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One On One With Linkin Park
Monday, January 24, 2011
Lumino Magazine had a short discussion with Mike and Chester on their music, touring and fans.
Every once in awhile they do come across a fan, or somebody who relates to a song in a particular way and they can see it in their eyes. They can see that they've touched them in a very special way. Bennington admits that as a songwriter, this is the ultimate goal. In his words, “that's like the big wet dream, to write something that really means, and really matters to somebody.”
Linkin Park is refined and recharged for Joe Louis show in Detroit
Gary Graff from The Oakland Press has a short but intriguing interview with Mike and Chester
“Chester and I would write often about fear and hope,” he says, “particularly fear of accountability, personally, or fear of accountability as a culture — of things we’re doing to each other and to the world around us. And fear of self-annihilation, that we’re just going to destroy the planet and blow ourselves up.
To celebrate the art of necroposting, here's an article from October 25th, 2010 for you guys. Think archiving purpose (:
"When I started reading reviews at the beginning," says Bennington, the band's singer, "some guy in Seattle basically said I was the antichrist, and that we were the reason the world sucked, and I was like, 'Wow, we must be doing something really good if this guy thinks that.' At that point, I decided, 'I don't really care.' "
Shinoda, the band's rapper and the chief architect of its sound, says: "We're used to being beat up in the press, and to feeling uneasy when we walk in to do an interview. We hold the music so closely, it's so dear to us, that when somebody takes a shot at it we feel like they're taking a shot at us."
Linkin Park Feels 'Energized' to Write New Music on the Road
Monday, January 17, 2011
Billboard reported a conference call with Mike and Chester about writing new musical material and Linkin Park's future plans.
"I like we're where at right now," the group's Mike Shinoda said during a conference call with reporters. "Creatively I feel like the band is really energized...We are really trying to get focused on getting in the studio as often as possible...It's definitely on our minds that we want to be trying to write as much as we can."
Associated Press has an interview with Mike, Chester and Rick Rubin where they discussed "A Thousand Suns" and the fans' reaction on the album
"As artists (making music is) a completely selfish endeavor," he said. "We're making music for us, that we like. We're not making music for other people ... We're not thinking, 'Let's make a pie-graph of all our fans and find out how many people fit in whatever category and then make the perfect album for them.' Like, that would be absolutely ridiculous."
Bennington says the band is more interested in growing creatively: "We like putting (ourselves) on the line so to speak and really take chances with the music that we're making and we're becoming more and more comfortable doing that."
On a lighter note, Jeff Christensen, the photographer who took this picture of Mike and Chester has great interest in gay couples photographing. I wonder what went through his mind when he took this particular photo (:
MTV put online a series of 8 videos called "MTV News Extended Play: Linkin Park" interviewing Mike and Chester pre-VMA, discussing Linkin Park's new album and all that jazz. You can check out those videos HERE
"People asked us if it's a concept record, and in the middle of the process, we were contemplating whether or not that was what we wanted to do," LP's Mike Shinoda told MTV News at their VMA rehearsal on Saturday. "And I think, as we finished it, it became clear that, usually the problem with concept records is, like, [the] term usually refers to things like [the Who's] Tommy or ... rock operas and stuff like than that has a narrative. And this doesn't have a narrative; it's more abstract that that.
"So if those albums are more of an Andy Warhol, this is more of a Jackson Pollock," he continued. "You can kind of look at it, and all the stuff's in there; you pull out whatever it means to you."
So now that we're clear that A Thousand Suns isn't a concept record, we couldn't help but wonder: What concept was Bennington mulling over in his head when he sat down with MTV News back in November '08? Let's just say it involved a boy and a bike — and that it's probably better he abandoned the idea completely.
"I tried to write 30 songs about a kid with a red bike and make it the most moving thing that ever happened in music, and it wasn't good at all," he said. "So we kind of dumped the kid-and-the-red-bike concept really early on."
