Mike Q&A Summary 6/17/2020

[LPLStaff]

The Wednesday Q&A recap from Mike is ready to go!

- "What was the first song you learned to play on the guitar all the way through?" -> "My first song on the guitar, I think it was a Zeppelin song. Oh no, you know it was like Nirvana, it was Smells Like Teen Spirit or something like that. Something that was easy as the first song. And then my friend showed me... at one point I learned Zeppelin but not all the way through, it would get to the middle of them and they were too hard. I'd say Smells Like Teen Spirit is the first song I ever learned to play on the guitar."

 

- "Did you pick the openers you had on tour? And who were some of your favorites?" -> "Yes we did. I always talk about My Chemical Romance being one of our favorite openers we had. They were so good, they were on fire when we played together. there were others. Since we don't usually talk about it, some of my other favorite openers we've had... we got a chance to bring out The Prodigy in the US. That was so dope because they're such a legendary group but like, we couldn't have headlined over them at certain places in Europe because they'd be the same size as Linkin Park in terms of the headline slot at a festival or whatever. If it was like an electronic festival or something that leaned that way, obviously, right? Who else? I'd say Snoop Dogg, Snoop opened for us at one point. That was so great. Cypress Hill. Incubus, we did like a coheadliner but yeah, we've played with a lot of great bands. What would be a smaller band that we played with? Ghostface from Wu-Tang opened for me one time with Fort Minor, that was really great. Of Mice & Men. Oh, Coheed! Coheed always brought it. Coheed & Cambria are really great musicians. Yeah, they crushed it every night."

- "Were there songs that were cut from the album last minute?" - "There was a song, a One More Light song, that we mixed. We mixed more than the finished album and we mixed a couple other songs just to see if one of them would make the cut or if we would use it for a b-side. And it was Friendly Fire. It was a Jon Green co-write. I wrote that with Jon, I think it was me, Jon, and Brad mostly. But like, I still love that song. By the way is that out somewhere? Did we put Friendly Fire out at some point? We didn't, did we? "Drop It" Yeah ok, we're gonna put a brand new fucking Linkin Park song with Chester's voice on it out. I don't think so! You literally are going to have to wait years to hear that song, so just FYI. And god forbid somebody leak it because that I would actually be really bummed out about, if somebody leaked that song. You will get it eventually. Not this year though, it's not happening."

 

- "Is there a Linkin Park demo you're upset about being voted out?" -> "That's a good question. I don't think so. For me, the ones that I thought were good songs... there were no songs that I loved that the band hated. There were a couple of things that turned into Post Traumatic songs that it was like, "the band never really developed this, the guys didn't really gravitate towards the track", so I just finished it myself. So usually they did become songs. If I liked it, it usually did become a song partially because I was the one putting in the most work so I'd develop them until they were good if I liked them. Make sense? If I like a song, I'm going to work on it more. If it's not working and the guys are like, "I don't know", I will continue to work on it until it's good. And then if they don't like it, those are usually the ones that I don't like that much either, I'm kind of on the fence about, "oh I like it / I don't like it."

 

- "Can you sing the Hold It Together chorus in reverse?" -> "Not anymore, unfortunately. I wish I could. I don't even remember how it starts, it's a good question though."

 

Someone asked the origin of the name Xero but Mike told a made up story about Greek mythology.

"Is there a reason there is no In My Remains remix on Recharged while some songs got two remixes?" - "You know, we let the DJs and producers choose songs to remix and that song just didn't get any takers. Maybe somebody sent in one that didn't really work out or something. As I recall, we just let the DJs choose and they didn't choose it."

 

 

 

[AdamArtz]

Damn it's so cool that he spoke about Friendly Fire. Should've been asked about Out of Reach too.

Edited June 17, 2020 by AdamArtz

[hahninator]

The questions are all caught up, so ask away. Literally the questions he answered today were actually from today. 

[sordomuda]

I hope I wont die before Friendly Fire comes out finally, because i need to hear it badly. 

[Qwerty18]

Interesting how Mike is on the fence about a new song with Chester voice (especially since he loves the song)

 

"A new LP song with Chester voice on it? You will literally have to wait years for that"'.

 

I wonder if out of respect / too difficult for them,  and | or keeping in it for a special occasion / waiting for the right time (= when LP future is more clear).

 

In a way, it is comforting they don't go easy with that stuff.  In the other, it is a bummer we won't get to hear it (in a long, long time).

Edited June 18, 2020 by Qwerty18

[vinifeijo]

I guess the 5 guys will try to make a new Linkin Park record, a whole new cycle of touring and whatnot, to prove them strong by themselves... 

And then just after that they may release some Chester stuff.

It's a smart move to not rise LP again on Chester's back... but bring LP back as they are right now.

[Justin]

11 hours ago, Qwerty18 said:

Interesting how Mike is on the fence about a new song with Chester voice (especially since he loves the song)

 

"A new LP song with Chester voice on it? You will literally have to wait years for that"'.

 

I wonder if out of respect / too difficult for them,  and | or keeping in it for a special occasion / waiting for the right time (= when LP future is more clear).

