987FM Talks to Mike Shinoda
987FM talks to Mike Shinoda about what music gets him excited, what's his best memory about Singapore and his plans after Post Traumatic tour
š August 2018
šŗ 987FM
š 3 min read
J: Hey, itās Joakim Gomez for 987, with one of my heroes in life right now - Mike Shinoda. And I want to actually begin with a story. Back in 2000, I was 12 at that point in time. I got my hands on the Hybrid Theory album. And then 2003, I was 15 when Meteora was about to be released, I remember taking a bus right after school to the nearest CD shop to get a CD, Meteora. Are there any musicians of today that excite you the same way I got excited for Linkin Park?
M: Oh man! When I was around the same age, that was the way I was about a lot of artists too. I always loved Public Enemy. I loved Rage Against the Machine, later I loved Nine Inch Nails. And I actually went in a weird direction, I went backwards and fell in love with Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix. I donāt know, in terms of new artists I really like Kendrick, heās really exciting. I know I should say like a hundred artists but I could do that forever so I donāt even know where to start.
J: Thatās fine. And Iām not sure if you remember this but back when Fort Minor were here in Singapore, I think this was 2006, I was there and I remember you teaching us how to do the sign for LA before you did the song āBack Home.ā
M: Yeah! Thatās funny.
J: Whatās your best memory of Singapore so far in all the times youāve been here?
M: I havenāt had a ton of time here. I feel like Singapore is underrated. I love coming here and part of it is the culture, part of it is the food. I have a couple of friends here. As soon as I landed I stopped in at Mark Ongās studio. I actually bought these shoes from him months ago, and he held them until I got here. All of those things, itās not just the city, itās people.
J: In the song āNothing Makes Sense Anymoreā one of the lines includes āI used to sleep without waking up.ā Are you a light sleeper or are you a deep sleeper?
M: Iām a pretty deep sleeper. There have been days when I kind of like got 5 hours, 6 hours, and then also 12 hours of sleep. Like, my body just decides when itās time to sleep and nothing can wake me up.
J: How did you record āBroodingā? Was it just you in the studio hitting the record button, just playing all the instruments available?
M: Yeah, I mean all of the songs on Post Traumatic are kind of done that way. Like a lot of them started as jams or they started as little loops in my computer, sometimes in my phone. The interesting thing about āBroodingā - itās the only instrumental on the album. And the reason thatās the case is that I tried to put lyrics over it and I didnāt like the sound of my voice on it. So I just left it the way it was.
J: Alright, one final question. Whatās next after Post Traumatic? Are you gonna take a short break for awhile or are you gonna keep putting out more music?
M: Thatās a good question, I actually donāt know. One of the things that Post Traumatic - not just the album but the whole moment in time - is about opening up paths on this journey. So, is it making more solo music, is it writing or producing for other people, is it doing more art - all of those things are possibilities, and right now Iām not definitively deciding to do one. Iāll just kind of do a little bit of all them and see what happens.