Chester Bennington - vocals

Rob Bourdon - drums

Brad Delson - guitar

Joseph Hahn - DJ/samples

Mike Shinoda - vocals

Shoutweb: Oh, no. Here we are with Brad and he's got his foot up.

Brad: Hi! I'm in quite a bit of pain right now.

Shoutweb: Is it an Ozzfest kind of thing, pain and blood?

Brad: I wasn't necessarily trying for that. (laughter) I'm trying the toughen up kind of thing but I know if I do that I'm going to keep re-injuring it and it's going to cause me problems down the line.

Shoutweb: How did this foot injury first happen?

Brad: The perfect plug for our new video! (laughter)

Shoutweb: Woo-hoo!

Brad: We were filming our video for "In The End" in L.A. about a week and a half ago. You'll see in the video that we had a really cool set made.

Shoutweb: Where did you film it?

Brad: We filmed it on a sound stage in L.A. This guy, Patrick Kup, has done Godzilla and all of these huge motion picture special effects jobs in terms of set construction. He built our set and there were these little stairways with a ledge. Nathan Cox, who co-directed the video with Joe, wanted me to jump off this five foot thing. Maybe it was three feet but it makes it sound better if I say it was five feet! (laughter)

Shoutweb: You couldn't get a stunt double? (laughter)

Brad: No! (laughter) I couldn't land it right so the third time I did land it but I think I hurt my foot. Then I had to play on it the whole night. It was a 16 hour shoot. There were rain scenes and water being dumped on us for three hours. Alright, I am just the complaining guy today! My foot healed and now we just played this Camden, New Jersey show and I did something to it. It was kind of towards the beginning of the set. I was like, should I just push through or gimp out and lay down on the floor? I was able to do the latter unfortunately. You could get me to complain all day long if you keep asking me these types of questions!

Shoutweb: Are you still wearing headphones on stage?

Brad: Yeah.

Shoutweb: Explain that to me.

Brad: I'll sell you that story for ten grand. That's the going price.

Shoutweb: I will take "headphones" for two thousand please! (laughter)

Brad: Actually, if I told you then I'd have to kill you. (laughter)

Shoutweb: Oh, no!

Brad: I will say that it has something to do with the matrix. Not the movie, the actual matrix and being connected with it. Mr. Hahn has been rubbing off on me. I'm starting to integrate sci-fi humor into my schtick. It probably isn't too popular with a mass audience. (laughter)

Shoutweb: (laughter) I thought it was Joe getting you into it. I was going to blame him for the headphone thing. He's so cool up there with the headphones then he only uses one side of the headphones. Joe is just so cool. So are you trying to be like Joe? (laughter)

Brad: He's actually queuing up. But I won't give him credit for the headphones. That's all mine.

Shoutweb: So, are you trying to keep the noise out or get certain sounds in on those headphones?

Brad: That's all I'm going to give you!

Shoutweb: Damn! I keep digging and coming up empty, man. (laughter)

Brad: (looking at his foot) Is this elevated? This isn't really elevated, is it? What if we put your camera bag up there?

Shoutweb: (puts camera bag on the chair under Brad's foot) There we go.

Brad: Now the interview can resume. That will be a parenthetical, right? (Puts bag under ice)

Shoutweb: (Puts bag under foot. Brad is feeling better) Is it feeling any better?

Brad: No. Shoutweb: Uh, oh. They are doing a photo shoot with Slipknot in here so we may get moved.

Brad: They probably don't want my foot in their shoot.

Shoutweb: I'm am sure they'll move you if you are in their way. So, anyway, back to the video. Tell us about it.

Brad: I just saw the first edit today. Joe has been increasingly involved in our video creation process. He actually co-directed our last video "Papercut" which is more for international audiences. I don't know if it will be shown in the U.S. He and Nathan Cox teamed up again for our "In The End" video. Joe and Nathan wrote the treatment and they just surrounded themselves with a bunch of great people. I think it's going to be really cool.

