Wywiad - New Straits Times (Mike)
Tytuł - Rap 'n' rock with Linkin Park

It has been a while since any international band played in Kuala Lumpur. Thus fans will have reason to be excited when US rap-rock band Linkin Park performs live at Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. It is also the band's only show in Southeast Asia.

Linkin Park comprises Chester Bennington (vocals), Rob Bourdon (drums), Brad Delson (guitar), Joseph Hahn, Phoenix (bass) and Mike Shinoda (emcee, vocals and guitar).

Hailing from Los Angeles, Linkin Park was established in the mid-90s. It became famous two years ago when its debut album, Hybrid Theory, sold 14 million albums, making it the No.1 selling album of 2001. In Malaysia, its album sold 300,000 copies.

Soon the band became one of the hottest ones around, sharing the limelight with the likes of P.O.D. and Papa Roach. Its music is loud and irreverent but also poetic and thoughtful, a unique combination. The energy, tempered with sensitivity, creates melodic rhythms that appeal to fans.

Following its success during OZZfest 2001, the band held 324 "live" performances throughout the United States in one year. It also launched three chart-topping singles including In The End, Crawling and Papercut.

In 2002, it received a Grammy for Best Hard Rock performance for Crawling as well as nominations for Best Rock Album and Best New artiste.

Earlier this year, the band launched its second album, Meteora, with hits such as Somewhere I Belong and Numb.

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Shinoda revealed that when he was 13, he told his teacher Eileen, "I want to play more jazz and blues and maybe hip-hop."

She said to him: "Maybe you just wanna get a keyboard and start learning those things on your own."

That led Shinoda to buy a sampler and experiment with digital-based music.

On the band, Shinoda said: "We'd rather go to somebody's house and write a song than to party.

"At parties, you know what's was going to happen. You know who's going to get drunk. But when we get together to write songs, we never know what's going to happen. It's (songwriting) much more exciting."

On how the band writes its songs, he said: "We get together in a one-on-one session and brainstorm. I find the guys really respond when all attention is on them and their ideas.

"Then we go back and forth and build momentum from there. It's very fluid, and it lends itself to capturing moments of spontaneity without having to jam with the whole band."

The concert is brought to Malaysia by local outfit Jojo Entertainment and its regional affiliate Lushington Entertainment, which organised the Michael Jackson concert at Stadium Merdeka in 1996.

Open terrace seating tickets are priced at RM100 and RM80 while grandstand tickets are RM125.

Tickets are available at all Axcess outlets nationwide and at Hard Rock Café Kuala Lumpur.

Online bookings can be made at www.axcess.com.my and through the Axcess Ticket hotline at 03-7491- 9999. Tickets for Singapore-based fans are available through the SISTIC ticketing network.

opublikowano dnia : 13.10.2003, autor : Gerald Chuah