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Right when we expected some quiet, the band has announced a brand new vinyl pressing of LIVING THINGS with the original cover for the first time ever! LIVING THINGS, Linkin Park's fifth studio album, features “LOST IN THE ECHO,” “CASTLE OF GLASS,” and “BURN IT DOWN." The certified platinum album was released in 2012 and co-produced by Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. Pressed on Red Smoke Vinyl and limited to 5,000 copies in the United States, this marks the first time the record has been pressed on color vinyl since its initial release. Previous vinyl pressings featured alternate artwork, but this 2026 edition notably boasts the original album cover on its sleeve for the very first time. Source: link EDIT: you can also read the press release avout it here.

I think Chester’s passing, coupled with the pandemic a few years back, probably was the perfect storm to make Rob decide that life in the industry wasn’t worth it anymore. Plenty of musicians have talked about how a year of silence almost drove them to quit altogether. After 20 years on the road and constant publicity, it makes sense why you’d want to let that go, especially after the loss of a friend. Now do I wish we got a little bit more than a “oh yeah, Rob didn’t want to come back”? Absolutely, but I understand why we didn’t. as for the album, this is probably their best live record to date. Mixing is phenomenal. The only thing I would’ve changed is adding BTH. That piano transition after Lost feels incomplete without it.

With the release of Unshatter on the horizon, Joe has been doing some press-work, including this interview which features some new insights on the making of the film, Rob Bourdon, and what’s next for the band… Was a documentary always on the docket when Linkin Park started up again? Not this particular film. I’ve always had in mind that eventually I wanted to make a documentary, but timing never worked out. Mainly it never felt right to do; I didn’t think we really wanted to do a retrospective type of thing as far as our career because we’re far from over. Originally the film was slated to just be that (Sao Paulo) concert, the actual experience of watching the show. I thought that wasn’t good enough. I felt like everything deserved an explanation. I wanted to really show what it took to get back on our feet, to explain how this came about. The process of making this documentary was a healing process as well, because there was so much reflecting involved, and acknowledgement of things that did go right. A lot of people didn’t think they’d see Linkin Park together again. Were you surprised, too? We just took everything slowly, without thinking a lot about it. When Mike, Dave and I decided, “OK, I think we’re ready to at least just hang out and get back to the basics of making music... we were down for that. We set up dates where we could camp out for a week at a time; most of the time we were just hanging out, catching up, and everything went from there. It’s not a switch you can just flip on; it was really a process. How did you find everybody related to each other as you came back together? I think when we just started talking to each other again, there was a great deal of empathy all around, and openness -- and also similarity. We were all going through similar enough things to relate to each other in a way that others might not, just because of our own life experience together. We’re kind of an old band but really see ourselves as a new band at the same time. Somehow we got to start over and pick up where we left off. We did it for the right reasons, mainly ‘cause we love the music, and we love being together. It’s striking in “Unshatter” that you have so much footage of those discussions and that hanging out, very private and intimate discussions. The cameras didn’t hinder you at all? From the very beginning we always had a video camera around. Our videographer has been with us since the beginning; he’s a childhood friend of Dave’s... in a sense another member of the band. We’re so used to it we don’t really know that cameras are rolling. When we tour I make sure to take a camera with me and capture as much as I can during the shows. I’m sure sometimes it can be annoying, but then two years later or 10 years later or 30 years later I’m like, “Wow, I’m so happy I took that picture...” So with this it was finding key moments along the path that ultimately led to that Brazil show, finding the less obvious stories within the framework of that. I think it was an exciting thing to explore. Was that something the new folks, Emily and Colin, had trouble getting used to? Probably. Maybe. But that was probably the least of their worries. On one hand it was their dream come true, like whatever the 10-year-old version of themselves imagined for the future or dreamed of... here it is. There was a lot for them to learn -- the old songs, the new ones. But they’re both pros. They have experience in the studio for decades. They’ve played in bands for a long time. The nice thing was they were able to lean on each other as the newcomers. It was hard, but it worked out really well. Were you surprised by anything that anyone said in the new interviews that were conducted? I just know that there was a lot of growing up that happened in the time off, for myself and everybody else and just realizing that everything was moving, moving, moving since we were kids. Gaining success when we’re, like, 20, it didn’t stop and then it did, and all of a sudden we were in our 40s. For it to have ended the way it did, there’s so many feelings that go with that, and then there’s also loneliness that goes with that, embarrassment, you name it. So the way the film was constructed, the interviews were necessary to fill in the gaps and it was enlightening to see the openness and the honesty and also the eagerness of everyone just anting to add color to what was going on. I think everyone really aligned on the goal in a very spiritual way. Surprisingly, maybe, there are no great arguments or anybody losing it or storming out or anything like that. That’s the duality of being a band member and being a filmmaker, especially for this project. I think I just approached this to be as honest as possible and don’t manufacture what’s not there. Don’t look for a conflict. Things that are obvious will just be there. I even considered the idea of having someone else (direct); that was the first, initial instinct. I wanted it to be as objective as possible. But I realized it’s impossible for anyone to come in and be objective; they’re going to try to create a story, look for drama, whatever you want to call it. It was important for me not to do that. People know the history. They know the tragedy involved. You don’t have to create something on top of that. Rob (Bourdon) and his decision not to be part of this is treated pretty lightly. Was that deliberate? We actually haven’t talked to Rob in a long time. He went through his journey; he’s still going through it. I haven’t gotten a whole explanation from him, and that’s OK. It would have been great to have him, not just involved in the film but to be part of the band again. We know that everyone’s got their own path they have to follow. You see how even Brad (Delson) was hesitant; he wasn’t there in the beginning (of the resumption) and then he saw what he was missing out on and he had to make a hard decision. It was more about him kind of just getting on his feet and seeing what the possibility of things were...and realizing that, “Oh, this is really something fun that I enjoy, and I like the guys and I want to be around. He’s not touring with us, but he’s in the studio, everywhere else. He just doesn’t like to be a vagabond anymore. Was playing in Brazil on the day the album came out a deliberate decision? It couldn’t have been a better place to do it. The Brazilians have always begged for us to come play there; we haven’t played that much there before that. So the opportunities really aligned nicely. In fact, we’ve gotten way better since then. We got to play for two years after that show, really having a good time doing it. I wish I had the luxury to show what happens after that, because we grew so much and the performance you see in the film is nowhere near the level of what we’re doing today. It feels like a warm-up show, even though it’s in a large stadium. So there’s kind of more excitement to show the world what else we’re capable of -- maybe that’s for the next (film). (laughs) So what is next for Linkin Park? I feel like this film is just perfect timing for us, It’s bookending everything we’ve done from “From Zero” and reflects on what it took for us to get here. Everyone was like, “OK, let’s make sure we take at least a month off and then let’s get back to work,” so we’re now writing music again. There’s no timetable, but I think there’s an urgency. We know we can work fast, ‘cause we’re so excited to output a lot, so it’s not gonna be another five years or a long time before we come out with something new. At the same time we’ve been so in your face a lot with (“From Zero”) that it’ll be nice to give people a little bit of a break and then reconvene and come up with something really great.

