Aim low,shoot high and always talk to the fans.always.
Call them what you will: a new metal boyband, rock's premier link to the mainstream, poseurs or kids; but one thing's for sure - Linkin park is going to chill out a bit longer to enjoy the fruits of their success. Despite the group's struggle for total acceptance among legions of skeptics, vocalist Mike Shinoda and bassisit Phoenix talks about the joys being the millinnieum's poster boys of rock fusion, and their formula to winning the rat race alongside every britney, Cristina, Ricky and N'Sync fans.
"They're just so damn catchy," a friend of mine explained when I asked what he thought of Linkin Park, with the group's video for "In the End" blaring in the background."I guess they're th type of band that's so hard to ignore , that you will find yourself listening to that staff.It's weird, but no one'll ever admit that. At least no one listens to rock music," he says.It's a phenomenon we're dealing with.
A little history lesson: Linkin Park released their smash debut album Hybrid Theory toeards the close of the year 2000. As the band was virtually unknown in Asia, most avid listeners ave them a quick ear but looked the other way. but massive MTV airplay gave the new band a new niche market in the form of lollipop[ed] teenage girls and boys barely 20. Of course, they play great party music, for starters. But the fact that these guys had taken on rock stradom in such a sudden turn of events made their peers feel a little bit uneasy. Their hard edge but pop-driven sound was obviously the grist for Sharon Osbourne's statement about the group being included inthe 2001 Ozzfest bill "for the ladies".Rumors on the net about the outfit being "a manufactured band" did not only affect the band, but have made them hot property by the turn of the millennium, whether most people liked it or not.
During the standard twenty-minute-plus long distance phone patch by PULP on two consecutive dates (Shinoda was in the band's hotel room somewher near the Grand Rapids in Michigan, while Phoenix had just come back from the soundcheck the following day before a scheduled performance in Iowa), I asked the two members what make of everything that has happened to them since their debut. I find out that above all the shouting, sreaming, ranting, living the life is almost as simple as 1-2-3 for the guys.
PULP: How have things been going so far? What would you guys doing right
now if I were'nt on the phine with you right now?
Mike: Fine, fine. Well, we usually wake up around lunchtime, and we work during the day. I'd still be on the phone, talking to the press or sometimes just to the fans. That's one thing we want our fans to know, that we're not the type of group who will ignore the fans.
Phoenix: Usually, we try to rest in the day and stuff like this to take care. But yeah, when we do have time off, we usually split up. We'd probably be playing golf or be watching a movie.
PULP: So Phoenix, I understand that prior to the release of Hybrid Theory,you left the Linkin Park and returned to the band after it began supporting the album.
Phoenix: The story behind that is that I met Brad and Mike when I was in college and they were
just beginning to write songs, while I was already playing in two band that I thought would get
somewhere. When that did'nt happen, the guys of Linkin Park asked me if I wanted to come aboard
and I said sure. But I did help out on the album.You'll se my real name on that, Dave Farrell.
PULP: So how about you Mike? Shinoda's very foreign name, very Asian. How was your
pre-Linkin Park days?
Mike: I'm yet to know about that story, my brother knows about that stuff. But my parents were
very supportive with the music thing. I took classical piano when I was twelve. We were in
Japan recently, in Fukuoka, but I was'nt able to visit around. But I do remember when we were kids,
we did somethings at time that were very Japanes, but I did'nt know it then.
PULP:Hybrid Theory is being received very well in our part of the world, and it seems that
your band is slowly but surely making it big outside the U.S. Did you guys have a pretty good idea from the start that you could come this far?
Mike: Definitely for most of us, we were just going for the U.S. market. That was the first thing
on our minds.Actually from the strat, our guitarist only wanted to play a gig in this place called
The Whiskey (laughs). I mean, we had our goals, but we try as much not to have high expectations.
I'd say we owe a lot to the people on the Internet, since we used to put all songs and other stuff there,
and they'd not only check it out but help us get it across.They're what we call our "street teams," it's
like our family on the net.We're very grateful for that.
