Interview - Mike Shinoda: "Several times I got up in the morning, I had no desire to make music" - Rolling Stone
The day after.If there is a musician capable of talking about it, it's Mike Shinoda.More than a year after the death of Chester Bennington, Linkin Park is at a standstill, but never far from getting up.The first effort is made by Shinoda, arms loaded with a new solo album.A diary whose pages are turned like alternative medicine ... Interview
On connaît vos différents projets : Linkin Park, mais aussi Fort Minor et maintenant Mike Shinoda comme projet solo. Comment réussir à faire la part des choses ?
Mike Shinoda: If I chose to write this album alone, it is first of all what it is very personal.And then it must be said that the sound was a little different from my other projects.
Et aujourd’hui, quelle est votre relation avec ce disque ?
M.S: I'm very proud of it.This album is like a diary or an autobiography, everything is very chronological.The last song songs are both the most recent.The first are older, the most ... hard.When I listen to the first two songs of the album, I remember how far I went.It makes me realize that I no longer feel so sad, now.
Over Again, qui ouvre presque l’album, est malgré tout l’un des meilleurs morceaux…
M.S: I don't know if fans will like to plunge back into pieces that bring them back to Chester.They may find themselves listening to the second part of the album, who knows.
À partir de quand cet album est-il devenu une évidence ?
M.S: A friend - I no longer remember who - said one day: "What is the most important thing when you are an artist?»Especially in this particular context (the death of Chester, editor's note).The answer: Tell the truth.It's something that followed me for a long time, I didn't want to make illusions, I didn't want to lie to the fans, and impossible to miss the opportunity to capture a particular emotion with this album, it is-Who the mourning, then a kind of rebirth.
From day to day, things could change a lot.Several times I got up in the morning, I no longer had any desire to make music.I hated all that, I said to myself "I will never make music again, it's stupid.And then the next day, I only lived on that, I was constantly writing.Everything was done at the time.The start of Over Again was recorded the very morning of the tribute concert in Chester.The second verse was the next day.It was a new day.And it is noticed in the lyrics.
C’est un schéma qui représente l’album finalement… Dans la seconde partie, il y a plus de voix, d’espoir…
M.S: Yes, I was very well surrounded.Blackbear, Machine Gun Kelly, Grandson… They did a monster job.
Ça vous donne envie de retrouver vos groupes ? Ou prolonger l’expérience solo ?
M.S: I am not married to any of the two.I am open to everything.The exciting thing when you are in a group, it's camaraderie, it's nice to have a clash of ideas that fuse.On the other hand, being alone, it provides autonomy, and we only concert ourselves on ourselves.When I think it's a good idea, I go for it.With Linkin Park, when I wrote Chester's words, I adapted to the way he saw the world, I put myself in the filter of my friends.If I am alone, I am the only guarantor of my music.
Comment façonnez-vous vos setlists, sachant que la plupart de vos fans vous connaissent grâce à Linkin Park ?
M.S: Already, I choose the songs that I can manage vocally, so not one step closer *laughs *, but rather Castle of Glass, which at the start did not contain the refrain sung by Chester.I try to put everything: Linkin Park, Fort Minor, the solo repertoire obviously.Then there is a share of homage, necessarily, in this set.
Depuis le temps, vous en êtes à préférer le studio ou le live ?
M.S: the two are part of a set.In the studio, I experience, I procrastinate, while on stage, everything is calculated, millimeter.Two different experiences that shape our profession as a musician, which obviously I cannot do without.The studio has its advantage, when it is within your reach ... especially when it is at home!*Laughs*
Vous avez toujours été un artiste visuel. Depuis la sortie de l’EP Post Traumatic, puis de l’album, vous avez partagé des œuvres assez abstraites, des pochettes, des peintures, même des clips… Cette dimension artistique a-t-elle joué un rôle crucial dans votre processus de guérison ?
M.S: Yes, as soon as something complicated happens in my life, I use art as an outlet.It has always been like this.During the design of the album, I painted at least ten canvases, some of which will be presented during a next exhibition in Los Angeles.
Artistic therapy is a very accessible way to purge yourself, to treat yourself.For me, it allows you to reconnect the two hemispheres, to open up to a multitude of possibilities, being disconnected from the outside world.It helped me turn to the future.
Interview by Samuel Regnard
