Mike Q&A Summary 7/22 & 7/23/2020

[LPLStaff]

On July 22nd, Mike did an art day on his stream and took a few questions at the end. There were just a couple of relevant answers so we put these in with the 7/23/2020 stream recap.

Someone asked if the unreleased jams in the art stream were on "Dropped Frames, Vol. 2" coming up. -> "I'm looking forward to putting out the next volume of Dropped Frames. I hope you guys are enjoying the first one still. Keep listening to it, keep passing it around. I'm going to add the new volumes in to the playlist, we have a Dropped Frames playlist on Spotify, I think we have one on Apple but I'm not sure. But put them all together because they're fun to listen to on shuffle that way. It's pretty great. It's also a good like, background music when you're just chilling."

 

- "Will "Looking For An Answer" be released?" -> "I don't think so. I think that the version that was recorded at the Hollywood Bowl was THE version. We tried to make, I tried to... the idea of recording it came and went. Even though the version at the Hollywood Bowl was not my best singing, it was emotionally the right tone and whatever."

 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/687434405

 

And from July 23:

 

- "When you are on tour is being on stage enough to keep you in shape or do you work out too?" -> "I usually work out in addition if I've got time. On the Post Traumatic Tour, everything was smaller scale and streamlined, and there was a lot of driving on the bus. So I didn't get to work out very much, that sucked. On LP tours it was a lot more luxurious and I had tons of time to work out. I haven't been working out at all.... you can totally tell, right? I'm not working out a lot right now. For me, being on stage is generally pretty active."

 

- "Will you do a remix album to Dropped Frames?" -> "I probably won't make remixes of the stuff because I feel like the songs being instrumental is like... I don't know if I want to make remixes of them. Maybe we'll do something remix-y for you guys."

 

- Re: Dropped Frames, Vol. 2: "We are already getting prepped for Volume 2, my friends. So brace yourselves for it. Yeah, very exciting. Put them in a playlist together and put it on shuffle, it's the way to do it, trust me. It's what I do on the art streams every time, it's the best."

 

- "Were you involved in One OK Rock's "Eye of the Storm" album? If so, what songs did you work on?" -> "No, I was not involved. Wait, what was the name of the album with One Way Ticket? "Ambitions", so no. I wrote a little something and it wasn't really like, it wasn't the jam. We wrote some stuff but we could do better is the thing, that's the point. We could do better."

 

- "Do you still have the theremin from New Divide?" -> "I don't think I used it on New Divide. Oh, I used on stage on New Divide, yeah, so we have that still in the storage locker of Linkin Park stuff. But I actually tried to use it A Thousand Suns. I shouldn't say "tried", because it was pretty fun. You know it makes a single note sound and then I ran that through AutoTune, so the notes were jumping like, perfectly. It was pretty fun but it kind of sounded like something you would get on a keyboard and have more control over. So we ended up just doing that."

 

- "What songs did you remix for U2 and Kings of Leon?"- > "I got stems for... I don't even remember, you guys. I don't remember. I got stems for one of the U2 songs off of like, it was before that album where they put their songs on everybody's iPhones. What album was that called? I don't even know. But they sent stems, I think I made a thing and I sent it, it was like ok and it didn't go anywhere. Kings of Leon, it might have been "Use Somebody", maybe, I'm not sure. Here's the thing guys, when you've made as many, I mean I'm sitting here making a track a day on Twitch, I also often times make another track in the afternoon or work on other stuff in the afternoon. I've been doing this for 20 years. Do you know how many songs I've made? Do you know how many tracks I've made? Like, I have generated so much stuff and I don't work every day. Sometimes I do the stream and I don't do more music for the rest of the day. Other times in my life I've gone maybe a couple of weeks without making something, but usually not. Usually I make something at least once a week, if not, a bunch of things. And sometimes when I'm sitting, that's not even counting when I've been on tour, driving, in the car like in the passenger seat or back seat of a car or on a plane and I will sit there on my phone or on my laptop and make multiple things while I'm traveling. I was on a flight one time where I think I made 15 to 20 things. Oh my god, one time, I don't know if I've told you this story, I was on an international flight. I think I flew from London to LAX and I was on my computer, I was playing with Maschine with my device in my laptop. I was in first class and I was like two seats back. I was on the left side, I remember exactly where I was and it was mostly dark the entire time. So I'm in the dark, I've got my headphones on, just making stuff. I stopped to eat a little bit, watched a movie, made some more stuff. I didn't sleep because I was going to get home and sleep, or I had just slept or whatever. It wasn't about like, getting work done, it was just having fun, "oh I have an idea", "oh I have another idea", "oh I have yet another idea." I got to the end of the flight, I stood up, and this guy behind me goes, "Hey man, I hope you had a productive flight" and he had his really smooth way about him talking. And I turned around and it was fucking Lionel Richie. Lionel Richie had been sitting behind me the entire time and watched me do this. And I was like, "Oh! Uh... yeah it was pretty productive, I made some things, I liked some of them." And he goes, "I know how that goes man, you didn't sleep though." And I was like, "No I didn't" and he said, "Next time you should sleep though", or something like that. He kind of joked with me and gave me a hard time, that was it. That was the extent of our conversation. I liked that he was relating to like, "I know how that is, I know how that goes." Ha."

