MGK Recalls Missed Chester Bennington Studio Session
Machine Gun Kelly has shared a new detail about a Linkin Park-adjacent recording session that took place during the band’s final tour cycle, saying Chester Bennington was expected to join Mike Shinoda in the studio but never arrived. The rapper, who appeared on Shinoda’s 2018 solo material, described how the plan shifted and ultimately resulted in a different featured vocalist on the finished track.
Speaking on the Garza Podcast, MGK said Shinoda booked a studio in Berlin after a show where MGK opened for Linkin Park, and the two cut a song intended for Shinoda’s solo album “Post Traumatic,” with Bennington potentially slated to sing the hook; MGK recalled on the Garza Podcast that Shinoda calling Bennington to come by, only for Bennington not to show up and Deftones frontman Chino Moreno to end up on the chorus.
MGK also described his excitement at landing on a track with Moreno and praised Shinoda’s production approach, saying he wanted to deliver his best verse because he felt he was working alongside artists he considers “goats.” The collaboration became “Lift Off,” which appears on “Post Traumatic” with MGK on verses and Moreno handling the hook.
The anecdote has added poignancy for fans given Bennington’s death in July 2017 and the way “Post Traumatic” was framed publicly as Shinoda’s processing of grief in the aftermath. In recent Alternative Nation coverage of the Bennington family’s public comments, Chester Bennington’s widow sending a message to Emily Armstrong underscored how intensely the late singer’s legacy continues to be discussed across the rock community.
While the song that emerged from the Berlin session is now a known part of Shinoda’s solo catalogue, MGK’s story offers a rare glimpse at an unrealised moment—one that could have captured Bennington on a late-era collaboration with his bandmate and two artists from outside Linkin Park’s core sound.