Tell me if the concept about a kid with a red bike is not just painfully adorable (and painful...) But of course, it's smart that they moved on from that idea before the Union of Straight Linkin Park fans would get pissed off. Love Mike's comparison of the album with Warhol/Pollock's works. I am not the biggest fan of Pollock, but Mike surprised me with how accurate it is to compare their newest work with Pollock's - considering the trippy vibe both sharing. Does the Warhol/previous albums say something? Watch the interview HERE (one of the 8)
Warner Music Japan has announced on Wednesday that the American rock band Linkin Park is contributing a theme song for Bandai Namco Games' Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs. arcade game. In addition, a deluxe box of the band's newest album, A Thousand Suns, will bundle a limited-edition Gundam plastic model ("Gunpla") in Japan on November 24.
The theme song, "The Catalyst," is the first single from the album. Two editions of the album will ship in Japan on September 15, two months before the "Gunpla 30th Anniversary Edition" will ship. This is the first time that a video game from the Gundam franchise has featured a song from a Western musical artist.
The album's Gunpla 30th Anniversary Edition will include a HGUC 1/144 RX-78GP01Fb Gundam GP01Fb Full Vernian "Linkin Park Edition" plastic model kit. According to their official Japanese website, the members of the band are big fans of the Gundam robot anime franchise, and they designed the custom color scheme of the model. The Gunpla Edition will feature special box art with the band members and the Gundam design.
This is too amusing to be ignored on our site. I feel like pumping my fist in the air. Gundam + Linkin Park = a nerd's heaven. And do you see those boys in uniform? I can haz a thousand new fics inspired by this? You may wanna consider buying this.
Another great news: MTV reported that Linkin Park's performance at Griffith Observatory was voted best surprised at VMA 2010, leading by 56 per cent of votes. MTV also commented
When the band appeared at the observatory (watched by thousands of excited fans on hand) and kicked into "The Catalyst," it was a truly epic moment in VMA history.
In second place, Rihanna racked up 32 percent of the vote for her surprise appearance during Eminem's show-opening performance of the pair's chart-topping single "Love the Way You Lie." Third place belonged to Cher's outfit and Lindsay Lohan's cameo (both got four percent), while Swift's song, Justin Bieber's drum solo and the drop-in by Pusha T during Kanye West's "Runaway" brought up the rear. But in a show full of surprises, Linkin Park topped them all.
Seems like our boys just had quite a smooth start so far. Congrats!
Linkin Park's Surprise VMA Location: Story Behind Griffith Park Observatory
Monday, September 13, 2010
It's fair to say that Linkin Park's VMA performance of their hit "The Catalyst" at the Griffith Park Observatory was pretty epic. Naturally, the band's killer rock stylings were a major part of the effect, but the historic scenery definitely enhanced the experience. For astute pop culture fanatics out there, if you feel like you've seen the picturesque setting before, you have — especially if you've seen "Transformers" or Adam Lambert's music video for "If I Had You."
The Griffith Park Observatory is so named for Col. Griffith J. Griffith, an eccentric and generous early L.A. land baron, who bequeathed the land upon which the landmark now sits to the city of Los Angeles in 1896. The historic site is a popular tourist destination for its science- and space-related exhibits, but also because it has been featured in dozens of films, TV shows and music videos.
Old-school classics filmed here include "Rebel Without a Cause," "Back to the Future," "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," "The Rocketeer" and Paula Abdul's video for "Rush Rush." More recently, "Transformers," "Yes Man," "Funny People," the TV series "24," "Beverly Hills 90210," "The Simpsons" and Lambert's "If I Had You" have included footage from the historic site. Versions of the GP Observatory are also featured in the video games "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," "Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines" and "Future Cop: LAPD."
In addition to the landmark's pop culture ties, the Griffith Park Observatory's planetarium was used to train pilots in celestial navigation during World War II, and again in the '60s to train Apollo program astronauts for the first lunar missions. The observatory underwent a major renovation from 2002 to 2006 and now features an expanded exhibit space, the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater and Wolfgang Puck's Café at the end of the Universe.
