{"id":21080907,"date":"2024-11-15T14:38:49","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T19:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/altwire.ozmediaservices.com\/linkin-park-from-zero-interview\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T00:30:36","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T04:30:36","slug":"linkin-park-from-zero-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/linkin-park-von-zero-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Linkin Park \u201eFrom Zero\u201c: Hinter den Kulissen ihres explosiven Comeback-Albums"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a moment that thrilled longtime fans and reignited excitement within the music world, Linkin Park<\/a><\/strong> made their triumphant return in early September with the announcement of a show at a (then secret) location. The band’s comeback show, marked more than just a performance\u2014it was a poignant statement of resilience and evolution, showcasing their renewed spirit and creative energy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the later release of their second single, \u201cHeavy Is The Crown,\u201d Linkin Park once again proved their ability to push boundaries while staying true to their core identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after this electrifying show and the release of “Heavy Is The Crown”, I had the opportunity to ask a few questions to Linkin Park\u2019s own Mike Shinoda<\/a><\/strong> and new band member Emily Armstrong<\/strong>. In an insightful conversation, they shared behind-the-scenes stories about the creation of From Zero<\/em> (read our review here<\/a>) and the collaborative dynamics that shaped their latest sound. From writing sessions to the intricate recording process, Mike and Emily opened up about what it took to craft an album that stands as both a tribute to the past and a bold step into their future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we celebrate the release of From Zero<\/em> today November 15th, we invite you to delve into this interview where Mike and Emily reflect on their journey, and the experiences that have defined this new chapter for Linkin Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


AltWire [Derek Oswald]: Having two new band members means bringing two new dramatically different creative energies to the studio. Mike, in what ways did working with Colin and Emily inspire you and the rest of the original band creatively? What fun new things did they bring to the table?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike Shinoda [Linkin Park]:<\/strong> For people who have been fans of LP for a long time, I think you\u2019d appreciate that Colin and Emily came into the process as super capable artists who, in part, wanted to help Linkin Park become real again. When they showed up, they were so supportive and encouraging. They\u2019d say things like \u201cI\u2019m just here to help\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m just happy to be here\u201d\u2014I remember one conversation in particular where Colin was basically like, \u201cI just want Linkin Park to be back in the world again, and I\u2019ll do anything I can do to help make that happen.\u201d He was totally unaware that we were considering to ask him to join the band!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AW: Adding on to that, you\u2019ve mentioned that you and Colin think very similarly in the studio. What were some of the most rewarding parts of making this record? What fun experiments did both of you try?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emily Armstrong [Linkin Park]: <\/strong>I love the feeling when a small idea becomes a big concept. What everyone in the room comes up with, together, to reach a complete idea. It\u2019s pretty impressive to witness, or be a part of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MS:<\/strong> It\u2019s funny to try and \u201cplan\u201d that kind of magic, because you never know how the day will go. In making our schedule, I tried to keep it loose and create a lot of variety. Sometimes working with a bunch of people, sometimes just a couple of us. I booked us at different studios, to try and capture different sounds and see if the change of scenery might inspire different things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes we might have a plan for the day, but then a sound\u2014like the one in the beginning of Heavy Is The Crown\u2014might completely pull us in, and we\u2019d end up spending the whole day chasing a new idea. One day we might start a song with a phrase, like \u201cWhy do bad things take the place where good things go\u201d and another day we\u2019d spend the whole time sending sounds through speakers and guitar pedals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AW: Linkin Park album cycles are traditionally very productive periods, resulting in hundreds of demos and partially finished song ideas. How many demos were made for this album before inevitably whittling it down to 10 songs?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MS: <\/strong>So many, in various stages of completion. Not sure what the number was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AW: Obviously you didn\u2019t know how big it would be upon release, but in the studio writing it, did you think \u201cThe Emptiness Machine\u201d was going to be a great single-worthy song?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


