Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley says replacing Chester Bennington in Linkin Park is “an impossible task”

Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley has responded to ideas surrounding him potentially replacing Chester Bennington in Linkin Park, following the singer’s death in 2017.

In a new interview with The Jasta Show, the pop-punk singer told host Jamey Jasta that he wouldn’t be too sure about joining Linkin Park as their new frontman, as it would be an “impossible task”.

The prospect was raised by Jasta based on the fact that Whibley once performed a cover of Linkin Park’s Faint with Mike Shinoda at 2018’s Reading & Leads festival, and that he believes his voice would fit in well.

“I think that’s an impossible task; I think those are impossible shoes to fill” the Sum 41 frontman says. “I don’t know if they’re ever gonna do anything. I have no idea what that’s gonna look like or who that could be.”

In response to Jasta’s comment about Deryck’s vocal style, Whibley said, “I’ll take that compliment. I don’t know if I could do that. I don’t know if I agree with you on that.”

Elaborating on his thoughts about ever joining the band, he continues, “That is such a non-possibility that it’s too weird to even, like, sort of ‘joke think’ about it. [Laughs] I don’t know. I don’t know how someone could fill those shoes. I think it would be tough.”

Earlier this year, Whibley shareda  video of Sum 41’s performance of Faint at Reading and Leeds on Instagram, alongside the caption: “A little back story to this performance. We had only decided to perform this song together about a week before the show. We had no rehearsal whatsoever.

“On the day of the show we were stuck at customs coming into the UK and it didn’t look like we were even going to make it to the show. After hours of waiting we were finally cleared and had to try and make our way through all the concert traffic which ended up getting us to the festival 45 min before our show time.

“We quickly said hello to [Mike] outside of our tour bus, confirmed we were still going to perform together, spoke very briefly about how the arrangement would go and then scrambled to get ready for our set.”

He continued: “It was such a blast to perform this song, (which is one my favorites) but also nerve racking at the same time. With no rehearsal and only practicing in a hotel room by myself a few nights before the show, all I wanted to do was to come in with the utmost respect and try my best to honor the music, Chester, Mike, Linkin Park band members and the LP family.

“No one will ever come close to Chester and that’s not what it was about for any of us. It was purely just about the love of the music. As you can see by the smiles on all of our faces we were having so much fun!”

Deryck recently suggested that the new Sum 41 album, Heaven And Hell, will be a metal/pop-punk hybrid. It’s expected later this year.

Listen to the full Jasta Show interview below:

Source: loudersound.com