Bombay Times Exclusive“The Stranger Things finale happened, and Linkin Park went viral because people thought ST looked like the video of our song ‘In the end’. There’s a little moment in our set where we do a playful nod to that meme. But the core of who we are as a band, we're pretty serious about what we make and, and crafting something that is meaningful”Linkin Park’s journey has come full circle. One of the most influential rock bands in the world of the past two decades, with a global fan following that spans generations, the band returned with From Zero (2024) — its eighth studio album and first release after a seven-year hiatus following the tragic death of lead vocalist
Chester Bennington in 2017. The title reflects both origin and renewal. Formed initially as Xero, Linkin Park now enters a new phase that looks forward while remaining anchored to its identity. According to
Mike Shinoda, co-founder, vocalist and songwriter, the band is beginning again without losing sight of who it has always been. Shinoda spoke to Bombay Times exclusively ahead of Linkin Park’s long-awaited India debut, part of the band’s From Zero World Tour. LP will perform a standalone concert in Bengaluru before headlining Lollapalooza India in Mumbai on January 25 at the Mahalaxmi Race Course. Excerpts…
You’re making your India debut more than 20 years into your career, with a standalone show in Bengaluru alongside headlining Lollapalooza India in Mumbai. Were you aware of just how large your fanbase here is? It would have been hard not to know. Indian fans have been incredibly persistent and vocal for a long time — we’ve been hearing about them for at least 15 years. In places where we haven’t played before, our main concern is always understanding the market better. We need to know where we’re going and whether we can deliver the show at the level we’re used to. This isn’t a simple production. It requires the right infrastructure to meet the standard of quality we expect from ourselves. We’re playing more dates now, with a bigger production and a longer set than ever before, so we had to be sure we could cross that threshold. Indian fans have been so patient, sweet and supportive over the years. I really appreciate that — and I’m glad we’re finally able to come out and play for them.
Linkin Park returned to the spotlight in 2024 after a seven-year hiatus. Would you call this new phase a reinvention or a resurrection? You could see it as a new chapter — or a new season of your favorite show. We’re grateful for the opportunity. It’s exciting to start over as Linkin Park, to have the freshness of a new band. Coming back with new music and a slightly different lineup, and having people respond so warmly, is pretty surreal. The reason we named the album From Zero is partly because it reflects starting from scratch with a new group of people, but it also nods to our very first band name, Xero. New members naturally change the creative and social dynamic, which brings a certain excitement. Colin loved Linkin Park as a kid and studied our music when learning to produce. Conversations with him and Emily reminded us that enough time has passed since the band’s early days and the music still resonated with people. Back when we were Xero, then Hybrid Theory and Meteora, there was a lot of imitation in the scene. Whether others were chasing the same goal or copying us, it sometimes felt overwhelming in the early 2000s. Now, with none of that happening, it feels fresh, fun, and natural again. Honestly, it’s a fantastic place to be — we’re two and a half decades into this career, and people are genuinely loving the new music. That’s unusual and really rewarding.
Mike Shinoda
Thank goodness we weren’t trying to recreate anything — that would have been paralyzing. Instead, we get the best of both worlds: the freshness of something new, and the experience of the old. Emily is her own person, both as a human being and as a vocalist. To me, it never feels like a cover of one of our old songs. She sings from the heart, which is exactly the connection fans have always felt with the older material. At the very beginning of this process, Joe, Dave, and I were just trying to get together, hang out, and make music — see how it felt. It didn’t have to be Linkin Park. It didn’t have to be anything. It was just us reconnecting with what had originally brought us together. Over time, everyone else joined in. Colin and Emily are not inexperienced either, and it felt great collaborating with them. What we created naturally felt like Linkin Park. If it had sounded different, it would have had a different name — but that didn’t happen. In fact, in 2024, we even leaned into some ideas from our early days that we hadn’t explored in the later part of our career with Chester. There’s a song on From Zero called “Two-Faced” that, to me, feels like a Xero-era track. It brings the band back to the very beginning of our journey, with a few new ingredients that keep it fresh.
Are you open to a collaboration with an Indian artist? Paigambar, an Indian artist (hip-hop artist from Guwahati), sent something in and I made a track ‘Everybody here’ that he put out through my Twitch campaign in 2021. For me to do a collaboration with another artist, the bar is a little higher. I don't feel excited about making something with another artist just because the analytics tell us that it'll guarantee bigger streaming numbers. I shouldn't say I don't care about that. It's just that it’s not my priority. My priority is to make great Linkin park stuff. So, I wouldn't do anything with anybody that isn't first and foremost, a great Linkin Park song.
What about India fascinates you the most? Oh my God. I hope you know how popular Indian food is in Los Angeles. I might eat Indian food twice a week in LA, probably as much as I eat Mexican food, which is saying a lot. I'm excited to come taste authentic Indian food there, which is top priority. Chicken tikka masala, chicken makhni and mirchi ka salan, the spicy peppers, they are my favourite. We always order tandoori chicken, some naan and raita so I need to try new things. I just have one request for all the Indian families that come and start restaurants in LA. They need to stop naming their restaurants, ‘flavours of India or taste of India’. Like something of India is the name of all the Indian places in LA. You’ve got to come up with new names because I can't Google you. You all have similar names.
In an era of digital trends and viral hits, music can spread instantly — and disappear just as quickly. What’s your take on how music is consumed today? I don’t pay much attention to the disposability of music as a product. I enjoy seeing other people doing publicity stunts or fun stuff that goes viral. Sometimes, we even go viral for things completely out of our control — like when the Stranger Things finale came out and Linkin Park went viral because people thought a scene resembled the video for “In the End.” We even have a little moment in our set that playfully nods to that meme. But at our core, we take what we do seriously. We focus on crafting music that’s meaningful. It’s like the difference between candy and sustenance: some things are just pop, fast food, or bubblegum — fun in the moment, but not lasting. Other things feed you, and that’s what we aim to create. We’re fine doing some playful internet crap for a short while, but ultimately, we put our energy into making music that stands the test of time. That’s probably one of the reasons we’ve been able to sustain a career for over two decades.
People find it fascinating that you don’t crave attention, despite being an integral part of such a huge band that you co-founded. You let Chester Bennington be the face of the band, and now there’s Emily Armstrong. It’s nice to get recognition — if I didn’t get any, I’d probably feel bad. But that’s not why I got into this. People get into the music business for all kinds of reasons. Some love creating, some are drawn to the visual or performance aspects, or the attention, money, social life, and parties. That can be positive, negative, or a mix of both. When we started, we were lucky because, for the most part, everyone in the group shared the same priority: making and playing music. That focus drove everything we did, including our decisions in 2024 to bring in Emily Armstrong as co-vocalist and Colin Brittain on drums. We needed people who were like us — solely driven by the music, not by anything else. It’s important to stay focused on what I feel is the purest version of being a band. That’s always been the foundation of Linkin Park.
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