Linkin Park’s revitalization has, for better or worse, been one for the ages. But the road to getting the band back together wasn’t an easy one, according to founder and co-vocalist Mike Shinoda. He says there was a period where the band members simply “wouldn’t show up or call back” when he tried to schedule private reunions.
During an appearance on the Broken Record Podcast, Shinoda explained that the band’s 2025 revival had been in the works for about five years, following the tragic 2017 death of the beloved vocalist Chester Bennington.
“Where do I even start? After 2020, I was doing Twitch live streams here, actually, on this setup, and I made songs with the fans,” Shindo said, transcribed by Ultimate Guitar. “They would throw ideas out, and I’d make tracks out of their ideas. I did some fun stuff there. And at a certain point, I was also starting to do sessions with other artists, like writing and producing.”
“And I was making- starting to make my own stuff again, very quietly and really not putting any names on it – just making the most random stuff that you’d never even expect me to make,” Shinoda continued. “Some of it sounded like Linkin Park. Some of it sounded like me experimenting. Like, I’ve done a few different projects: Fort Minor, my own solo stuff. There were elements of all those things going on.”
It would still take some time for the whole band to get back together, with Shinoda noting that the band members just hadn’t found that spark yet. “I had kept in touch with all the guys in the band, and we had gotten together, and then…nothing was there,” he said. “Like, we would get together for a little bit, and then people just wouldn’t show up or call back or whatever. And that happened maybe once a year, a couple times a year.”
Finally, it all clicked, and Linkin Park was reenergized. “And sometime around – I’m gonna guess it was like 2023 – I started really talking to Joe [Hahn] and Dave [Farrell],” Shinoda explained. “I could tell that they were really ready to do something, and I was as well.”
Now, the band is back with a new co-vocalist (Emily Armstrong), a new album (2024’s From Zero), and a new world tour. Check out all the forthcoming North American tour dates below:
8/19 PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, PA (+ Jean Dawson)
8/21 Bridgestone Arena Nashville, TN (+ Jean Dawson)
8/23 Enterprise Center St. Louis, MO (+ Jean Dawson)
8/25 Fiserv Forum Milwaukee, WI (+ Jean Dawson)
8/27 Target Center Minneapolis, MN (+ Jean Dawson)
8/29 CHI Health Center Omaha, NE (+ Jean Dawson)
8/31 T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, MO (+ Jean Dawson)
9/3 Ball Arena Denver, CO (+ Jean Dawson)
9/6 Footprint Center Phoenix, AZ (+ Jean Dawson)
9/13 Intuit Dome Los Angeles, CA (+ Queens Of The Stone Age & JPEGMAFIA)
9/15 SAP Center San Jose, CA (+ JPEGMAFIA)
9/17 Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA (+ JPEGMAFIA)
9/19 Moda Center Portland, OR (+ JPEGMAFIA)
9/21 Rogers Arena Vancouver, BC (+ JPEGMAFIA)
9/24 Climate Pledge Arena Seattle, WA (+ JPEGMAFIA)
The post Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda Reveals on the Slow Road To Getting the Band Back Together: “People Just Wouldn’t Show up or Call Back” appeared first on VICE.