Shoutweb: And that's it?

Brad: That's as much as I can give you which is why I'm not a video director! I'd come in to pitch the band's video and I'd be like, "Okay guys, it's going to be really, really cool. We're surrounding ourselves with really great people. And it's going to be good."

Shoutweb: I saw you guys at HFStival and the KROCK Dysfunctional Family Picnic 5.0. You were down on your knees on the stage doing this thing.

Brad: I was?

Shoutweb: Maybe that's why your foot hurts.

Brad: Actually, I do get down on my foot. I didn't do that at the end because that hurts it. It kind of sucks because on the Ozzfest you can't go into the crowd.

Shoutweb: Is that a rule? Brad: Yeah, it's a liability. A lot of concerts don't have that rule. On other dates, Chester or Mike will go out to where the kids are and participate with them. On these shows it's a challenge to get as close to the kids as possible without actually going into the crowd.

Shoutweb: Is playing the main stage hindering you guys at all?

Brad: It's harder because the set-up is the reverse of a normal show because instead of having all the kids up front you have them all in the back on the lawn. When you're in seats, it's a lot harder to go off. It's hard to create a moshpit in a seating section. It's been our challenge throughout this tour to try to get those people who are in their seats up and out of them. At first, we were kind of taken aback by it. Even at today's show, Mike just has to curse at the people and then they'll get up after that.

Shoutweb: But there has been a lot of positive reaction to the fact that you guys don't curse - not even on the record.

Brad: That's an over simplification. We don't curse on the record but if you hang out with us for long enough, you could probably write your own curse dictionary. Ironically, a lot of the curse words come out in between the songs. Plus, it's Ozzfest. You have to curse.

Shoutweb: Some people have said that "Linkin Park is so huge that they don't need to be on Ozzfest" and that "Ozzfest used to be for up and coming bands."

Brad: Really? We've only been on the road for a year! This is actually our one year anniversary of touring - three days ago. First of all, I don't agree that the main stage is for up and coming bands. I think the the main stage is to showcase really strong bands with a strong history like Marilyn Manson and Black Sabbath. Even Slipknot is becoming more of a veteran act. It's really nice to be able to share the stage with those bands. Also, we're relatively new compared to most bands. Like I said, we've only been on the road for a year and we've come a long way in a fairly short time.

Shoutweb: You have a lot of old school people. There are a lot of mullets and real metal heads, especially in this crowd in New Jersey.

Brad: Well, you have mullets all over the country.

Shoutweb: And then you have all the younger kids.

Brad: I think there is a good mix in these audiences.

Shoutweb: So, the last time I hung out with you guys I saw Chester and Mike at a bar before HFStival.

Brad: I was there! I have a reputation for being pretty anti-social so I want to state for the record that I was really there! (laughter)

Shoutweb: Right, we all believe you! (laughter)

Brad: Seriously, I was there. There were a lot of bands hanging out and we had a lot of fun.

Shoutweb: I was talking to Mike that night about your trip to New Zealand. Two of my Shoutweb partners live in New Zealand and Daniel Williams sent a letter to Mike and someone gave it to him when you guys landed at the airport.

Brad: That's right. We landed and they announced, "Is there a Mike Shinoda on the plane?" Mike can be very forgetful so we figured that he left all his bags on the plane or something. (laughter)

Shoutweb: They announced it?

Brad: Yeah, and I was like, "What did Mike do now?" It was a letter from you guys that was really nice.

Shoutweb: Mike was telling me that it was a great feeling. He said, "We didn't know anything about that country and if they even knew who we were so it was very cool to get that letter welcoming us to New Zealand." We were also talking about you guys having that "deer in the headlights" look.

Brad: We got really run down earlier in the year. The Ozzfest has been good because there is a lot of time for just chillin' and goofing around. We're not run down but we have been on the road for a year. This is a ten week tour which is a really long tour. Our hump period was about a week ago so we know we're on the home stretch. We definitely are looking forward to having some time back home.