Hey everyone! We're sorry for being quiet lately, I am very busy with school and Ann is on vacation (miss you!). But here's a couple things that's happened in the Linkin Park world recently
- This week's Kerrang features an interview with Linkin Park (again!). Here's a scan of the double page spread, brought to you by the LPA.
- Check out the trailer for the Meeting of A Thousand Suns DVD. You can also hear a little snippet from a song, Wretches & Kings. Excited yet? I AM!
- Don't miss the MTV Video Music Awards Sunday September 12th. Linkin Park will deliver the first ever live performance of The Catalyst. Gon be gud! (source)
- Talking about MTV, they have posted a very interesting article about A Thousand Suns, comparing it with Radiohead's Kid A. Read it right here.
MSC posted a new article on Rolling Stone magazine this month discussing Linkin Park's new album and the challenge they encountered with this record.
"We realized it doesn't matter what the songs sound like - if it comes from us, it's Linkin Park."
The lyrics, which tackle themes of conflict and fear - are the result of Rubin's suggestion that Bennington and the group's other vocalist, Mike Shinoda, free-associate over the loops. "I want them to write from the subconscious instead of the intellectual mind," says Rubin.
Bennington thinks the next record will come faster "I wanna go do 50 shows and then get right back into the studio," he says "It's all I want. It's like a drug."
I truly respect the way this band is concerning more and more about their artist's integrity and make it their priority in writing music. No matter how the album will come out, they already have gained my support. It seems like the writing session is great fun for all of them. Chester, we here at Bennoda may know why you think it's like a drug ;) Nice picture of Mike and Chester in the studio - and if you notice, Mike has once again sported that infamous shirt.
Ultimate Guitar has an interview with Chester where he talked about Dead By Sunrise, upcoming Linkin Park album, his tight friendship with his DBS bandmates and his point of view on writing lyrics from personal experiences.
Some high-lights where Mike was mentioned:
Linkin Park’s next record isn’t slated for release until 2010, but can you give us some idea of what we’ll be hearing? I read a quote from Mike Shinoda stating that the album will be “genre-busting.”
Mike, with that comment, every interview I’ve done they’ve asked me specifically about that quote! Thanks, Mike! From my perspective, I agree with him. The longer Linkin Park is around, the more difficult it is to find a place that we fit in best. Are we a pop band? Are we an alternative rock group? Are we a modern rock act? Are we a metal group? Or are we something else? Nobody knows what the hell is going on with us anymore, and I think that’s something that will propel us into being a better band in the future. I think it sets us apart.
LMAO, we guess Mike made a wrong move?
Mike’s quote was certainly an intriguing one that piqued our curiosity.
That quote is so not Mike’s personality. He’s a really pretty humble guy, and he doesn’t like to toot his own horn. For him to come out and say – “ Yeah, it’s genre-busting” – it’s kind of like, “Well, all right!
Chester also revealed about the difficulty he encountered when he wrote DBS's lyrics based on his personal experiences.
You cover plenty of personal topics in Dead By Sunrise’s lyrics, including your divorce and alcohol addition. How difficult was it to talk about those subjects, and was there one song that might have been particularly difficult to write?
I think going through it was difficult, but I’m pretty good at writing about stuff. Once I came out with being abused as a child, a lot of those doors opened for me. Now I can write about anything I want. Nobody knew about it until that day. My parents were going, “What?” It was like, “Okay, if I can write about that, I can pretty much write about anything.” I would say that I wasn’t writing songs about my particular problems while I was going through them during this record. I was writing songs about falling in love, and I was kind of skating around the subject a little bit.
After I went through all of that, that’s when I started writing very clear and very forward songs about what I went through. “Crawl Back In” talks about relapsing and how hard that is. “Condemned” is about that love affair with feeling like shit. It was very strange for me because these ideas just started coming. I don’t know if I could have done it if I had was in the middle of it. I try not to change things that much in my songs. If it comes to me, then it comes to me. If it doesn’t, then I’ll wait a couple of days. After that, I’ll just let it go. It’s not worth it.
