Linkin Park

[muthagoose]

LINKIN PARK rapper Mike Shinoda will release his debut solo album, "The Rising Tied", under the moniker FORT MINOR, according to www.ballerstatus.net. "Fort has a militant meaning and Minor in music is a smaller, darker, sadder note — so the name is a reflection of the music," Shinoda explained during a listening session at the Rockefeller building in New York City on Wednesday (April 13).

Shinoda enlisted his "Collision Course" collaborator Jay-Z to executive produce the disc, which he expects to release late summer. "Jay is not performing on [the album]," Shinoda shared. "I did not want to put him in that position. I just wanted to have respect for his retirement to be honest, but he's executive producing the record and is with me every step of the way basically."

[muthagoose]

LINKIN PARK DJ Joseph Hahn has posted the following message on the group's official web site:

"Right now we're in the experimental phase of the writing process for our new record. There is no solid direction yet, we're trying to be as eclectic as we can for the moment and then we'll see what stands out the most out of all the music we write, which will give us more of an identity to strive for.

"We wanted to step it up as far as working with a producer and really try to create an atmosphere that will challenge us in different ways. We chose Rick Rubin because his credits alone speak a lot about his ability and his open-mindedness as a producer, working on everything from the old Def Jam, BEASTIE BOYS and RUN DMC, to SLAYER, JOHNNY CASH, NEIL DIAMOND, and the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS. I think the common denominator with all these groups is that they create great music through the years that has stood the test of time.

"When we were discussing producers for our next record, the list of people we were considering was actually pretty small. Fortunately for us, Rick lives in L.A. and we got to meet up at his house and talk about music, life and approaches to writing, and just kind of have real casual conversation and get to know each other as people. And we really took a liking to him as he did to us, and the more we talked to him it just kind of made sense that we'd try working with him.

"With this record we're striving to come up with something different than what we've done before. The first two LINKIN PARK albums are connecting chapters, and I don't think that this one necessarily needs to connect with those because we've already established our sound. When our band first came out it was really interesting and new, and now that we are established as musicians, I think we need to freshen that up and come up with some different and interesting approaches that pertain to today. We look forward to touring and sharing our new music with all of our fans, hopefully by this summer after our album is complete."

LINKIN PARK's upcoming CD will be the follow-up to 2003's "Meteora", which has sold more than 10 million copies.



How is Rick Rubin not in ZZ Top?

[muthagoose]

LINKIN PARK Gets Eclectic on Album

LINKIN PARK's Dave "Phoenix" Farrell and Mike Shinoda have told AOL Music that the band's long-awaited next album is taking form. "As of maybe a week and a half, two weeks ago, we went from 30 down to 17-ish, song-wise, and that's an exciting point for us," Phoenix told AOL Music. "The album is starting to take a little bit more of a shape."

The band credits its experimentalism on this album in large part to producer Rick Rubin (AUDIOSLAVE, SLAYER, SYSTEM OF A DOWN, JOHNNY CASH, BEASTIE BOYS). "Rick is one of those guys where you can go through any door you want to go through," Shinoda said. "We're trying everything, just messing around with it until it sounds good."

Phoenix said that's created an album that will confound expectations of the band.

"The thing for me with Rick is that he's open to whatever happens, and I think for us it's created a very different album than what we were expecting," he said.

[muthagoose]

LINKIN PARK Listening Event And PROJEKT REVOLUTION Announcement Coming On Monday

The world premiere of LINKIN PARK's "Minutes to Midnight" album with host Stryker will take place on Monday, May 7 at 8:00 p.m. EST, 5:00 p.m. Pacific, eight days prior to the album in-store date. Turn on your radio Monday evening to hear tracks from "Minutes to Midnight", including "What I've Done", "Given Up", and four additional new songs. For a list of stations broadcasting this event near you, visit www.linkinpark.com.

LINKIN PARK spent over 14 months in the studio and wrote more than 100 song demos leading up to "Minutes to Midnight". Vocalist/producer Mike Shinoda says the record is "a breakthrough in the development of the band's sound." Producer Rick Rubin adds, "They really are reinventing themselves, it doesn't sound like rap/rock. There's very strong songwriting. It's very melodic... a progressive record."

Chester Bennington adds that the first single, "What I've Done", is "us saying goodbye to how we used to be. The lyrics in the first verse are 'In this farewell, there is no blood, there is no alibi,' and right away, you'll notice that the band sounds different: The drums are much more raw, the guitars are more raw and the vocals aren't tripled. It's just us out there ... and that's how Rick wanted it. Basically he told us, 'If it sounds like it could've been on the first two records, then we're not going to work on it.' "

In addition to Monday's listening event, LINKIN PARK will be announcing the full lineup and dates for the highly anticipated Projekt Revolution Tour 2007 the same day.

