Linkin Park: The Emptiness Machine, New Album & Return to Music with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe

we had this conversation about like the wh ifs of the band and it wasn't like let's do it it was like can you imagine when we started the band it was just friends getting together talking about life and the things that we could create [Music] together when I started to hear Emily's voice on things it was like the first time that my brain would accept it as a Lincoln Park song I mean this could work and then all of a sudden we're here and it's very real and it's really big for more than a decade Lincoln Park gave us songs of resilience and empathy reaching millions of people building one of music's most faithful fan bases but as they were reaching us one of their own the brilliant Chester Bennington slipped Out Of Reach in 2017 fans rallied around the band as they said goodbye unsure if if we'd ever get a chance to see them again but here we are 7 years on Lincoln Park are officially back with a new singer and drummer and new music ready to reach us once more today is a celebration a chance to build on the incredible Legacy of Chester of Lincoln Park and the magical healing power of [Music] music look at this place bro I I don't know what I was expecting when I was coming here today I got goosebumps cuz I'm like what stage is this so we've got we've got a launch stage and then this is the Arena Stage this is the Arena Stage and then there'll be a bigger stage there's no under playay here mik there's no underplay no no you're all in we're committed yeah that's why we're here we're here to talk about commitment yeah right we're here to talk about Lincoln Park oh man I can't tell you how happy I am to see you and to be able to do that can I go on the stage though can we go stage yeah come on up this way you know the live show has always been such an important part of who we are with a lot of years behind us yeah we've done a lot of things so we had to do something we hadn't done what like in the round yeah yeah your first show with new members is in the round you don't I don't think anyone needs me to explain why that's kind of psycho it's very actually what's funny is I think in the round is easy easier for solo artists right cuz they're just that single point of Interest moving around and's having a great time and then we as we were doing as we were designing and building whatever like we went oh wow it's really different for a band to do this like culture music culture is so single solo artist small group oriented that six people on stage look what am doing and know so this is you that's me yeah but this is Colin okay yes so Colin facing that way Joe facing that way I'm facing this way and when we can yeah we're going to do like halim at the basketball game we're going to switch sides love it so I love it I love it everybody else can has stations but they can move around so let's just talk about the scale of this for a second because I don't know if it looks bigger or smaller on camera but to me yeah no it doesn't just feel big it is genuinely big like we're in a huge Sound Stage here you're taking up every inch of it your whole crew is here I mean look over there you got people who who you've worked with from the start right I mean this has not just been about getting giving the band an opportunity to continue and to make new music and to move forward but also it's a Reunion yeah the some of the folks that we're working with across the board like have been with us since the beginning like first tour first first cycle album cycle um and and other people are brand new right like and to have all of those different points of view all of that diversity of of types of people and and ways of thinking is like I don't know if we could do it without that like we need all of it and we we thrive on having that family around us I think that's that's part of who we are you know it's funny you know family older than new like you say bring different perspectives but this's there's just a an inbuilt emotional resonance with people who have watched you grow up doing what you love and they've been doing what they love and you shared in it together that that that I'm sure has has created some emotional moments for people who wondered in the last seven or so years whether you would ever get a chance to spend time together again like this yeah you know we felt like we were 7 years ago we were launching a record we were just getting started with that and everything came to a halt and it it felt like it got taken away like it felt like we had a thing that we were really happy with and proud of and it was gone and one of the things that happened that a lot of people don't think about is that the people offstage had that feeling like there was the whole there was hundreds of people from the tour to the to management to the label lots of people there uh and so on and there was a part of us like over the last seven years where we did remember that we have a I don't want to say it's like a responsibility because it's not all that serious but there is a a benefit to like if we get this thing up and running and we do it well like then all everybody gets to play a role like everybody gets to jump back in their seat on the Millennium Falcon and shoot the back like you know what I'm saying totally I think it is a responsibility but not just on you that's the difference I think everybody wants that responsibility back of playing a role in something that makes a lot of people happy and ultimately leave something that is lasting that is what you do and your peers and friends do Through the Ages is you create art and it will last long after we're gone and you create memories that will stay with us as long as we're here I that's our hope that's our goal right all right I mean we're going to get into kind of how