 

- In terms of working with other projects: "I've been offered acting, I've been offered like, "Hey do you want to read for this film role?", "Hey do you want to collaborate with this person", or "Collaborate or make music with this thing" and I've been like, "Na, it's not a good fit for me." Even early I was kind of like, "Ehhh, I don't think so." It's good to know what you're about."

 

- If people had to play Linkin Park in a movie as the band, Mike would want to cast a bunch of nerdy guys.

 

- "Do you have crazy stuff on your rider when you're on tour? Like a golden chair, lol?"-> "We never had really crazy stuff. I never had anything super crazy on my rider, I don't know about the other guys. There have been moments when I found out that other guys in the band had things going on, and I was like, "Oh, really? I didn't realize that was a thing." And I won't embarrass them or call them out. Generally a rider is for things like towels, waters, specifics kinds of drink and food, I wouldn't ever really or almost never would put alcohol on a rider when it was Linkin Park because of Chester and Rob. Sometimes there would be food things. I think we did a phase where we were trying out different salsas, different hot sauces, different food things. It was always food. There was probably an era way back in the day where we needed certain things for our like our XBox on the bus, so we'd put like, "Please put a couple of XBox games in the dressing room" and whatever. It might be in the context of all of the things they were getting for the show, that's not super crazy. But I don't think we did that much, that wasn't a thing that stuck. We'd just go through little phases, like, "How about we put this weird thing on the rider?" Black towels, white towels, those type of things were on the rider. One time, before we went to Israel for the first time, we sent our normal rider which had things like towels and waters and basic food stuff. Like Brad and Rob had food restrictions so there'd be like food restriction stuff on there, which is important if you're in like, Spain for example where they'll have a lot of meat products and things and there's not a lot of like, vegan stuff generally unless you ask for it. So we're going to Israel for the first time and somebody printed a story that did we did want golden towel racks and all of this weird extravagant shit. They printed that we wanted, it wasn't as dumb as like, stacks of money, but it was almost like that. It was like golden chairs and whatever. So somebody says they remember the story. It was so weird! And we were just like, "This is dumb, and no, we don't ever do that." I don't know why somebody made that story up but they did. And it was really circulating too and a lot of people had picked it up as it was true, and we were so frustrated that that was happening. People are idiots, people who believed and wrote that are idiots."

 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/688433030

 

[vinifeijo]

Reading about the rider, i remembered about Porto Alegre concert in Brazil, (october 12, 2012).
The guys were almost 2h late on stage. That's so rare with LP.

 

We heard things about misunderstending between them on backstage... almost like if one of them was almost gaving up on playing that day because of a discussion or something.

Will never know if it's true... but the 2h delay sucked a bit.

[blackout]

I wouldn't ever really or almost never would put alcohol on a rider when it was Linkin Park because of Chester and Rob.

 

Was Rob addicted to alcohol too? I didn't know that. He seems to be a guy with no addictions and stuff like that. Interesting.

[Somebodyangry]

11 minutes ago, blackout said:

I wouldn't ever really or almost never would put alcohol on a rider when it was Linkin Park because of Chester and Rob.

 

Was Rob addicted to alcohol too? I didn't know that. He seems to be a guy with no addictions and stuff like that. Interesting.

Yeah Rob looks like the super quiet guy with no vices and all virtues. This surprises me 

[Vinescence]

21 minutes ago, blackout said:

I wouldn't ever really or almost never would put alcohol on a rider when it was Linkin Park because of Chester and Rob.

 

Was Rob addicted to alcohol too? I didn't know that. He seems to be a guy with no addictions and stuff like that. Interesting.

 

9 minutes ago, PurpleFlinstoneVitamins92 said:

Yeah Rob looks like the super quiet guy with no vices and all virtues. This surprises me 

 

I think I've read on Linkinpedia that he had a drug/alcohol problem when he has in high school. Don't know what has happened since.

I might be wrong, though

[LPLStaff]

In high school, Rob had issues with alcohol and drugs. That was a very, very long time ago and before he even joined Xero. He could have, at that time, sworn off alcohol and drugs and not wanted to be around any of it any longer.

 

For Porto Alegre 2012, we heard Joe was sick, hence the delay. Similar to how Chester was injured at West Palm Beach 2014 and forced the band to have a huge delay (and shortened setlist) for the show. This happens sometimes on tour... Brad was sick at Sunrise 2011, skipped the soundcheck and M&G, but played the show.

