On Oct. 27, Linkin Park took the stage for the first time since Chester Bennington's death, inviting friends from a wealth of acts to join them as they celebrated the life of their late singer. Among the guests was Avenged Sevenfold's M. Shadows, who recently spoke with Eddie Trunk about the future of Linkin Park and how he can't see Mike Shinoda "just being done with it."

"I didn't know Chester very well; I knew him kind of fleetingly, I guess. But I'm really good friends with Mike Shinoda and Dave [Farrell]," Shadows said (transcription via Blabbermouth) when describing his relationship with Linkin Park. The singer detailed how he and Shinoda get together "every summer when Coachella happens" and that Shinoda played him the demos of One More Light prior to the album's release, which he called "pretty haunting at the time."

"They're human beings and they have a long life to live. And I think if they love music this much, they have every right to move forward," said Shadows, adding, "Knowing Mike as well as I do, he's always been, in my opinion, the leader of that band — the guy who gets things going, the guy who gets demos going, the guy who obsesses over every detail of that band."

Linkin Park haven't made a decision on whether they will continue as a band, either with their current lineup or with a new singer in place of Bennington. It's clear this is weighing heavily on the members as they waited over two months from the vocalist's death to announce that their November tour of Japan had officially been canceled. In a statement, the band expressed they "sincerely wished to play, even in the wake of Chester's passing," indicating there may be a future for Linkin Park.

Shadows understood the difficulty of carrying on without Bennington, who he said was "easily one of the best vocalists of our time." He reiterated his confidence in Shinoda, going on to state, "And it's going to be tough, but at the same time, Mike is such a hard worker and he's so dedicated to that band and put so much time in that I can't just see him just being done with it." The A7X frontman even tossed out the idea that they could possibly continue under a different name, once again returning to Shinoda's drive and work ethic, concluding, "I just can't see him letting that go. I don't think it's possible and I think it would be a shame if he did."

While the future of Linkin Park remains uncertain, they've already penned one new song in the months since losing Bennington. Shinoda stood alone onstage behind a keyboard to perform the highly emotional new ballad "Looking for an Answer" at the aforementioned tribute show.

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