Mike Shinoda joined KROQ to chat with Klein and Ally all about new music, new-old Linkin Park songs, and his Scream VI collab with Demi Lovato.
LISTEN NOW: Mike Shinoda with Klein and Ally
Starting off on the topic of “Lost” the first "new, never-before-heard song from the Meteora archives,” to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the album.
“Y’know we were putting together this thing together, this Meteora 20th anniversary,” Mike mentioned to no surprise. “We knew we had some good stuff, we didn’t know y’know how good, we didn’t know what the fans would think. But we came across ‘Lost’ and a handful of other really good songs… songs with vocals, songs with rapping, songs with singing, guitars — they are all of the Meteora era. And the Meteora 20 project when it comes out, fans will get to check out all that stuff.”
Curious about how the whole process has made him feel about putting together albums, and choosing which tracks to include.
“The funny part is, that was the conversation… I lean towards the side of lets not put out anything unless its great, I’m not gonna just put stuff out just to put it out, and I wanted to know what we had before we committed to any of that.”
“And the stuff when I look back, the reason it didn’t make it is because we committed in our minds, we committed to 12 songs on the record, so that meant that everything else had to go somewhere else. And ‘Lost’ was actually first in line to become a B side on the Japanese release or released at a different time with a movie or something. And as the band moved on by the time we got to the next album, Minutes to Midnight, our goal was to reinvent the band. So everything was about putting aside anything we had done on Meteora and Hybrid Theory and doing something brand new.”
These were the days when Linkin Park was spending over 300 out of the 365 days a year on tour. “Some days would be two shows in a day, we were constantly on the move, we we’re playing every day, it was aggressive.” Recalling one of those shows at KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas, “we played first… first band of the night, seats were empty. And then the very next one we headlined.”
Not just in the midst of serving up some never before heard Linkin Park gems, Mike is also serving up brand new solo track “In My Head”
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"To be able to look forward and backwards at once it almost like, it accentuates the differences, and it also allows you to see the similarities. The DNA of the band and what I do is present in both of those.”
Mike also went on to share how the Demi Lovato Scream VI collab “Still Alive” came about and so much more. To hear it all, listen to the entire interview above.
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