Leader of the nu metal scene in its time, Linkin Park is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Meteora, its second album. On this occasion, leader Mike Shinoda delves into his memories.
20 years already for Meteora! In what state of mind did you set up this reissue?
It is a pleasure to celebrate this anniversary with those who were there at the time. I loved diving back into it, not only into the pieces that everyone has known all this time, but also into certain things that were previously unknown to the general public.
Let’s talk about these new releases.
We liked many of our demos, but we were focused on what it should be Meteora. In this context of a global work, these titles did not fit. So we discarded “Lost”, because we already had “Numb” and we didn’t want two songs with a comparable aesthetic. We had thought about using it as a B-side, but that didn’t happen.
How did you react when you found them?
“Lost” sounded exactly as I remembered it. Regarding “Fighting Myself”, I didn’t remember it being so advanced, with finished rap verses and Chester’s (Bennington) vocals. We didn’t need to touch anything, we just had to mix and master them to make them sound their best. We didn’t want to modernize anything, these pieces are sufficient in themselves. That said, we might eventually add new material to some of the other tracks, we’re not closed.
Let’s talk about your state of mind at the time.
When we entered the studio, we were a little stressed, but above all very mature and aware of what we wanted. We were already thinking about the long term. So, we wanted to include new ideas and new colors to our musical palette, including things we hadn’t done in Hybrid Theory. So we created our own samples. They can be heard at the beginning of “Somewhere I Belong”, “Lying From You” or “Faint”. There was a rap song with “Nobody’s Listening”, a more electro song with “Session” and “Breaking The Habit” didn’t have any screaming or big guitars. This gives clues as to the direction we would follow later.
Find this interview with Mike Shinoda from LinkinPark in full in WECB l’Hebdo n°118, available in our online store.