[muthagoose]

LINKIN PARK Singer Says New Album's Chart Success Is 'Unbelievable'

Launch Radio Networks reports: LINKIN PARK's new album, "Minutes to Midnight", debuted at No. 1 on this week's Billboard album chart, selling 623,000 copies in its first week of release and landing the highest first-week total of 2007. The band also scored the biggest first-week sales since JAY-Z's "Kingdom Come" moved 680,000 copies last December, and was one of only six albums in the past two years to sell more than 600,000 copies in a single week. Singer Chester Bennington told Launch that while he had high hopes for the album, he didn't expect the sales to be that massive. "I know that we're all extremely proud of this record, and we hoped that it would do well and I was thinking big and I was like, 'If we sell 250,000 copies of this thing in the first week, like, I'll be super happy,'" he said. "But six hundred and twentysomething thousand in the first week is just unbelievable, especially nowadays, you know. That just doesn't happen anymore. So, you know, I can't express it enough, but we have the best fans in the world, hands down."

LINKIN PARK's last full-length studio effort, 2003's "Meteora", also entered in the top spot with sales of 810,000 copies. The state of the music industry has changed a lot since "Meteora" came out, but guitarist Brad Delson told Launch recently that LINKIN PARK wasn't worried about matching its previous sales figures. "I almost think it's less pressure because sales are so much smaller than what they were," he said. "Everyone's expectations in terms of sales are a lot different than what they were, so from that perspective, it's probably less pressure. For us, the emphasis first and foremost is on making great music that's challenging and exciting to us, and hopefully to our fans."

"Minutes to Midnight" also debuted at No. 1 in the U.K., Germany, France, Switzerland, Norway, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, the Philippines, Italy, Sweden, Austria, and Ireland. The disc has already been certified platinum in Australia, Canada, Indonesia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Austria, Switzerland, and France, while it's been certified gold in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, South Korea, Malaysia, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and the U.K.

LINKIN PARK will kick off its Projekt Revolution tour on July 25 in Seattle.

[Demon †]

Yay, I adore Linkin Park.
It's my favourite band!
And I'm so happy for Minutes To Midnight success. I just don't belive, why Chester didn't expect this success. They made perfect job! Linkin Park rocks for ever

[Ponyone]

Yeah---thanks for posting..

Even though I'm into the more extreme stuff these days, there's still a place for a little LP--though people may not admit it, I think we all like the band somewhat.

Cool looking MessageBoard by the way too!

[muthagoose]

Linkin Park join Live Earth lineup

Linkin Park are to headline the Tokyo leg of the forthcoming Live Earth concerts.

The global gigs, which take place across all seven continents on July 7, begin a one-year campaign, spearheaded by former U.S. presidential candidate Al Gore, to promote climate change.

As well as Tokyo, shows will take place Sydney, Shanghai, Johannesburg, London, Hamburg, Istanbul, Rio de Janeiro, and New Jersey.

Linkin Park co-frontman Mike Shinoda told Undercover: "Climate crisis awareness could be one of the defining issues of our generation, and we're proud to play this show in support of that effort."

The concert is expected to be viewed by 2 billion people, and is set to be the biggest music event ever undertaken.

Bands confirmed to play the London event at the newly-reopened Wembley Stadium include Beastie Boys, Snow Patrol, Madonna, and Razorlight.

[muthagoose]

LINKIN PARK Offering Fans 'Digital Souvenir' Of Show

The Pulse of Radio reports: LINKIN PARK will offer fans attending its upcoming tour the chance to purchase a "Digital Souvenir Package" with their tickets, in which they will receive an audio download of the concert they attend, exclusive photos and a digital tour program. Co-frontman Mike Shinoda said in a recent conference call with reporters what makes the offering unique. "The best part about it, to me, is that our live mixer, our official mixer who mixes our show every night, you know, finishes his night with us, then goes back to his hotel or bus or backstage and mixes the show for you," he said. "It's intended to be played, you know, in your headphones and in your car, and it's done by our official guy."

Shinoda's partner on the mic, Chester Bennington, added that the recordings offer numerous possibilities for fans to trade and collect them. "For those who get this thing, you know, our sets change, we play songs maybe one night that we don't play the next, and so if you want to get those songs, you know, we encourage our fans to go on and trade them and kind of get to know each other and communicate and share and exchange things with each other, and this is one of those things that we would really like our fans to kind of do that with," he said.

LINKIN PARK will sport a brand new stage production when the band heads out on its North American tour, which begins on February 12 in Omaha, Nebraska.

COHEED AND CAMBRIA and CHIODOS will be the opening acts on the tour, which wraps up in mid-March.

LINKIN PARK's latest album, "Minutes to Midnight", was recently certified double platinum for sales of two million copies since its May 2007 release.