I agree that the LPU is not the same as it once was, but it still has some benefits. It doesn’t really make sense anymore to do the LPU like in the past, with the advancement in social media, etc. That’s not how most people connect anymore, except for the hardcore fans like on this site, etc. But for most people, people connect with the band through their socials.
The Meet & Greets were cool, yes, but I don’t think the entire band always loved doing them. In 2014, Joe and Brad would often times walk by quickly before the rest of the band signed stuff, at least at the shows I went to, they did. I think Chester was really the reason that they always did them, because he was always saying how much he loved the fans and he even did Meet & Greets at his solo project shows and stuff, too. Mike did too. So I think it was mostly him and Mike would kept them going. Plus, I think they are afraid of people being crazy to Emily and Colin, or Alex. Maybe the new members don’t feel comfortable doing them, and that’s ok.
As far as new LPU music, no point now since they have been doing the box sets. We have MTM and ATS coming up, and we will get demos with those for sure. The band loves those albums.
I don’t think it’s a case of the band not wanting to release music with Chester. They will do when the time calls for it. Just look at what we have receieved so far since Chester passed. Some HT stuff, some Meteora stuff, Friendly Fire, etc. We will get more when the time is appropriate to release stuff with him, like MTM 20 and ATS 20, etc. I think they will for sure do those two box sets when the time comes, not sure about later albums after that, but they probably will. That’s far away, though. MTM is only a little under two years and ATS is far away but not a crazy long time.
Plus they gave unreleased From Zero songs on the deluxe of the album, something they never usually did, so we even got unreleased songs with that. Just give it time, and we will get more stuff with Chester, etc.