[vinifeijo]

8 minutes ago, LPLStaff said:

In high school, Rob had issues with alcohol and drugs. That was a very, very long time ago and before he even joined Xero. He could have, at that time, sworn off alcohol and drugs and not wanted to be around any of it any longer.

 

For Porto Alegre 2012, we heard Joe was sick, hence the delay. Similar to how Chester was injured at West Palm Beach 2014 and forced the band to have a huge delay (and shortened setlist) for the show. This happens sometimes on tour... Brad was sick at Sunrise 2011, skipped the soundcheck and M&G, but played the show.

 

Ohh yeah, just 3 of them were on the M&G in Porto Alegre.
And Joe played wearing flip flops 😂

[blackout]

22 minutes ago, LPLStaff said:

In high school, Rob had issues with alcohol and drugs. That was a very, very long time ago and before he even joined Xero. He could have, at that time, sworn off alcohol and drugs and not wanted to be around any of it any longer.

 

Thank you for clarification!

[Somebodyangry]

14 minutes ago, blackout said:

 

Thank you for clarification!

Yeah thank you ! Didn’t know that 

[LPLStaff]

Rob: "I've had a lot of moments in life, many breakdowns."

[Astat]

Oh there's the weekly Looking for an Answer question, I was beginning to get worried. Maybe asking for a fifth time will get a different answer!

[AdamArtz]

That Lionel Richie story is pretty cool

[Hybrid1988]

Talk about a missed opportunity for a Lionel Richie collab lmao

[leftshoe18]

I would love to at least get the Hollywood Bowl performance of LFAA mixed, mastered and released.

[lpliveusername]

1 hour ago, leftshoe18 said:

I would love to at least get the Hollywood Bowl performance of LFAA mixed, mastered and released.

It was. The entire show. lol

[Justin]

5 hours ago, Astat said:

Oh there's the weekly Looking for an Answer question, I was beginning to get worried. Maybe asking for a fifth time will get a different answer!

 

I'm worried. Nobody asked him about what he learned from Rick Rubin today.

[leftshoe18]

11 hours ago, lpliveusername said:

It was. The entire show. lol

 

Outside of YouTube?

[LPLStaff]

5 hours ago, leftshoe18 said:

 

Outside of YouTube?

 

Just on YouTube. Download the audio and track it. The band paid Ethan Mates to mix the entire show professionally and they reuploaded it in place of the original audio. The audio on there is as good as a live release, same guy who mixed a ton of LP's live releases.

[Somebodyangry]

Don’t want to throw sadness in but do you guys watch HB show from time to time ? Because I fucking can’t. The Messenger and that Numb version and ND scare the shit out of me 😟 Mike shows ha e another atmosphere, I saw him live and didn’t feel sad, but HB ... no thanks 🥺

[xxHybridXeroxx]

24 minutes ago, PurpleFlinstoneVitamins92 said:

Don’t want to throw sadness in but do you guys watch HB show from time to time ? Because I fucking can’t. The Messenger and that Numb version and ND scare the shit out of me 😟 Mike shows ha e another atmosphere, I saw him live and didn’t feel sad, but HB ... no thanks 🥺

I still can’t watch it either. Mike’s shows I can relisten to. HB I can’t 

[mrfox]

I saw it only once I guess, crowd singing numb and the mic standing alone, fuck...or Looking For An Answer and the “is there sunshine where you are” part,...probably won't watch it ever again

[Justin]

I watch the HB sometimes. WFTE was the turning point, when the show's atmosphere became lighter and felt more like a celebration of Chester's life.

 

I liked the way the band worked The Messenger into the bridge of BIO. Numb was obviously emotional, ITE with the crowd was sad but also beautiful because of how loud everyone was. ND was the saddest part of that show for me, because it was so jarring to see footage of Chester at the HB, with the band performing live with a Chester vocal track for the final time.

 

I'm still not the biggest fan of the Alanis Morissette portion of the show, though. I skip those 2 songs when I watch it.

[Diaux]

The HB show was so special (especially compared to other tribute shows in recent years). they put a lot of love and passion on it

I listen to some of the song from time to time but numb absolutly destroy me i just can't man

 

1 hour ago, Justin said:

I'm still not the biggest fan of the Alanis Morissette portion of the show, though. I skip those 2 songs when I watch it.

Also this. exactly

[leftshoe18]

6 hours ago, LPLStaff said:

 

Just on YouTube. Download the audio and track it. The band paid Ethan Mates to mix the entire show professionally and they reuploaded it in place of the original audio. The audio on there is as good as a live release, same guy who mixed a ton of LP's live releases.

 

Still not as good of quality as an actual physical release or even a digital lossless release would give us.

[LPLStaff]

You're right that it isn't lossless, but it's the same mix you'd get. I understand what you are saying though about lossless audio in HQ. This is the best we are going to get. The band obviously doesn't want to release that show.