Harsh J

Here’s more information on Linkin Park‘s upcoming album, Minutes to Midnight:

From [MarketWire]

New Warner Bros. Album in Stores May 15, 2007

LOS ANGELES, CA — (MARKET WIRE) — March 06, 2007 –

The anticipation and rumors about multi-platinum Grammy� award-winning Linkin Park’s third studio album were finally answered today, with the announcement that the record, titled “Minutes to Midnight,” will hit stores May 15th on Warner Bros. Records/Machine Shop Recordings. Co-produced by Mike Shinoda and 2007 Grammy Producer of The Year, Rick Rubin (U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Run DMC), “Minutes to Midnight” was recorded at the infamous Mansion at Laurel Canyon and is already being touted by critics who have heard it as the band’s best and most important work to date.

The first single, “What I’ve Done,” will be released worldwide April 2, 2007.

“We have put more into the new album than anything we have ever done before,” says bassist Dave “Phoenix” Farrell. The band spent over 14 months in the studio and wrote more than 100 song demos in the making of “Minutes to Midnight,” an album which vocalist Mike Shinoda sees as “a breakthrough in the development of the band’s sound. We wrote in new ways, and used instruments and equipment we hadn’t experimented with before, from vintage guitars and amps to mellotron to Rick’s original 808 drum machine he used on the Beastie Boys’ first record. We tried to question every step in our songwriting process.” Producer Rick Rubin agrees: “They really are reinventing themselves, it doesn’t sound like rap-rock. There’s very strong songwriting. It’s very melodic… a progressive record.”

The coming weeks will see the launch of LPTV, a series of webisodes that can be viewed on www.linkinpark.com. The series will focus on “unseen footage of the history of Linkin Park, building up to an inside look at the studio experience of the new album,” says Farrell. Linkin Park will headline the second day of this summer’s Bamboozle music festival on May 6 in New Jersey before embarking on a headlining European tour in June. Next month, the band expects to announce plans for “a summer tour with an unmissable lineup,” says Shinoda. “I know that’s not a word, but this tour is worth making up words for.”

Linkin Park is Chester Bennington (vocals), Rob Bourdon (drums), Brad Delson (guitar), Joe Hahn (DJ), Dave “Phoenix” Farrell (bass), and Mike Shinoda (vocals). They have earned two Grammy Awards, the first for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2002 with their hit single “Crawling” and the second for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration with Jay-Z in 2006 for the innovative “Numb/Encore.” Linkin Park has sold 40 million records worldwide since their debut in 2000. The Diamond-Certified “Hybrid Theory” has alone sold more than 18 million copies. In addition, Linkin Park established Music For Relief with the Red Cross in January 2005 to help aid victims of world catastrophes and combat global warming. For more information on Linkin Park and Music For Relief, please log on to www.linkinpark.com or www.musicforrelief.org.

From [Billboard]:

Clock Strikes ‘Midnight’ For New Linkin Park Album

After 14 months in the studio, Linkin Park has set a May 15 release date for its new Warner Bros. album, “Minutes to Midnight.” First single “What I’ve Done” hits radio on April 2; the band recently shot a video for the track in the California desert, directed by DJ Joseph Hahn.

“This was a year-and-a-half long process of really hard work and experimentation in the studio that yielded about 150 rough songs,” guitarist Brad Delson tells Billboard.com. The band recorded 17 tracks and is now whittling down which ones will make the final cut. “Not only is this album incredibly diverse, but the depth of the material is really strong,� Delson says.

Delson is particularly high on “The Little Things Give You Away,” which he says is “the song of which I’m probably most proud that we’ve ever done.” Another cut, “Bleed It Out,” sports “Motown drums, almost ’80s rock guitar, rapping and an early hip-hop influence in terms of how it was recorded. I think it will be really fun to play live,” he says.

“Minutes to Midnight” will also include a track with two current working titles (“When My Time Comes” or “Leave Out All the Rest”) that Delson describes as “a really moody, almost electronic-based song. Lyrically, I can definitively say this is our strongest record, and in particular, this song I really connect to personally. I think it’s a really touching song.”

The new album was co-produced by group member Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin. “He can hear a rough idea, then point you in a direction like, ‘Check out this score by Ennio Morricone,’” Delson says of Rubin. “You’ll listen to it and you’ll go, ‘That totally jarred my imagination.’ He was an incredibly helpful guy throughout the whole process.”

With “Minutes to Midnight” finally complete, Linkin Park is already in rehearsals for an extensive tour slate, beginning with a May 6 appearance at New Jersey’s Bamboozle Festival. Delson declined to reveal specifics, but Billboard.com has learned the band will reprise its Projekt Revolution tour later this summer, likely alongside My Chemical Romance.

“I always get into this fight with Mike in the studio, where it’s like, ‘Oh, just add another guitar part,’” Delson says with a laugh. “And he’ll be like, ‘But we’re not going to be able to play that live.’ I say, ‘Dude, don’t worry about it. It sounds good.’ But now we’re in rehearsal and we’re stuck with these stupid decisions we’ve made, where parts are almost impossible to play. Some songs, Mike is literally moving back and forth between an acoustic guitar, an organ, an electric guitar, and singing. We have our work cut out for us but they’ve been sounding great.”

More info soon!
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