From nzherald.co.nz:

When nu-metal exploded like an obnoxious mash-up of hip-hop and heavy riffing rock on to the mainstream in the late 90s it was Linkin Park who became the biggest band of the lot.

The thing was, the music the Los Angeles six-piece, and the many other bands who jumped on the rap rock bandwagon were making, was seemingly nothing more than a fleeting fad.

Well, for many of their contemporaries from that era it was. Most of the bands have faded away (good riddance Limp Bizkit), and some still hang in there with a slightly smaller but no less loyal fan base (like Slipknot and Disturbed).

But more than a decade on since the release of Linkin Park’s debut, Hybrid Theory, which has sold more than 24 million copies (making it the best selling debut album of the 21st century), they remain a big band.

Although they only sell hundreds of thousands of copies of a new album these days, they continue to play sold-out world tours, including heading to New Zealand for a show at Vector Arena on February 21.

The reason Linkin Park have endured, says guitarist and co-founder Brad Delson, who sounds cheery and relaxed on the phone from Los Angeles, is the band’s refusal to “put ourselves in one box creatively and stylistically”.

And, Delson, a likeable, straight-shooting chap, is not scared to put the boot into some of the other less creative bands from the nu-metal scene – not that he mentions names.

“Back then there was an excitement about combining these seemingly disparate styles into one, and a lot of groups, unfortunately in that time, did it very crudely and I think a lot of people were turned off by that in retrospect.

“The only way to stay relevant is to push the envelope and take those risks and fortunately for us they have paid off.”

He’s talking about doing projects like 2004′s Collision Course, a collaboration with rapper Jay-Z, and going off on more experimental sonic tangents on albums Minutes To Midnight (which followed the mega-selling and still nu-metal focused Meteora) and A Thousands Suns, which included heavy, mantra-like songs such as When They Come For Me.

“On the one hand it’s a bold thing to do because the people who really love that initial sound were, I guess I’d use the word, surprised, by the changes,” says Delson with a laugh. “But I think those changes allowed us to grow into what we always wanted to become, which was a career group.”

It worked. Now, says Delson, there are young kids who are into the band who were barely born when Hybrid Theory came out and got into the band thanks to the Transformers films of recent years that feature Linkin Park songs.

He also gives much credit for their longevity to mega producer Rick Rubin – the man behind albums for everyone from Run DMC and Slayer to the Mars Volta and the Chili Peppers – who first worked with the group on Minutes to Midnight.

“He helped us create an environment in the recording studio that is very, very open. It has nothing to do with ego, and everything to do with our collective desire to make the best record we can make every time we go into the studio.

“So the challenge he posed for us [on Minutes to Midnight] was to do whatever felt organic to us in that moment in time. Ultimately that meant tearing down what we had built with Hybrid Theory and Meteora and starting over.”

Then, on A Thousand Suns, which they also did with Rubin, they pushed the experimentation to its fullest.

“At least our version of that,” offers Delson.

But on their latest album, Living Things, they sound more like the Linkin Park of old with the loud and quiet dynamic more prominent and a generally more aggressive approach.

“With this one I think the headspace was just different. We were at a point in time where it was less about what we wanted to move away from and more about being comfortable in our own skins and using all the tools in our tool box to convey the stories and the emotions of the songs that we wanted to write.”

It was Delson, along with high school buddies Mike Shinoda (producer, rapper, keyboards) and Rob Bourdon (drums), who formed the band way back in 1996.

And these days the 34-year-old is chuffed that apart from a few line-up changes they have managed to hold it together as a band ever since.

“I can imagine for most groups it would be a challenge to stay working in harmony for a long time because any creative project or group poses it’s own personal challenges. But I think we try to focus on our relationships as friends and our respect for each other as creative partners.”

It helped that they came through the fame and fortune period following Hybrid Theory and Meteora mostly unscathed too. Though going from being in school and playing music for fun to travelling the world and headlining festivals was a big adjustment.

“But now that we are a little older, and maybe a little more mature, hopefully we’re in a position to make the most of our opportunities,” he laughs.

“For me, I think the thing that I appreciate most is the ability to be really creative and have total creative freedom, there is no one, in a commercial context, telling us what to do. We’ve found ourselves in this lucky position that we can make whatever music we want,” he says sounding like a true nu-metal survivor.

“And at the moment I’m trying to focus on just enjoying the moment and appreciating what a unique opportunity we have and trying, even though it is hard work and can be really challenging at times, to not take anything for granted.”

Watch the new LPTV Episode here.