this is all unfolded when we get to sit down and pretty soon and and also I get to actually spend some time with Colin mem which is going to be exciting I'm excited for you to do that um and also see Brad again see Joe again who haven't seen I think we figured I saw him in the hallway 10 years probably because I've seen you and dve oh wow yeah Rob's not here that's right probably a good time for us while we buy the drum kit to sort of for the fans to kind of elaborate a little bit on that yeah rob you know we had a conversation a little while ago I want to say it's like a couple years ago at this point where he he said he wanted to step away we didn't talk about that in public because we didn't really know how that was going to work out the fans noticed it I mean they've seen that like we put out you know as you know we did paper cuts we did we did we released a bunch of things we celebrated Hybrid Theory and he wasn't part of any of the you know interviews or marketing or whatever um and that's why you know um we'll always love the guy you know we'll always respect like the wonderful things we built together and um yeah with his absence being a real thing um I was already working with Colin and Colin is I didn't even think of Colin as a drummer he's a rord producer really he writes he produces he does he does everything he he plays guitar really well he plays piano well but his main instrument is drums and it clicked yeah it did and it feels like in many respects that's that's the reason we here is that and I don't know how to put it when I spoke to you on the phone the other day before we we met here today with all the cameras and everybody here it didn't sound like you had any of this felt like you were trying and I know you did and put a lot of hard work in effort and love and into this but it felt to me like the way you were describing it like it was as organic as it could be that's how it felt to me like we didn't say hey let's get the band started again we didn't say let's do tryy outs let's find somebody for whatever it was even suggested to us at one point like hey you know you guys could do like a like a a a competition show on TV and like have all these you'd have the best singers and like you pick the best ones oh my God right and all of anything you can imagine any crazy idea that a person comes up with it's like oh you could have done it this way that came to us like they all came to I'm not trying to say there's any there's any such thing as a bad idea but that's tough to acknowledge the idea that in in in the midst of trying to figure out how you reappear for yourselves in a way that's authentic so that the fans so that we embrace it because it's authentic to do that through the filter of entertainment would have been I think nearly impossible I think that bands are more and more rare these days and so maybe it escapes a lot of people that like one of the fundamentals of a band is that there's a bunch of people like who are sharing everything yeah all the creative space and the touring and every and these decisions and stuff and you got to spend a lot of time together and it's you're sharing all of that stuff in a more intense way than you would be if you were a smaller group or if you're a solo artist so for us Talent just gets you in the door like Talent we expect that if somebody's going to come in and we're going to do a little writing session or of course they got to be able to do that it's not about that it's on top of that what's the vibe in the room like what's the dynamic between the people in the band and the conversations we have that aren't related to the music like what kind of people are they good people right like all that stuff becomes so so important so for us the idea of like tryouts or the idea of finding somebody through a talent too rigid it's not about the talent yeah yeah it's about the person yeah exactly and then by the way you're on the hook cuz everyone voted for them or whatever they all want them to be in the band and you go on tour and it's like oh my gosh it could could not be more incompatible right and we're stuck you know you're stuck that makes it even higher because you had this whether you wanted it or not this time each of you away and and I know the Friendship remained and you had reasons to reconnect you were very kind to us all in terms of reconnecting with the music re-releasing things keeping the the lincol park experience alive but but you were figuring it out on your own I mean post-traumatic is a powerful body of work and we never really got to talk about that I mean you could have just made place to start right just put and just that because it says everything in that one moment of like feeling guilty for just wanting to continue doing something that you love that you now have no control over and I wanted to ask you before we sit down I forgot about all that in the song you literally I mean you said a bunch of stuff oh yeah that's right it's very powerful it's very powerful and yeah well probably a good thing yeah but before we sit down and start really focusing on the future do you can you sort of Trace back the that we're here today because of that like that's kind of where your journey started there's a really good you make a great point in that like sometimes as an artist like over the years I I or we will like put out music and then disappear and do a bunch of creative work and then pop back up and there's a whole like narrative that people kind of missed in between that got you there um and sometimes it's really that means that that thing you came back with is very dramatically different and weird and people are like confused or uncomfortable my journey journey through this was a little more of the opposite where I was very upfront about how I was doing and what was happening what was happening in my head and and I put out a