This reminds me of an old Kerrang article where Mike and Chester talked about how they wrote their first album, how they discussed Chester's past and Mike said it was a strange way to get to know someone. I have more respect for Chester for coming through his painful past and get what he deserves today. Head straight to the Mushroom Army MB to have a deeper discussion on this if you are interested. Thanks Elisa for the tip!
On another note, I finally listened to Out Of Ashes and have to say that this album exceeded my expectation. Good job, Chester! Enjoy your solo project and come back fully with Linkin Park and Mike soon!
Pedal to the Metal - Chester's interview with Taipei Times
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Chester's interview with Taipei Times - Taiwan
Pedal to the metal By Ron Brownlow STAFF REPORTER Wednesday, Jul 08, 2009, Page 14
Taipei Times: In the late-1990s, after listening to a demo, you quit your job and moved your family to California to join Lincoln Park. What made you do that?
Chester Bennington: A little man that lives inside my head [pauses for effect]. I’m a very emotional person, I’m a very gut kind of guy. I would say that in a lot of ways if you looked at how [Linkin Park’s other frontman] Mike Shinoda looks at things and how I look at things, we probably look at things in two different ways but we somehow come to the same conclusion. So I didn’t analyze it very much. I find that when I just go with my gut and I just go with the whisper that’s in my heart, in my head, it generally tells me the right choice to make. When I over-analyze I find myself in trouble. So when I heard the demo I was like, “I’ll go out there.” When I heard the music I knew right away that it was nothing like anything I had ever heard before. That sometimes can be really bad [laughs]. In this case it was really good, and right when I heard the music all sorts of really great melodies started popping into my head and I was like, “This is a sign. I need to go, I need to do this. I need to go out there. This is the real deal.”
And when I moved out there I did see that it was the real deal. From the very first day of practices we were already a kick-ass bad. I was like, “This is a no-brainer. This is my chance. I’m only going to get one opportunity to do this. I want to do this with my life and if I don’t take chances to make it happen then it’s not going to happen.” So I quit my job, moved out, moved to Mike Shinoda’s couch, lived in the back of my car, in a really shitty apartment that had the roof cave in on it. And while doing that pretty much made a record that changed six guys from various parts of southern California and one guy from Arizona’s life completely for the rest of their existence [laughs]. It could have very easily turned out to be nothing at the same time. It could have been a fine experience and I could tell my grandkids, “Yeah, at one time I moved out to California to try to be in this band.” It could have been one of those things too. But I knew somewhere inside, something told me, “This is the one, you need to go.”
Someone write me a young, struggling LP fic please?
This interview is pretty interesting. Tell us some anecdotes of Linkin Park when they just started out, how they rose to fame with their effort and Chester's own hard time back in 05, 06. Also, it's confirmed that Rick Rubin will be their producer for the next album. Rick is a great producer and with MTM, he surely got to know Linkin Park, so we could only hope that the boys will pull off an uber amazing album this time and don't let the fans down. Read the rest of the interview HERE for more information.
MIKE SHINODA says Bennington had an injured disk, and while he's expected to make a full recovery, doctors have told him he can't continue to jump off of the band's risers in concert. Explains Shinoda, "The doctor said that's one of the major contributors to his problems, so he's got to knock that off."
I wonder if their concert would be less energetic without Chester's crazy jump and dance moves, but at least right now, this decision is a must. However, I don't think Chester can resist jumping and dancing at all. Maybe chain and leather collar are in need.
Back to the pics: thanks Chasy for posting those on the MB - 29 new live pics added to the Liveshow 3 album. Some from Pinkpop Festival, 2007:
Check out the album for pics from the other shows:
Tiberias has a new fanart up: check out her post HERE or simply take a look at this very naughty drawing HERE. You'd better find something to fan yourself!