 

In a way, it is comforting they don't go easy with that stuff.  In the other, it is a bummer we won't get to hear it (in a long, long time).

 

I think part of it is not wanting to lean on Chester's legacy to find success as a band in the future, and part of it is wanting to dispel any impressions that they're cashing in on the loss of Chester. I think for them it's more about releasing that stuff when it feels like the right time.

[Broman]

Been waiting for them to talk about Friendly Fire. Awesome! Something to look forward to for One More Light's 20th anniversary!

[kiq fLP]

If Pictureboard will really be released on HT 20-Year CD Edition, I can see "Friendly Fire" being the new "holy grail" of unreleased LP songs, at least for the hardcore fans lol

[mrfox]

Friendly Fire and WAYW should be on OML album what's the point to release 10 songs on cd? At least 12 songs....or 3 EPs with 5-6 songs released in two years something like Trent did with Bad Witch, Add Violence and Not The Actual Events

[SerioDrew]

Can someone point me to the part he talks about Xero name origin?

"Someone asked the origin of the name Xero but Mike told a made up story about Greek mythology."

Im Greek so itd be super interesting for me, maybe I can add some stuff to the story too for all yall.

[Coizu]

41 minutes ago, SerioDrew said:

Im Greek so itd be super interesting for me, maybe I can add some stuff to the story too for all yall.

 

It was random stuff he made up on the go. There is no way you can add anything 😂

[hahninator]

3 hours ago, kiq fLP said:

If Pictureboard will really be released on HT 20-Year CD Edition, I can see "Friendly Fire" being the new "holy grail" of unreleased LP songs, at least for the hardcore fans lol

 

Agreed. "Thoughts That Take Away My Pride" (which probably has a real name to it, but that's what we call it, from the Meteora era) is number one. Friendly Fire number 2. That is, if they release Pictureboard. We have no idea if they will even release it or not.

 

But a full Meteora b-side with vocals is extremely rare, we have nothing like that from that era.

 

1 hour ago, mrfox said:

Friendly Fire and WAYW should be on OML album what's the point to release 10 songs on cd? At least 12 songs....or 3 EPs with 5-6 songs released in two years something like Trent did with Bad Witch, Add Violence and Not The Actual Events

 

WAYW/Ricochet were done so early in the OML process that they are essentially demos and not completed songs. They didn't progress very far. Friendly Fire and Out Of Reach are on the song board near the END of the album process so those are closer to being done. The band obviously voted to have 10 songs instead of 12... they picked the 10 best ones they felt they had. Mike said they even disagreed with him and didn't want Place to Start (under another name) to open the album before Nobody Can Save Me.

 

I agree OML is too short but it's just what they wanted. Maybe they released a deluxe edition one day with more songs.

 

51 minutes ago, SerioDrew said:

Can someone point me to the part he talks about Xero name origin?

"Someone asked the origin of the name Xero but Mike told a made up story about Greek mythology."

Im Greek so itd be super interesting for me, maybe I can add some stuff to the story too for all yall.

 

He told a made up story. It wasn't real.

[SerioDrew]

1 hour ago, hahninator said:

 

Agreed. "Thoughts That Take Away My Pride" (which probably has a real name to it, but that's what we call it, from the Meteora era) is number one. Friendly Fire number 2. That is, if they release Pictureboard. We have no idea if they will even release it or not.

 

Yeah I agree, i dont think an OML song could be the new holy grail. Not that I dont like OML but usually holy grails are old songs, from bands beginnings, especially for a band like LP where most people are HT/Meteora era die hards. Μy no1 guess for the next holy grail would be Thoughts That Take Away My Pride as well. Other possible ones could be Grecian or Be Yourself since it was always speculated not to actually just a jam. Also if one of the HT Demos we recently saw in Mike's PC doesnt get released in the 20th aniversary edition, i aslo see that as a candidate.

 

 

1 hour ago, graveguard said:

 

It was random stuff he made up on the go. There is no way you can add anything 😂

 

Thats a pity, I though it might be like partly true or based on a greek myth or something.

[kiq fLP]

1 hour ago, SerioDrew said:

 

Yeah I agree, i dont think an OML song could be the new holy grail. Not that I dont like OML but usually holy grails are old songs, from bands beginnings, especially for a band like LP where most people are HT/Meteora era die hards. Μy no1 guess for the next holy grail would be Thoughts That Take Away My Pride as well. Other possible ones could be Grecian or Be Yourself since it was always speculated not to actually just a jam. Also if one of the HT Demos we recently saw in Mike's PC doesnt get released in the 20th aniversary edition, i aslo see that as a candidate.

 

 

I thought in Friendly Fire as number one since we have more info about the track than "Thoughts" (although we have like a "snippet" of the latter, we even don't know the real name of it (I still have my guess that is "Nocturnal", but even those and Shifter names IDK if are real demo names or not lol). But yes, I would be more excited for "Thoughts" or any Meteora demo with vocals / complete than FF or other OML track (a song / track I would love to hear more about in those sessions are "Can We Go Back", since seems like a two-part song and LP never did something like this intentionally).