Mike Q&A Summary April 8th, 2020

[LPLStaff]

During some of his recent CoronaJam Sessions, Mike has taken questions from fans about a variety of topics. Here is a quick summary of things he mentioned on April 8th:
 

 

- A funny LP touring story: Chester jumped off the stage to sing on top of a porta potty, but the very top of it broke which could have lead to a really messy situation... thankfully he didn't fall in! LPL note: This was likely the Miami, FL April 2001 show where Chester sings on top of the porta potty on "Points of Authority."

- He really liked the sweet popcorn in Brazil when he visited during Linkin Park's tours. However, he likes salty popcorn at the movies when he goes.

- Does he import these CoronaJam sessions into ProTools later on? Yes, he said he would if he added vocals to the songs because ProTools is easier to do vocals. He said he will do a stream with fans to show how he does vocals but warns that it might be boring for fans. Ableton is easier to do the music on because it constantly loops. And ProTools is easier for multitracks, multiple mics, drums, etc because it can handle such a big workload.

- His Hogwarts house the first time he did the test was Ravenclaw and the second time it was Gryffindor. 
- The reason LP songwriting sessions weren't as experimental after ATS and moved to a more classic writing process was because ATS was a unique journey and he always wants to feel like he is learning or doing something fresh for him. Wherever he is inspired at the moment, basically.
- He is totally down to do a drawing / doodling live stream instead of music sometime, he just has to figure the technology out. But he wants to do it on iPad Pro.
- When the band released The Hunting Party, Mike said he wanted to make an album that was fun to play live but ironically THP was the album with the least songs performed live. Mike says the problem was that the rest of the band only wanted to play a certain amount of time on stage, like a set that was around 100 minutes. Mike wanted to play longer but LP didn't get around to rehearsing on the road or making the songs fit into the live setlist with the amount of time they had agreed upon for the set.
- Some footage of the band performing as Xero exists but Mike says they look like children and they dressed up weirdly on stage. He talks about the quality of the videos not being that great from that era because at that time you needed really legit cameras to film with.

- Mike loves visiting Brazil and says the crowds there have a ton of energy. He says the Rock In Rio crowds are epic. He said LP had an end of tour party at their hotel there one time and had a great time drinking and hanging out.
- Mike thinks that Linkin Park didn't end up rehearsing Keys to the Kingdom to play live, but thinks it's a dope song and he loves it.
- LP worked out on tour but not as a group, but he worked out with Chester and Phoenix. He tried to stay with those two on tour (meaning the same hotel) whereas Rob, Brad, and Joe stayed together. It basically boiled down to those three being the most social but also liking the same style of hotels.
- Mike said Chester loved working out and would work out twice a day quite frequently.

[sordomuda]

9 hours ago, LPLStaff said:

 

- LP worked out on tour but not as a group, but he worked out with Chester and Phoenix. He tried to stay with those two on tour (meaning the same hotel) whereas Rob, Brad, and Joe stayed together. It basically boiled down to those three being the most social but also liking the same style of hotels.
- Mike said Chester loved working out and would work out twice a day quite frequently.

I didnt know they were staying in two different hotels. Now it makes sense why Mike is having a strong bound with Dave till this day from what i have observed.

 

it really showed Chester was working out even twice a day cause his muscles were popping. I remember he has also said in one interview he like to wake up like at 5am or so to have a day only for himself for few hours and workout then.

[hahninator]

Linkin Park later on traveled in two groups to the shows. It is extremely common for almost every large touring band to have a host city on tour where they stay at one hotel in one city then fly in and out for the shows. Sometimes you'll keep the same host city all tour, sometimes you change it 2-3 times. For example, Metallica would use Nashville as a host city when touring the southeast. They fly to Charlotte, play the show, bam then they fly right back to Nashville to sleep in the same bed. People from Foo to Coldplay to LP to Metallica to U2 to Rolling Stones etc do this. When you bring your family on tour it makes it easier for them to also stay in one place and not change hotels every single show.

In Europe for the later part of the band's career it was Mike, Chester, and Dave in one city and then Joe, Rob, and Brad in another. It could be the first group is in Paris and the second is in Copenhagen, or one group is in Berlin and the other is in Brussels. It changes every tour and sometimes changes mid tour too depending on the routing, so maybe you stay in 2 hotels during the tour. One common theme has been the band staying in Berlin a lot over the years which Mike has talked about at length in interviews, calling it a "home away from home" for him and Anna.

So it just makes sense for the 3 of them to fly in to a show together and fly back, then the other 3 fly in together and fly back. This means Mike and Joe hypothetically won't see each other from show 3 to show 4 until they arrive preshow. If you look at Joe's "Carry On" exhibit from Europe 2017, you'll see some photos of the band traveling in groups on planes, etc to the shows. I believe that indeed, you see Mike, Phoenix, and Chester together at times. In the USA, sometimes they'd fly on helicopters to shows in the northeast region.

In the WORST CASE scenario, this also helps prevent the entire band being lost at one time if the 0.000000000001% chance of a disaster or catastrophe happens, so that the other group can continue on with the band's affairs in the future.

Early on, they were on tour buses and all that but MTM is when they shifted to flying to shows.

[sordomuda]

2 hours ago, Hahninator said:

Linkin Park later on traveled in two groups to the shows. It is extremely common for almost every large touring band to have a host city on tour where they stay at one hotel in one city then fly in and out for the shows. Sometimes you'll keep the same host city all tour, sometimes you change it 2-3 times. For example, Metallica would use Nashville as a host city when touring the southeast. They fly to Charlotte, play the show, bam then they fly right back to Nashville to sleep in the same bed. People from Foo to Coldplay to LP to Metallica to U2 to Rolling Stones etc do this. When you bring your family on tour it makes it easier for them to also stay in one place and not change hotels every single show.

In Europe for the later part of the band's career it was Mike, Chester, and Dave in one city and then Joe, Rob, and Brad in another. It could be the first group is in Paris and the second is in Copenhagen, or one group is in Berlin and the other is in Brussels. It changes every tour and sometimes changes mid tour too depending on the routing, so maybe you stay in 2 hotels during the tour. One common theme has been the band staying in Berlin a lot over the years which Mike has talked about at length in interviews, calling it a "home away from home" for him and Anna.

So it just makes sense for the 3 of them to fly in to a show together and fly back, then the other 3 fly in together and fly back. This means Mike and Joe hypothetically won't see each other from show 3 to show 4 until they arrive preshow. If you look at Joe's "Carry On" exhibit from Europe 2017, you'll see some photos of the band traveling in groups on planes, etc to the shows. I believe that indeed, you see Mike, Phoenix, and Chester together at times. In the USA, sometimes they'd fly on helicopters to shows in the northeast region.

In the WORST CASE scenario, this also helps prevent the entire band being lost at one time if the 0.000000000001% chance of a disaster or catastrophe happens, so that the other group can continue on with the band's affairs in the future.

Early on, they were on tour buses and all that but MTM is when they shifted to flying to shows.

Wow thanks Man! That is a solid info and i had no idea about it.  I like to get to know facts like that. 
you are also right about the worst scenario... we had a catastrophe like that in Poland where a president and the most important people from the government and army  travelled in one plane that had an accident and 96 people died. So yeah theres that.