I have been asked to post the transcript of Mix 93.9 interview/ Kansas Meet and Greet with Mike and Chester, so here it is. A big thank-you to Shela for typing down all of this. You deserve a shiny Bennoda plaque and a Platinum Bennoda membership. Please meet Ann in private to get your prizes :3
Anyway, back to the interview: read to know more about Dead By Sunrise, Fort Minor future plans, Chester's talking about Motley Crue, Velvet Revolver and what Mike and Chester think about Brad's hair!
Guy: The first two albums had absolutely no profanity and the last album has a parental advisory sticker on it I was wondering how...
Mike: It has a little bit.
Guy: Just a little bit but I’m wondering what made you guys decided to take that push?
Mike: Umm…
Chester: It worked for what they are… Nice. Like for example it’s not really necessary to be like ‘that chair just fucking broke’ cause Mike just did that, right? Caused that’s so unnecessary. But like when you are screaming like, you know ‘Put me out of my misery’, maybe it might use somewhere up there, you know what I mean? It’s all like…usually we tried to find a better way to sing what we’re saying without using too many words. But when Mike was like, we were in the studio and Mike goes ‘I want you to scream something you would really scream like up in the air when you feeling like that.’
Mike: We both said that, that was the line. Remember? We said that, and you looked at me like ‘Dude all of the guys are going to think that’s weird.’ And I’m like, I promise you that this line if it feels real, if it feels right …they heard it and we were totally wrong, we played it for them and they thought ‘that’s awesome.’
Guy: Mike, when you going to do another Fort Minor album?
Mike: No plans yet. Before “Minutes to Midnight” I didn’t know…But basically before this record I felt like that’s where that needed to go but now that’s why that sounded the way it does. Before “Minutes to Midnight” I wrote kind of songs like “Hands Held High” which happens to be the song on the Linkin Park record…but now with “Hands Held High” which like a Linkin Park song …I know I can just do that.
Guy: Hey Chester when is your “Dead By Sunrise” album coming out?
Chester: I don’t know when I going to be working on that and as well as working on then new LP record so…and I’m not even sure if I want to call it “Dead By Sunrise” any more. I think I might just go with Chester Bennington.
Guy: What made you changed it from “Snow White Tan” to “Dead by Sunrise”?
Chester: For the same reason that I might…I was just always kind of wondering if I should just go with my name or Phil Collins it or…I think there’s confusion with calling it, naming a band people think that might be…wondering away.
Mike: In my personal experience with Fort Minor it would have been better if I called it Mike Shinoda.
Chester: Yeah so like I don’t want anybody to get a misunderstanding of what it is, you know what I mean…
Mike: I had the worst time…I had the WORST time explaining that to people. Their like ‘Why is it called Fort Minor’ I was like ‘Well I wanted to name it something’.
Chester: Yeah that’s my thing to, like I wanted to name it something but I think I’m just going to name it me.
Guy: What was it like to have you guys’ song on “Transformers”? A big blockbuster to have you guys’ song it… How did that come about? I’m just curious.
Chester: One of the guys that was working on the film like the song and thought it would work great kind of as the song for the movie and took it in and played for Michael Bay, like put it over in certain pieces of the movie where he heard it and make an impact. And Michael Bay said ‘Go tell them that they need to put their song in our movie and do whatever you have to do to get it caused it fit so well, it work so well with the film’. And so it was pretty cool they kind of were very aggressive with us.
Mike: Yeah…I was telling somebody just the other day that their presentation was one of the most insane presentations we’ve ever gotten from anybody as like a pitch. Their pitch to get us like to like be convinced to use our song in the movie…like normally you would get like an email with like a synopsis, maybe like a preview with like some scenes like in a point in time...
Chester: Mind you we’re all huge “Transformers” fans. We all grew up on “Transformers” so we were fans away so all they had to do was to pretty much ask and we would have said yes.