MS:<\/strong> I occasionally get a feeling that a song is extra special. I had that feeling on “In The End”, “Castle Of Glass”, “What I\u2019ve Done”, and others. Historically, it hasn\u2019t always meant the song will be super successful, it just means I love it and I\u2019m proud of it, and I\u2019d be happy if we put as much focus on it as we can. I had a strong feeling like that about “The Emptiness Machine”, and made sure to always keep an ear out when other people flagged that as a potential single.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AW: Branching off the previous question, both Linkin Park and Dead Sara had some very successful songs<\/a>. For both of you, what are some common go to tricks you rely on to help craft a memorable and catchy song?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


EA:<\/strong> I\u2019m still learning that part! But honestly, I always just went with my gut and what I would want to sing as a performer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MS:<\/strong> I generally say, when you\u2019re writing, \u201cpeople will like this\u201d is not as good as \u201cI like this.\u201d The worst case scenario for me would be to write a song that people like, but I don\u2019t like. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AW: Emily, Preparing for the set list has allowed you to not only look back over the band\u2019s entire discography but some of their deeper more obscure cuts as well. What Chester era song is your absolute favorite and which yet to be unreleased From Zero track are you most excited about?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

EA: <\/strong>I\u2019d have to say “Waiting For The End”. That\u2019s my favorite LP song. And as far as From Zero<\/em>, I\u2019m most excited for “Overflow.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AW: Emily, what are some of the unique differences in the writing process with Linkin Park versus previous sessions with Dead Sara when it comes to crafting new music?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

EA:<\/strong> For sure. As Dead Sara<\/strong>, we would typically just write in a room together playing live, essentially molding a song together before figuring out the rest, when we get to the recording part of it. Vibe first, then lyrics last. LP has a more professional and successful way of writing songs! [laughs]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AW: Heavy Is The Crown is the theme song for Worlds 2024, and a version of it was included in the Netflix show Arcane. How did this collaboration come about?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MS: <\/strong>Before LP had really started back up, Christian [Linke]<\/strong> and Alex [Yee]<\/strong> from Arcane<\/strong> asked me if I\u2019d write some things for Arcane, which I was excited to do. That was when I wrote the lyrics that became the chorus. Many months later, the band was in the studio, with a ton of momentum and a pretty clear vision of what we were doing, and I tried those words over a new demo we were making. As soon as Em sang it, everyone knew it was going to be great. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A little while later, I played it for the Riot [Games]<\/strong> team\u2014and it turned out they had already been working on a \u201cmedieval” launch concept for Worlds. The coincidence of their concept and our \u201cCrown\u201d lyric was too good to ignore!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AW: Let\u2019s talk about that beast of a scream Emily did on HITC! Emily or Mike, how did that part come about? Was it always planned to be an extended scream or was it one of those serendipitous studio moments?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MS:<\/strong> I did actually plan a long \u201cGiven Up\u201d style scream, as an easter egg or \u201cnod\u201d to one of the most iconic vocals Chester sang. Emily did slightly longer and shorter takes of that scream, but the one we used was just a tiny bit shorter. For one, it fit the song better, but also it felt like by using the shorter one, we were kinda showing respect to the Chester vocal. I know it\u2019s hard to imagine, but I bet the Chester scream or the Emily scream could have been longer, honestly, with unlimited of takes in a studio environment. But we did what felt right for each of the two songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AW: Finally, Mike, your musical journey has been one that’s taken you through some brightness and darkness that few could actually conceptualize. How do you view the impact your music has made in so many peoples’ lives, in helping them through hard times, as well as your overall legacy as a band?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MS:<\/strong> To borrow some words from Colin: \u201cI\u2019m just happy to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

Linkin Park’s From Zero is now available on all streaming services and available for purchase worldwide. <\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n

LISTEN TO LINKIN PARK’S “TWO FACED”:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=kivUsDGWojU<\/a>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AltWire’s Derek Oswald speaks with new Linkin Park frontrunner Emily Armstrong and frequent AltWire guest Mike Shinoda about how From Zero came to be.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21080908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","transcript_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[1531,1743,1751,122,1463,69],"class_list":["post-21080907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-editors-picks","tag-emily-armstrong","tag-from-zero","tag-linkin-park","tag-mike-shinoda","tag-rock","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21080907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21080907"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21080907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21091454,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21080907\/revisions\/21091454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21080908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21080907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21080907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21080907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}