From lptimes.com:

Chester on Loveline, Mike will be on the show April 19

Chester and Brandon Boyd from Incubus were on Loveline last night, watch and download the webcast here. Please note that the conversation contains adult content. Mike and Mike Einziger will be on the show on April 19.
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Mike talked to NME and 97X about Linkin Park’s new album

Mike had an interview on 97X , where he talked about the “Living Things”. Listen or Download the Interview on lptimes.com

In an interview with NME, Mike denied reports that the band were set to return to their nu-metal sound of their early records, but did say that the band were more in touch with their roots.

Linkin Park have spoken about their fifth studio album ‘Living Things’ and have said they believe the album takes them “back to their roots”.

The album is due for release on June 25 in the UK and June 26 in the US. It is the follow-up to the band’s 2010 fourth album ‘A Thousand Suns’ and has once again been produced by Rick Rubin. You can hear the album’s lead-off single, which is titled ‘Burn It Down’, by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking.

Speaking to NME about ‘Living Things’, co-frontman Mike Shinoda denied reports that the band were set to return to their nu-metal sound of their early records, but did say that the band were more in touch with their roots.

Asked if the record was more guitar-heavy than their recent albums, Shinoda replied: “That’s actually been misinterpreted. What we’ve actually said is that the record gets back to our roots and it’s captured a feeling that we haven’t gone after in many years. I think that’s gone misconstrued as a return to heavy guitars. There are guitars on the record of course though.”

Then asked if this meant the album continued in the vein of their more experimental fourth album ‘A Thousand Suns’, Shinoda said: “I’ll say it like this, with ‘Minutes To Midnight’ and even more so with ‘A Thousands Sun’, we were making an effort to get away from the sound of the first two records. The reason for that was that we felt if we made a third record that sounded that way, we’d be pigeonholed into doing that forever. Everybody just gravitated towards the stuff that sounded different and as we got into ‘A Thousand Suns’ it got even more different.”

The singer went on to say that the album does not signal the band “going back to their old ways”, but that they were more open to incorporating elements of their early material in their new songs.

He added: “I think we got so interested in adding new tools to the toolbox that we forgot what was already in the toolbox. After making a few records which just focused on the different stuff, it became fresh again to go back and use the old tools. It’s definitely not going back to our old ways, we’ve used all the tools in the toolbox.”

Linkin Park will tour the US this summer as part of a co-headline trek with Incubus. They will also play a small number of European dates in late May and early June.

From mtv.com:

‘We worked our butts off to create this record,’ Chester Bennington tells MTV News of fast-evolving follow-up to A Thousand Suns.

Last year, when Linkin Park told MTV News they were already beginning work on the follow-up to A Thousand Suns, it was noteworthy for several reasons — chief among them being that this is a band that likes to take their time with things.

But it looks like all that is changing. On Tuesday, MTV News was on the set of the video for “Burn It Down,” the first single from their (still-untitled) new album. So, yes, this is really happening, and yes, it’s happening soon, as LP’s Chester Bennington explained.

“Well, we promised our fans that we’d put out records faster, and that’s what we’re doing. We figured out a way to condense our cycle, so to speak, by … continuing to write, trying to keep the creative ball rolling as often as possible,” he said. “We wrote some of the stuff on the road during the last tour, and instead of … touring for two years, we toured for about a year, we came home, jumped right back into the studio and just worked our butts off to create this record.

“And this album is a really great representation of where we’re at right now as a band,” Bennington continued. “We’re kind of really comfortable with our early nü-metal days, and we’re really comfortable with where we’re at in our more contemporary version of ourselves, so this is a good representation of that comfort level with our own identity as a band.”

As for “Burn It Down,” well, Bennington said the band chose it as the first single mostly because it showcases everything they’re hoping to accomplish on the new disc: a combination of their crackling, crushing past and their ethereal, electro-tinged present. And while we can’t reveal any details about the “Burn” video just yet, we’ll let Bennington tell you all about the new song:

“All of our songs take these really big creative turns and twists throughout the process, so sometimes songs will start out as a melody or some musical chord progressions. … Other times, they’ll start out as beats, and the next thing you know they kind of evolve over the course of the making of the album,” he said. “But what’s interesting about this track is the really high energy and the really strong electronic melodies and hooks kind of set this song apart, which is why we chose it as our first single.

“We’ve kind of drifted into a lot more kind of electronic, digital feel, but what’s interesting about this record is that a lot of songs — people might pick up on this — but a lot of the songs kind of were started as these folk-driven songs,” he continued. “So there’s a very organic element to the record, as well as a very modern, kind of futuristic element too. We can’t wait for our fans to hear it.”

Watch the new episode here!