Linkin Park
A Thousand Suns Tour
Las Vegas, NV
For their last album Minutes to Midnight, Linkin Park collaborated
with Rick Rubin for an LP that found the band moving away from
their trademark rap-rock sound. Now the California crew is teaming
up with Rubin again for A Thousand Suns — and the iconic producer
has helped the band find a totally new voice. "On the last record,
Rick's challenge was getting us to open up our perception of what
our music could be," singer Chester Bennington tells Rolling
Stone. "This time we realized it doesn't matter what the songs
sound like. If we like it and it comes from us, it's Linkin Park."
The group plans to release the album on September 14th while the
first single, "The Catalyst," will arrive on August 2nd.
A Thousand Suns might be Linkin Park's most eclectic yet — with
lyrics that address everything from the recession to the conflicts
in the Middle East. One untitled track mixes Nine Inch Nails-style
industrial punk with dreamy synth washes, while another lays a
heavy hip-hop beat beneath Bennington's heartfelt vocal
performance. “We’ve got rapport with radio stations and people who
want to put our band on the front page of their site,” says Mike
Shinoda, who co-produced the disc with Rubin. “They’re gonna give
us a shot more so than a band they’ve never heard of. So we’ve got
this opportunity to take bigger chances with our records and do
something a little more challenging.” Adds Rubin, "The band is
making music from a pure place."
Since releasing their last LP, frontmen Mike Shinoda and Chester
pursued solo projects like Bennington's Dead By Sunrise and
Shinoda's work with Hans Zimmer on the Transformers: Revenge of
the Fallen score. The time apart helped invigorate the band so
much that they're already considering a follow-up. "At this point
we're writing such great music that I almost want to go do 50
shows around the world and then get right back into making another
record," Bennington says. "Once the ball starts rolling, it's all
I want. It's like a drug."
By Mikaela Wood