See ya’ll in 2044 for the From Zero 20th Anniversary where we’ll get the whole concert 😆

From Zero tour is officially over and you know what that means!!! CHOO CHOO ALL ABOARD THE LP9 HYPE TRAIN

Forever grateful about how many Pro-shot shows we got for the OML tour.

Show has been cancelled due to illness in the band. https://x.com/linkinpark/status/2031919858582188279?s=46

Made an album cover to put on my music app. Feel free to use it on your local files

I would not be shocked if they’ve already got a batch of demos ready. (I mean come on, Brad, Mike, Colin, and Em are all songwriters) and there could be songs like Unshatter/Let You Fade that were demos during the making of FZ but just needed more time in the oven. I think Up From the Bottom is probably our best look as to what is to come for the band. Recorded and put together after the first leg of the tour, it’s kinda the first song (to me) that the band was fully together/comfortable to put together, whereas FZ was mostly worked on as the band wasn’t fully formed yet (ie Brad not being on board until late in the sessions.) I hope we hear more songs that are more in tune with Emily’s writing DNA, along with Brad’s since he’s involved from the start this time.

Is it too early to start the hype train? Choo Choo!

100%. OML Live was a great ‘tribute’ release but I think a FZ Live release will be a great way to showcase Emily’s vocals (especially in the more recent shows) on their hits.

I bet we’ll get an OML Live type release, with multiple shows pulled into one. Hopefully this time they put the whole setlist into the release. I’d love to listen to a ‘25 version of all the hits.

Alright! Let’s do this! Hoping for Stained!

With the excitement of the first leg of the tour underway, Billboard has posted a new interview with Emily, Mike, and Phoenix! In the interview the band talks about the tour, Up From the Bottom, and the upcoming deluxe of From Zero (including some details about Let You Fade!) Hit the link below to check it out

They gotta get Neal Avron to work on the whole album next time around. He really helps these songs shine