While answering fan questions on Discord, LINKIN PARK‘s Mike Shinoda shared why the band has been prioritizing their newer material over older tracks from the Chester Bennington era in their recent live shows.
“I hear your song requests. We are in the fortunate position of having too many songs to play,” Shinoda wrote (as reported by Alternative Nation). “New songs > old songs, right now at least,” he added.
The musician then clarified his remarks, explaining that he and his LINKIN PARK bandmates are simply enjoying performing the songs they created with their new vocalist, Emily Armstrong.
“Not marketing. Band loves the new stuff + it’s Emily’s voice,” Shinoda explained.
LINKIN PARK released their latest studio album, From Zero, this past November. This is LINKIN PARK‘s first studio album since One More Light (2017), marking the longest gap between studio releases in the band’s history. It also marks the debut of vocalist Emily Armstrong and drummer Colin Brittain, following the passing of vocalist Chester Bennington in 2017 and the departure of drummer Rob Bourdon in 2018.
In a recent interview with KROQ‘s Kevan Kenney, LINKIN PARK‘s Mike Shinoda discussed the emotions and experiences involved in navigating the release of the band’s latest album, From Zero.
“It’s really complicated,” Shinoda said: “For me, two years ago it was very overwhelming, and I think the best thing that we did was to just basically let things happen in the order and at the timeline that they were gonna happen, let things happen organically and not push too hard. And I feel like what ended up evolving was we just naturally kind of found each other, we found this new lineup, we found Emily and Colin in particular, and the music just kind of came into focus based on what we were having the most fun doing.”
When Kenney remarked that From Zero “feels almost like a return to [LINKIN PARK‘s] roots,” Shinoda responded: “I love that there’s such a strong LINKIN PARK DNA in the record. It does really feel like LINKIN PARK, but I think there’s a part of it that’s the old sound and part of that’s every era of the band, to me, on the record.”
LINKIN PARK bassist Dave “Phoenix” Farrell added: “I don’t know if I know well what the LINKIN PARK DNA is. It’s kind of like when you’re too close to something, you just do it and then other people tell you. They almost interpret it and then you kind of say, ‘Okay, cool. I’m glad that came across.’ But I think in any and all of that creation of an album or working on new music or new stuff or when there’s — I don’t know — interstitials or whatever you might wanna call it, for me those things are just like us doing us and figuring that out and moving forward. And in this process, one of the things that was so fun and rewarding and cool and energizing was just how when we started gradually integrating Emily and Colin, it felt like LINKIN PARK. It just felt like it fit for me and for us. And those were the coolest moments in the entire process, was just feeling like things were kind of jelling and coming together and we were having a blast doing it the whole time. So at this stage being ready to finally have the album out, having people be excited about it, that feels great.”
Source: metaladdicts.com
