In an interview with Matt Pinfield, Linkin Park icon Mike Shinoda talked about their 2000 album ‘Hybrid Theory‘ and remembered the very first time he and the band’s late vocalist Chester Bennington worked together.
As you may recall, the legendary frontman of Linkin Park, Chester Bennington was found at his home in California on July 20, 2017. The cause of his death was declared as suicide by hanging. The band members and fans all around the world were devastated by the news of Chester’s tragic death.
The surviving members of Linkin Park have been celebrating the 20th anniversary of their iconic album, ‘Hybrid Theory.’ The debut studio album of Linkin Park, ‘Hybrid Theory,’ was released on October 24, 2000. The four singles from the album, ‘One Step Closer,’ ‘In the End,’ ‘Crawling,’ and ‘Papercut,’ brought the mainstream popularity to the band. ‘Crawling’ won the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2002.
Recently, Linkin Park members joined an interview with Matt Pinfield and talked about their 2000 album ‘Hybrid Theory‘ in honor of its 20th anniversary. During the interview, Mike Shinoda remembered the time he and Chester Bennington worked for the first time.
Although he mentioned what a unique voice Chester had, Mike claimed he didn’t have a moment he said ‘wow, that’s it‘ since the two talented musicians were trying to take little steps to create the identity of their band in the best way possible.
Here’s what Mike Shinoda stated about composing the character of Linkin Park:
“We were so protective of like, the identity of the band, and what we were trying to do. We had this vision of what it was supposed to be coming into focus, and it wasn’t there yet, but we really wanted to get it right. And so when Chester came in, I remember we all couldn’t stop talking about how talented he was, and what a voice he had.”
Furthermore, Shinoda claimed that Chester was also trying to figure out what kind of vocalist he wanted to be, therefore they all chose to take one step at a time to reach perfection and continued:
“When we were making demos together and doing stuff for the first time, he was still discovering who he wanted to be as a vocalist as well, and it was partially like, how he could express himself in a unique way, but then also what would fit this style of music, what would fit this band the best.
So it was doing both of those things at the same time, and I was like the first point of contact: it’d be me recording him, and he’d do a thing and I’d respond to that, and so it was like a slow progression into that identity. It wasn’t like there was one moment where he sang a thing and I went, ‘Wow! That’s it!’ It was like all these little steps.”
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