Shoutweb: Some of these bands are just touring non-stop. Brad: Some bands are leaving after this tour and continuing on. Papa Roach finishes Ozzfest and then the next day they get on a plane and go to Europe. It's doable but we haven't had time off in a long time. We're going to take some time off after this one.

Shoutweb: Do you know what the plans are heading into the rest of the year? Brad: Yeah, we're taking a couple weeks off then we're going to Europe. Before we go to Europe we are coming back to the East Coast to do this Redding U.S.A. show with Eminem and Xzibit. We're going to play right before Eminem so that will be cool. (ed. note: Redding U.S.A. was cancelled)

Shoutweb: Are you serious? Wow, that is incredible.

Brad: We're stoked. It's a rad opportunity to play with some awesome groups that we like. We're all really stoked. We're always on rock tours and we never get to play with hip-hop groups. I listen to more hip-hop then I do rock. That's going to be really fun. Then right from there we're going to Europe and doing our first headlining tour. I think we just confirmed Dialated Peoples. That's going to be really dope. Then we come back and again we have a couple weeks off. After that we start the Family Values tour with STP and Staind. We're pretty much done after that. We are going to do a couple of shows here and there for special things. We're going to go back to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Starting at the end of the year, we're going to start concentrating on writing for the next record. We've been fooling around with some ideas currently but I think it will be good to sit down without anything else going on. We'll be able to get a lot accomplished.

Shoutweb: Do you have anything new worked up yet? Brad: We're always coming up with things. I fool around all the time on the bus. Mike and Joe fool around. Everyone kind of thinks of stuff. We'd love to get a record out as soon as possible. We're shooting for the end of next year but really, we just want it to be great. You know what I mean? If it takes longer, then it takes longer. If it happens faster, then it doesn't matter. As long as it's a great album. That's why we first started the band, to write music that we like.

Shoutweb: Obviously, everybody else likes it too. Brad: That's a nice compliment but at the end of the day, that's not what matters. I know it sounds cheesy and it's hard to believe because it's nice to have success. But when people say success, they mean commercial success. Having artistic success and being able to make the record that we wanted to make was a huge success for us artistically. It's an accomplishment because we stayed true to exactly what we wanted to do. We made the album that we wanted to make. That's why we weren't even trying to start a band. We were just trying to create songs because we like writing music.

Shoutweb: Have you guys ever thought of getting together with Incubus?

Brad: I'd love to. We're actually from the same town as them.

Shoutweb: No way, I had no idea. Artistically, I think the two bands have a lot in common.

Brad: Rob went to high school with them. I was seeing Incubus play when I was like in 9th grade at The Whisky. I saw them play a whole lot of times. It's actually really cool that they're doing well. Hopefully, we will get to play some shows with them.

Shoutweb: They fit into a lot of categories and now they are on the Area: One tour. Brad: They're a rad band. I'd love to get to play with them.

Shoutweb: When I asked Brandon about the new record all he told me was, "It's very polar." Brad: Alex was telling us it's some of the heaviest stuff they've written and some of the most melodic stuff. I'm really looking forward ro it.

Shoutweb: I know that you said that you made the record that you wanted to make. The fact is that there are a lot of hit singles off of "Hybrid Theory". Do you feel any pressure to produce more radio friendly hits for the next effort? Brad: No, we decide what we want to do. The record label is in control of what they want to promote. The tours we choose and our schedule is all up to us. The fact that there are a lot of songs that work well on the radio, is not because you try to do that. I don't think you could try! If you tried, I think you would fail. You have to focus on each song and make sure that each song is great. Instead of just having a cool idea, you have to really develop it into a song that you enjoy listening to from beginning to end. In a cinematic sense, if you went to a movie, you would want it to really captivate you all the way through. That is the type of stuff that we work on with our songs.