Mike: Instead of that they came down to this thing where we were already at, like they came down to this press thing we were doing. And our manager said ‘Ok you know these guys from “Transformers” are down stairs and they’re ready to give you a presentation for the movie.’ We were like ‘Ok cool’, so we go downstairs and they had taken the entire hotel restaurant and transformed it into a movie theater. The biggest flat screen I have ever seen, 7.1 surround sound, that like blew our ears out, like we had to tell them to turn it down.
Chester: It was crazy.
Mike: We were just like…They went through so much like trouble just to sell us in this movie and we were like ‘ You really didn’t need to do that’.
Chester: It’s was cool though because we got to see like scene of the movie before it came out. We got to like see how they made the, you know, everything from like the finished fight scenes to just kind of like the broken down CG versions.
Mike: I know we saw like the highway scene…
Chester: It’s pretty awesome.
Mike: Umm unfinished which was really cool.
Guy: Think you guys are gonna have like, another song in the “Transformers” sequel album?
Mike: I say…I say it’s probably unlikely, cause I think the things just lined up really well cause our album coming out and their movie coming out, so unless their movie comes out at the exact same time as our album did then it’s unlikely so you never know.
Girl: Chester I saw your “Artist on Artist”… that was awesome. You guys know each other pretty well.
Chester: Yeah, we met when we did…I performed… during the Katrina middle phased and we did a Motley Crew song together, we kind of just hit it off. I’ve known Tommy Lee for a while and umm I didn’t really know anybody else in the band and when we did “Home Sweet Home” we just started talking, and it was like we were friends. He called me up and be like ‘hey just wondering what you’re doing’, you know, just like what the hell? Umm yeah, so we got to know each other pretty well, and he called me up to asked me to do some singing on the record… and I couldn’t do it cause we were working on “Minutes to Midnight” but then you know, I be like I don’t know, I was telling him about the record and how different it was and asking him for his advice on how I should feel about that. And he was like, ‘who cares because we did like “Shout Out to the Devil” and then we did “Girls, girls, girls,” and everyone was telling us not to do that and we did “Doctor Feel Good” and everyone tells us not to do that and every time they told us not to do it we did it anyway, and they were totally wrong.’ So it was pretty cool. And so yeah naturally we being friends for a few years and so when he asked me to do that, it was nice. We basically just talked for the whole time and it was nice.
Guy: How would you feel about singing with Velvet Revolver?
Chester: It’s pretty cool, I mean I would sing with Velvet Revolver, unfortunately I’m friends with Scott Weiland and I’m friends with everybody else in the band so it would be a little weird cause I know there was some tension between them and it was interesting cause Slash called me and asked me to sing, to do a show in Vegas with them because Scott couldn’t make the show and I was like ‘Ok I’ll do it, what do you want me to do?’ and he was like ‘Well I don’t know like what do you think.’ Well do you want me to sing whole set or do you want me to do some songs? And so that I think might of some how transpired to somebody else and that was when the rumor started and I said couldn’t do the show.
Guy: Is it true that you going to appearing in Timberland’s next album?
Chester: Me?
Guy: Umm Linkin Park.
Mike:…That was a rumor from before the record that he put out already and that happened a lot in the hip-hop community for some reason that people have to go out and say that we’re going to be on their record and we’re not. I heard that we’re going to be in Timberland’s record, I’ve heard we’re going to be in Akon’s record, I’ve heard that we’re going to be on 50 Cent’s record because, because, cause Chester sang on Young Buck’s track and that got misconstrued.
Guy: What you guys think of Brad’s hair when he first grew it?
Mike: I told him he should cut it or I’ll kick his ass…
Chester: I would like him to shave his beard though, his beard is kind of gross but his hair is cool. Just trim it down.
Mike: With the hair and no beard?
Chester: Just trim it down like the beard is kind of like, he’s half of caveman.
Mike: His hair with no beard would look like Will Ferrell…
~***~
On another note, Chester was talking to Billboard about Linkin Park's forth album which will start being recorded next month and there's a high chance it will be a concept album. He also said that he is finishing his very first solo album and revealed the producer's name. Check out all the cool news in this article.
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