parts live. But at the time, we hadn’t met Alex, and so we asked Colin. I was like, ‘Brad needs somebody to play guitar, and we need a drummer. You do both equally well. What would you wanna do?’ And he was just like a kid in a candy store. Just like, ‘I can’t believe what you’re asking me, right now.’ So excited.”

Shinoda previously revealed that Delson hadn’t been sure about a Linkin Park reunion at first, either. He said in an episode of their official podcast, “Brad was hesitant. He was a little resistant. I think it was just all of the baggage of everything was hard, and we knew that, and we kept saying to him, gently, ‘The door is so super open to you. We would love to have you on board, we benefit from your point of view.’”

“‘And we have concerns. Our dynamic that we’ve been working with—the three of us, and Emily and Colin is so good, and adding anybody at all might change that. Just come in and see it, and I think you’ll like it.’ And he did, and he gave it a chance. And one of the first things he was saying was ‘I think we could write something heavier, like way heavier.’”

Though Delson stepped down from live shows, he remained involved with the band in the studio, playing on their first album since ‘One More Light.’ The new record, ‘From Zero,’ came out on November 15 through Warner Records and Machine Shop following four singles including ‘The Emptiness Machine’ and ‘Heavy Is The Crown.’

Looking ahead, Linkin Park has a packed schedule for 2025. After finishing their 2024 dates in Saudi Arabia on December 12, they will start a world tour in Mexico in late January, which will run throughout the year.