Shoutweb: Are there any bands that you have bonded with on the Ozzfest tour?

Brad: We're really good friends with Taproot. We took them out with us and we were with them and the Deftones in Europe. We're friends with the Deftones too. We've toured a lot with Papa Roach this year so we're really good friends with them. I've met a lot of really cool people on the tour that I hadn't met before. The guys in Slipknot are really cool as are the guys from Mudvayne. I really haven't met any artists on this tour that aren't cool and aren't down to just hang out.

Shoutweb: So, do you guys have anything in the works for fans? Brad: We had our friend out taping video of us for about a week. We have all the footage that we have from the last year and a half. We're going to put out a DVD at the end of the year. This is just what I personally think it's going to be. It's going to have all our videos, live videos, videos that were released in other countries that people in the U.S. didn't see over here. It's also going to have backstage footage, live footage, and all behind the scenes stuff that we've taped ourselves. Probably things that we thought were funny at the time. I am sure if you edit it, it will come out funny. It's just us, so I guess that's funny in and of itself! I am sure there will be lots of really rad surprises too. We need time to get that done to get that out before the end of the year. Also, further in the future... I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you this but I'll tell you anyway. We're having remixes done of our songs by some really great people.

Shoutweb: Cool!! Anybody we know?

Brad: I don't know if it's going to happen for sure but look out for that. Jay Gordon from Orgy, Cut Master Kurt, Cheapshot, part of the Girl Scouts, Mike and Joe, and then we have a list of a gang of people who we really respect. These guys called the Humble Brothers. This is totally unofficial so I hope this will come to fruition so people can hear it. One other thing we're doing is totally overhauling our web site which as you know is very important to us. I was very happy with it but our whole goal is to evolve. It's going to have a lot more Flash. It will be a whole new look and layout that Mike designed with Sparkart Team. It's really, really cool.

Shoutweb: The last interview I did with you guys was with Mike and he was all stuffed up because he was laying upside down in the RV in the middle of Texas somewhere.

Brad: I read that interview. It was hilarious which is why I'm so open to this one. I think you'll make me look good... if that's possible. If anyone can do it, you would be the one to do it, Therese! (laughter)

Shoutweb: Exactly. (laughter) No pressure. Actually, I think people like to hear what went on in a very natural way. My favorite interviews are the ones where it feels like you're sitting there having a conversation with the person yourself.

Brad: Me too. Go for it! (laughter)

Shoutweb: So, you have graduated from this RV to the big tour bus or busses.

Brad: Have you heard what we're doing for the next record?

Shoutweb: No, what? You're going in a Winabegoo? (laughter)

Brad: It sounds stupid but this record is doing really well. So, we're feeling like "hey, if it's not broken, don't fix it", right? If it worked this time then it should work again. So when we start promoting the second record, we're going to start out the same way in the beginning. We're going to have no crew. It's just going to be us and someone else running the tour. Mike's going to navigate and we'll play a show and he'll drive overnight. We'll handle all our own gear and we won't get paid any money. We'll do that for six months until the record breaks.

Shoutweb: No! Are you serious? You're not going to do that! (laughter)

Brad: Are you kidding me? Of course not! (laughter)

Shoutweb: You would never survive. You'd have to call it the Linkin Park guerilla tour.

Brad: It almost killed me the first time!!. I don't think I could do it again. That's the one thing about having paid your dues. There is a past tense at some point. You get to a point of not having to repay dues.

Shoutweb: Is there a point at which you feel like you have to reel it back in? I mean, are you going to get to be U2 and have to go back to basics and play small clubs to keep it real?

Brad: Wow. (laughter) I don't know. That's what they call in the industry, quote unquote a problem you want to have. I don't think we have that problem at this point.

Shoutweb: Let's hope you do. Thanks for taking the time to chat with Shoutweb.

Brad: Anytime. See you soon. Thanks to everybody for coming out to see us!