Phoenix joins "Dan Really Likes Wine" via Facebook Live

[LPLStaff]

Yesterday Phoenix was on Dan Nicholl's show about wine, via Facebook Live where he sampled wine and talked about the different wines he likes, how he was introduced to wine, and more. He also mentions Linkin Park's shows in South Africa when they performed there.

You can watch the full stream here: "From LA to the Hemel en Aarde Valley: live tasting with Linkin Park’s Dave "Phoenix" Farrell"

 

Phoenix again mentioned Linkin Park when he talked about the coronavirus, saying:

 

"So at this point, globally, we are all doing a version of the same thing. 

For us with the band, we have been writing before this all started. Casually at this point we are doing Zoom meetings to eat lunch together and say hi. But we are not able to get together and write or do that whole bit. We're working at home a little bit, working up ideas. I've been playing a lot of drums just to do something new. I've been doing that for the last year, year and a half, and I've been purposely making as much noise as possible to create my own space in the house."

 

Exciting!

[PeppePark]

Lord Farrell casually dropping the news that Linkin Park is writing new music.

They eat lunch together via Zoom, how cute is that?

Can't wait to know more.

[sordomuda]

5 minutes ago, PeppePark said:

Lord Farrell casually dropping the news that Linkin Park is writing new music.

They eat lunch together via Zoom, how cute is that?

Can't wait to know more.

Ikr? Living for these news. 

[PeppePark]

Mike: "We'll let you know when we have news".

Also Mike: 🤐

Meanwhile, Dave: "Oh yeah, we've been writing together since months, I started messing around with drums and we're doing Zoom meetings while eating".

Edited April 22, 2020 by PeppePark

[sordomuda]

A side note: I am a sommelier xD great to know Dave is interested in wines haha. 

[hahninator]

Not that surprising to hear but of course good to see Phoenix say it. My suspicion is they've been meeting regularly to work on musical ideas since the end of the Post Traumatic Tour in March 2019. Would be nice to hear from them in 2021.

[PeppePark]

Mike recently said that he had a lot of music that could have been released in 2019 but he didn't release anything.

"This past year I got kind of down because I was making so many things that weren't seeing the light of the day and I could put them out but it just felt like why? Why? What's the bigger picture? What do they belong to? And I realized just at the beginning of this year maybe a month or two ago that the reason I wasn't committing of putting anything out it was because it didn't feel ambitious enough so I take a step back".

I wonder if that was solo stuff that it felt forced, just to do something new after Post Traumatic or he tried to do Linkin Park stuff but it wasn't the right time yet.

They regularly meet, text and call each other since 2017, so I can totally see them doing a few sessions together here and there, especially after the end of the Post Traumatic tour, plus we have a lot of photos and some videos too of them at Mike's studio, at least since the last few months of 2019.

Edited April 22, 2020 by PeppePark

[Justin]

9 minutes ago, PeppePark said:

Mike recently said that he had a lot of music that could have been released in 2019 but he didn't release anything.

"This past year I got kind of down because I was making so many things that weren't seeing the light of the day and I could put them out but it just felt like why? Why? What's the bigger picture? What do they belong to? And I realized just at the beginning of this year maybe a month or two ago that the reason I wasn't committing of putting anything out it was because it didn't feel ambitious enough so I take a step back".

I wonder if that was solo stuff that it felt forced, just to do something new after Post Traumatic or he tried to do Linkin Park stuff but it wasn't the right time yet.

They regularly meet, text and call each other since 2017, so I can totally see them doing a few sessions together here and there, especially after the end of the Post Traumatic tour, plus we have a lot of photos and some videos too of them at Mike's studio, at least since the last few months of 2019.

 

That doesn't sound like LP stuff. Sounds like after PT he kept making solo music and eventually had a lot of songs, but never felt he had a cohesive album. So he would have had to just throw a bunch of songs together and call it an album, which I don't think is something he would want to do. With PT he had a bunch of songs that fit a theme and flowed naturally with the way he sequenced the songs.

[sordomuda]

8 minutes ago, Justin said:

 

That doesn't sound like LP stuff. Sounds like after PT he kept making solo music and eventually had a lot of songs, but never felt he had a cohesive album. So he would have had to just throw a bunch of songs together and call it an album, which I don't think is something he would want to do. With PT he had a bunch of songs that fit a theme and flowed naturally with the way he sequenced the songs.

I think so as well. Mike is ambitious, he wouldnt like to throw a new album with no theme or with just random songs he has recorded Here and there. 

[PeppePark]

I agree!

