EDM magazine “Do Androids Dance” interviewed Mike about Linkin Park’s new single A LIGHT THAT NEVER COMES with EDM God Steve Aoki, their upcoming remix album RECHARGED and if DJs are the new rockstars:
Debuted to the world at Tokyo’s Summer Sonic Festival on August 10, 2013, “A Light That Never Comes” – Linkin Park‘s Steve Aoki-produced lead single from forthcoming remix album Recharged – showed a marked change in the band’s mainstream direction. Turning down the live instruments and turning up the electronic melodies (and the bass!), the heavy, moombahton-flavored track was surprising to some. However, if a fan of the band’s decade-long career, electronic and hard dance elements have always existed in the underpinning of many of their major hits. However, instead of a band adopting a populist change-of-pace, the band’s latest single actually is better told as a story of the band’s activity in the digital and organic realms in social media and online communities paying off. Having already consistently engaged producers like Datsik in remixing their material for online-only consumption, the band’s awareness of a growing fan base for this material has evolved into Recharged – an album solely comprised from remixes of tracks from Linkin Park’s 2012 released album Living Things. Do Androids Dance had the chance to get band member Mike Shinoda on the phone for an interview regarding the new single, Shinoda’s thoughts on EDM overall, and an answer to that burning question, “are DJs the new rock stars?” Enjoy!
Prior to working on “A Light That Never Comes,” how aware were you of Steve Aoki and his work?
I was absolutely aware of Steve and had heard of him for a long time. I knew that he was very active making remixes and stuff like that. As well, I’d see him on all of those “Most Powerful DJs in the World”-type of lists. When I became more interested, I heard his collaborations with artists like Lil Jon and Iggy Azalea, and was impressed. Just like Linkin Park, he can reach into different genres and styles of music with his sounds. As far as the collaboration, we reached out to each other during an unrelated conversation on Twitter, so it all happened organically. We exchanged DMs back and forth, which led to emails, and then the song.
Read the rest of the interview HERE
