Rolling Stone Chat with Mike Shinoda and Mike Einziger Summary

"Linkin Park will probably only play 1-2 songs off the new album during the Summer European tour."

 

Great chat.

 

hybrid1988, you live in California, true?
The Summer European tour doesn't affect you.

 

Good read!

 

They don't. Foo Fighters even opened for them last year and said they were "awesome"

 

... Are you still rhyming?

And I can't believe that Mike slept in an alleyway!

 

I was wondering the same thing^, I had work while this was going on so I wasn't able to be there.

 

Hrmmm. Linkin Park don't use backing vocal tracks live? What about the 'noooo oooo's from The Catalyst and the 'let it go's from Iridescent? I watched them soundcheck The Catalyst and the 'noooo oooo's were definitely played via keys.

Either way, always thought Dave Grohl was a bit of a douche.

 

via keys, not backing tracks

 

Based on what Grohl said (back in 2005 might I add), I'd consider it one and the same - they're certainly not live, which I think is the point he was trying to make.

 

So what you are saying is that playing a pre-programmed keyboard is essentially the same as pressing a play button? So would Joe be considered a live performer since the notes that he plays were programmed into his mpc?

 

I remember hearing about Dave fucking with Linkin Park the last time they toured together.

Anyway, sounds like this new album will be the closest to an original Reanimation we're ever gonna get. Hope it's worthwhile.

 

Foo Fighters have never opened for Linkin Park or vice versa. The only time they've played "together" was when they were surprise guests during the KROQ Weenie Roast I think in 2010 or 2011. And Dave made a crack that seemed aimed at LP during that show, something about "better than a bunch of guys not knowing how to play their instruments".

 

I didn't give a fuck about Dave Grohl or the Foo Fighters before, but that sole thing will make me hate them for life. How moronic.

 

I like Dave Grohl and I sometimes laugh at his disses, but YOU DO NOT MAKE FUN OF LP.

 

Actually guys, before you start hating Dave Grohl, he was actually referring to Foo Fighters when he said this.

I remember it distinctly, he said something along the lines of "this is real rock and roll, a bunch of guys who don't know how to play their instruments jamming out." I remember it because of how self-depricating it was.

 

It better be. I can go back to my "I couldn't care less about Dave Grohl" state again.

 

I think it is when you're talking about pre-programmed vocals. It's not like Mike is controlling the delivery of said vocals with the keys... he's pressing one of them, and those vocal lines are played. That Joe example is a bit of an exaggeration, so yes, I do consider him to be a live performer.

 

He never suggested that. He called them out for using backing tracks, which it's pretty obvious that they do.

No, they definitely don't trigger those via keys. LP's use of pre-recorded backing tracks has been confirmed in numerous interviews with members of their production crew over the past several years. They use "several tracks of playback" (not triggered samples or anything like that, straight playback using the multitracks from the original studio recordings) for most of the A Thousand Suns tracks, which primarily consists of backing vocals on tracks like Waiting For the End and Iridescent, along with some instrumental portions of their more complex tracks like When They Come For Me and The Catalyst. Portions of songs that don't really require any live instruments (mainly intros/interludes) are also typically triggered by their monitor engineer from a Pro Tools rig offstage, as opposed to being triggered by a member of the band.