Linkin Park vocalist/songwriter Mike Shinoda has revealed that an unreleased Linkin Park song featuring singer Chester Bennington exists.
Shinoda made the revelation towards the end of a Twitch stream last Wednesday (17). Asked by a Linkin Park fan account if there were any songs cut at the last minute, he said (as transcribed by Loudwire):
“There was a song — a One More Light song that… we mixed more [songs] than [are present on] the finished album and we mixed a couple other songs just to see if one of them would make the cut or whatever — if we could use it for a B-side and it was ‘Friendly Fire.”
He continued by saying that “Friendly Fire” was co-written by Jon Green, who had worked with the band on other tracks for One More Light, and bassist Brad Delson.
“I still love that song,” confesses Shinoda. “Is that out somewhere? Did we put ‘Friendly Fire’ out at some point? We didn’t, did we?”
Unfortunately, fans of the band won’t be able to hear the track anytime soon. When asked if he could release the song now, Shinoda responded:
“You literally are going to have to wait years to hear that song, fyi.”
Linkin Park released their final album, One More Light, in 2017, just two months before Bennington committed suicide.
While there hasn’t been any uncovered Linkin Park tracks released, Bennington has appeared posthumously on other projects. In 2019, Lamb of God guitarist Mark Morton released a song from his debut solo effort, ‘Anesthetic,’ called “Cross Off” that featured the singer. Bennington’s first band, Grey Daze, who had been planning a reunion before Bennington’s death, has released several re-recorded songs with him on vocals, including “What’s In The Eye,” “Sickness,” “Sometimes,” “Soul Song” and “B12,” in the lead-up to the release of a new album, Amends, set for release this Friday, June 26.