PULP: So does that in any way put a lot of pressure on you guys to come up with something
as successful as the first album? Do you have new material for the next Linkin Park album?
Do you feel the need to able to top yourself with stronger hit singles?
Mike: For one thing, I hope people don't expect us to do the same thing.We're just concentrating
on becoming good songwriters.You know the phrase give man a fish and he'll eat for a day, but
teach a man how to fish an dhe'll eat for a lifetime?" We're sort of like that.And no, we don't have new
material just yet.We're still supporting our album and our singles.And if we do come up with it, we won't
try to change topics, the music or anything, but we'll still be concerned with things like nature...
PULP: So you do actually listen to stuff outside your genre?
Mike: I think the question is what we haven't listened to.I know it sounds cheesy, but we try to listen
to everything.And there are some things we don't like to listen to, like bubblegum [pop music]
and some country stuff.But as for my taste, I still like Hendrix, Zeppelin, hip-hop...
PULP:But does it bother you guys that your audiences are mainly MTV-watching teenagers
who are also into poppy acts like boybands and Britney Spears? Isn't that sort of un-hip for
most bands these days? Do you think there's a risk of alienating would-be listners with the
impression that you guys are for teenyboppers?
Phoenix: Well yeah, MTV has always been an exposure element, but all this is really possible
because of the fans who bought the album on the first week of its release, when we still were'nt
on MTV.My loyalty goes out to people like that.It reall doesn't bother me when our video is on MTV.
Mike: I don't think that it should really matter, if we get airplay and support from MTV or not.And
it's not like all artists on MTV are doing it for image thing or lying to their fans.Our fan club is more
than a fan club for us.I challenge any other group to interact with their fans as much as we do.
MTV is just another way to interact.
PULP:I remember reading somewhere hoe you guys live a pretty sraight lifestyle.How much does image have to do with the band? Are you the same on and offstage, or are there personality changes?
Ever experience any tension within the band?
Phoenix: There's tension of course, and at some points we even fight.But we've learned
todeal with it...
Mike: We're all pretty mellow guys, and most of us don't drink or smoke but when we do, we try to
take things in moderation and there's definitely no drugs.We have what we call "sober area" where
we're all together.If someone wants to take a drink, he'd have to do it outside that area.We can't do
a good job and feel it if we're wasted, you know?It's just not productive,so it's not an image thing,either.
PULP: So what do you have to say about you,hmmm...not sostaright peers?You've played along
guys like Marilyn Manson,Korn and Limp Bizkit...
Mike: For a band like us that's pretty positive to be able to play without criticism, I don't think
Marilyn Manson should be criticized fro what he's doing...I respect Korn a lot since they are the true
inovators of this style of music.
PULP: But do you guys get flak when you play gigs like Ozzfest for being MTV darlings?What do you think about Sharon Osbourne's statements about the band?
Mike: Yeah, I've read about that.But we have seen the new Kerrang issue? Wait let me read you what
Jack Osbourne said about that gig...(Shinoda proceeds to read Jack Osbourne's comments how
the band's performance was a success despite the fact that audiences were bands taht "cursed"
a lot).So I guess we shouldn't be bothered by Sharon said.It's funny actually, you hear a lot talk but
when we're all backstage, it's cool.We recently just met the guys from Korn, and they're all great.
PULP: So how's the rock and roll lifestyle so far? What problems do you guys still run into?
Phoenix: There's nothing much right now, no problems.Just the usual technical stuff whenever
we play...
Mike: No,no problems really.But one thing that does piss me off is when we're misinterpresented.
This one time, I heard these motherfuckers who were talking about how Linkin Park was a
"manufactured band," that we did'nt write our songs.That's rediculous.I think music is about making
good effort and feeling good about it.Anyway, the fans know what we really are, that's why we care
about them so much and talk to them as much as we can.This is for them.
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