Six months after Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington’s suicide, bandmate Mike Shinoda has released the “Post Traumatic” EP, which bears a title that requires little explanation. The three songs and home-made videos — “Place to Start,” “Over Again” and “Watching As I Fall” — clearly address his feelings in the wake of his friend’s death. He also wrote a note on his website that accompanies the EP:
“The past six months have been a rollercoaster. Amidst the chaos, I’ve started to feel an intense gratitude–for your tributes and messages of support, for the career you have allowed me to have, and for the simple opportunity to create.
“Today, I’m sharing three songs I wrote and produced, with visuals that I filmed, painted, and edited myself,” he writes. “At its core, grief is a personal, intimate experience. As such, this is not Linkin Park, nor is it Fort Minor — it’s just me.
“Art has always been the place I go when I need to sort through the complexity and confusion of the road ahead. I don’t know where this path goes, but I’m grateful I get to share it with you.”
Popular on Variety
“Over Again,” which begins with sympathetic voicemails from friends apparently in the wake of Bennington’s death, appears to be about the tribute concert the band performed at the Hollywood Bowl in October, where they were joined by members of No Doubt, System of a Down, Avenged Sevenfold and many others.
“[People ask] ‘How do you feel? How you doin’? How’d the show go?’
Am I insane to say the truth is that I don’t know?
My body aches, head’s spinning this is all wrong
I almost lost it in the middle of a couple of songs
“Everybody that I talk to is like ‘Wow, it must be really hard to figure what to do now,’
Well thank you genius you think it’ll be a challenge?
it’s only my life’s work hangin’ in the f—in’ balance.”
He speaks about Bennington’s death, the California wildfires and more at the end of the third track, concluding by saying:
“I’m gonna do my best … to be appreciative for what I’ve got, and work hard on my music and art and see where that will take me.”