Mike is a perfectionist and he already gave us a lot of music, we can wait if that means we'll get better stuff AND Linkin Park stuff.

Edited April 22, 2020 by PeppePark

[Subs]

3 hours ago, Justin said:

 

That doesn't sound like LP stuff. Sounds like after PT he kept making solo music and eventually had a lot of songs, but never felt he had a cohesive album. So he would have had to just throw a bunch of songs together and call it an album, which I don't think is something he would want to do. With PT he had a bunch of songs that fit a theme and flowed naturally with the way he sequenced the songs.

 

We need to start accepting that if they continue that is what LP stuff is going to start sounding like lol, or close to. How different can it sound really without Chester ?

[FromTheInside]

4 hours ago, Subs said:

 

We need to start accepting that if they continue that is what LP stuff is going to start sounding like lol, or close to. How different can it sound really without Chester ?

you don't know anything, man. Why LP should sound like Mike's stuff? That's absolute bullshit. They can do pretty much anything. Hard rock, rock, rap, alternative etc. There is only one limitation with Mike as a frontman and that's screaming and really high notes. Besides that, he can do anything.

[Astat]

I mean, with Mike being the primary songwriter for LP, haven't they always largely sounded like "Mike's stuff" anyway? It's just that "Mike's stuff" can cover such a wide array of things that it isn't a specific enough phrase to even begin to narrow down what something's actually going to sound like. But for example you could take Running from My Shadow and put Chester on it instead of Grandson and nobody would ever question it being anything but a Linkin Park song.

The two biggest variables in the band's sound moving forward are going to be whether they continue to work with outside songwriters like they did on One More Light or not, and whether they choose to work with additional vocalist(s) to continue having a multi-singer dynamic in the band or move to Mike being the primary vocalist on his own.

Random thought: I expect that if they bring in a new singer it will be presented in the same way "Queen + Paul Rodgers/Adam Lambert" is, where they purposely keep the new singer's name separate to symbolize the fact that they can't ever truly "replace" Chester. They even already kind of did that by using the "Linkin Park and Friends" name for the tribute show.

Edited April 23, 2020 by Astat

[Justin]

Just for the record, when I said it "doesn't sound like LP stuff", I meant that when I read Mike's quote it didn't seem to me that he was referring to music he had made with LP in mind. I wasn't commenting on the literal sound of the music he may have made in 2019 lol. The quote came off to me like he was making music alone in 2019, however it sounded, and realized that he had no vision for what he wanted to do with it.

 

PT was a solo album made as a way for Mike to process the roller coaster of emotions he went through after Chester passed. The question Mike had to answer after that album cycle ended was whether he wanted to make more solo music, or begin working with the members of LP as they became ready to work on music again. His decision to take a step back in 2019 (after what sounds like almost a musical existential crisis), combined with Phoenix confirming that the band was writing together before the coronavirus pandemic, seems to indicate that Mike came to a decision to put his focus back into a new chapter for Linkin Park.

 

I agree about LP's sound always being mainly Mike's. We saw the demo he made a while back in "HT style", and the "melodic metal" one he made today. We literally have seen LPTV episodes where Mike plays Rob drum parts that he programmed in order for Rob to learn them and record them. Even as far back as 2000, we know Mike chopped up and rearranged the guitar parts for POA to the point that Brad had to learn the song from Mike playing it back to him. So there's definitely no question that LP has always been driven primarily by Mike's vision, despite every member having a voice in the creative process.

 

I also agree for sure about the LP name. I don't think there will ever be another vocalist officially added into Linkin Park, and I wouldn't feel good about that even if it was the most amazing singer they could possibly find. It's not my decision obviously, but I just don't think it would be right. I can definitely see songs being credited to Linkin Park with another vocalist's name being separated though.

[sordomuda]

I also remember Mike saying i dont know when or where but something like „i dont know if it is a ‚me’ song or linkin park”. I think what he meant is that when he os producing anything he kinda knows if the song is meant for his solo or for the band. 
But I also agree with Astat that most of the time its was always „Mike’s stuff”. 

[Subs]

11 hours ago, FromTheInside said:

you don't know anything, man. Why LP should sound like Mike's stuff? That's absolute bullshit. They can do pretty much anything. Hard rock, rock, rap, alternative etc. There is only one limitation with Mike as a frontman and that's screaming and really high notes. Besides that, he can do anything.

 

 

What ? I'm literally saying that Mike is the frontman now, its going to sound like Mike. The genres may change but you arent adding any extra flavour into LP by having Chester for example. Pretty easy to understand I thought but clearly not