Warner Germany released a script from their video interview series today. We have done a very rough and fast translation of it without checking if it matches the original. Also, Warner has only released videos of 5 questions so far! So please note that this interview script is only for information and doesn’t reproduce the original replies!
Feel free to look for mistakes in the translation and email them to info@lpfancorner.com with the subject “spam mail alert”. Thanks!
This is part 1 since Lizzi is still translating part 2!
When was the new material composed?
Mike: I always record demos. Even before we had finished our last album “Living Things”, did I start recording demos when I thought they could be the foundation of the next album. I recorded a lot at my home studio and on tour. I also played a few new demo-tracks to the guys and also Rick Rubin – everyone thought they were okay. Rick’s comment was that the material is more pop than he expected. Even if he meant it in a positive way, it still kind of annoyed me. I listened to the material and though: Fuck, that’s absolutely not what I had in mind and what I was commited to. This can’t possibly be the basis of our next album. I realized that this stuff is going into a totally wrong musical direction. I just didn’t like it. So I threw away a lot and started anew.
Instead of pop elements, the album has a rough punk rock spirit. Everything is heavily guitar-oriented, very loud and aggressive!
Brad: The great thing about this band ist hat you have the possibility to have a standpoint as a musician, even if it’s a weird one. Also, we challenge our listeners from album to album. Neither me as a musician want to repeat myself, nor do I want this with the band. Mike’s plan was to make heavy songs with a lot of guitar, but in an unconventional way. A kind we’ve never done before, and which you can’t hear anywhere else.
Apparently you are paving the way for the album on the new single already.
Mike: One person is reminded of Avenged Sevenfold, another one mails me that they think they’ve discovered parallels to Refused. I can say for us our inspirations are the following bands. The stuff we grew up on while we went to high school or college, or even earlier. We were influenced by records that were released many years before our debut „Hybrid Theory“. The first records I listened to were “The Shape Of Punk To Come“ by Refused or records from At The Drive-In. It even goes back to Minor Thread.
Brad: We looked for a way to somehow canalise the extroversion of this punk rock and hardcore era. A modern way which is very unique in the year 2014. Of course with all our sonic trademarks. “Guilty All The Same” doesn’t even sound rudimentary like “A Light That Never Comes” with Steve Aoki. Still, there are many things we learned through our work with Steve.
Mike: Other rock bands don’t have the possibilities we have: instead of just the guitar, bass and drums, we fortunately have a few very talented guys in the band who occupy themselves with less traditional music styles and methods. This is also mirrored in the lyrics. Meanwhile, we are all grown up and that’s why we won’t cry over how much we hate mom and daddy in our lyrics, or how angry we are at people in school. We clearly concentrated to reflect this aggression not only in the music but also in the lyrics – in a very grown up and mature way. This aggression is rooted in a few things that really annoy us at the moment.
So it’s „back to the roots“ in the truest sense of words?
Mike: You could say that, but our roots on the new album reach back much further. Back to a time before the people even heard of us! When I think about my roots, I see my home in the year 1996. The influences from back then led to “Hybrid Theory” – the new material was influenced from stuff that goes even further back in time! This style wasn’t heard from anyone in Linkin Park, because it was shaped very slowly to where we are now. With the new songs we go back to those rough, unmastered elements from back then, but with the technical know-how and the modern techniques from today. We all were teenagers and didn’t have the know-how we have now. In addition we didn’t have access to all the techniques and the possibilities like today. We didn’t even know how a studio looks like from the inside; or how to record music accurately.