record called post-traumatic as you said a bunch of songs I did a whole tour to kind of commune with the fans and give them a place to come and say like this has affected me like this what's going to happen and the answer was we don't know like nobody knows well cuz that album was just full of questions and and sure everybody in the band was asking the same questions in their own way what is what is life now like what what's wide open for us um I don't know if you if you can honestly ask yourself now looking back on it if you imagine that this machine would you'd be would be standing under it and within it again like this like it was actually at some points that was so scary yeah like to even to to commit to it to imagine it and get your hopes up about it right measure your hopes oh man like it was so hard to like say yeah we're going to do it again like it's it's enough things are starting to come together and work out that it feels like iture could be scary yeah because you're in a safe place just creating and by the way how the [ __ ] did you keep it such a good secret that's insane I kind of want to know I can't wait for you to hear some of the other stories from the other other folks in the van about that you know what neither can I go let's go over there now let's go over there now it's great to meet you congrats great to meet you great to meet you you too congrats thank congrats on all of you for being here it's loveely to see old friends in there I feel like we've literally known you since we started our whole career pretty much I don't know I could if I could say that about anybody else I mean there are other humans that we know but I'm saying I can't think of any in this capacity you're you're you're him yeah we're still here it's a it's a blessing and I'm I don't take it for granted and um what what year did One Step Closer come out when when did it come out 2000 2000 so yeah we're getting up to 25 years we known each other was that was that right 2,000 oh my God had purple hair anduk one point I probably but I started with red you remember the original abely and you were kids yeah yeah you were kids and it was happening very very fast I felt like it became this really quickly like this kind of scale really quickly coming back to this having had this this space between what Lincoln Park ultimately became right the scale of it the size of it Brad and then coming back to it this isn't an underplay stage I was telling Emily like I just feel so relieved cuz there's probably like 300 road cases stacked up on the side of this huge Sound Stage over there and you wouldn't believe how much space they were taking up in my garage that was your job your job was to hold all the fight cases that was your straw that's hilarious you had one job we were just trying to we needed to save money on storage flight case joke aside did it surprise anybody in the band when you first walked in here that this was kind of where you left off this is this is what you do you work under these in these huge environments and prepare to play big shows with massive screens and massive stages you know it surprised me I mean I I when I walked in we this was on paper like we were still working out I felt like we were still working out the shape of everything a week before and then all of a sudden we're here and it's very real and it's really big um it's almost that feeling of like oh this is what I I committed to this is what I signed up for yeah and it's like did I it made me a little nervous well you probably you know you're sort of a frog in a pot of boiling water when it's all happening over 10 20 years and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger and then that's just your gig yes that's what it is and then it's like no it's not that anymore how long obviously putting aside the emotional changes that had to occur and what you had to go through as people how long did it take you Dave to kind of pump the braks on this so s years ago and realize that this may not be a part of your life again and that's okay for me I've always I've always had music as a part of my life starting when I was five six years old and it's never been a focal point of like this needs to be my career or this needs to be anything else other than for me what has been an incredible Outlet yeah and even you know going looking back seven years ago I just had the feeling of I'm I'm going to keep doing music in some way or another whether that means which is even what I was doing playing with my kids at home I'm going to keep doing that yeah but there's no promises that you know we'll do Lincoln Park again there's no promises that it'll be at any level or anything other than that and and oddly for me that that felt okay yeah and at the same time you know a couple years ago when Mike Joe and I started talking about like are we gon to do Lincoln Park again is that a thing there was a real excitement from that early stage of like well let's just get together hang out let's start talking together about maybe doing that let's see what comes of it and gradually like that grows to here and then and so to your question a second ago when we got in this room the first day we were rehearsing in this space the first like 20 minutes minutes for me were just kind of a mix of anxiety and panic and like oh boy this this is now like a significant step on that process or on that Journey this is real like we can't there's no more like eh maybe it's a almost like there's two of you you know it's like well I've kind of got this other life going on now and then I've got to remind myself who I am when I'm in this band and and when we get to do it at this scale which is it's the dream mhm that's what everyone aspires to you know when you start out I mean look you set your own goals in life but you want to reach as many people as you can you want to have as much excitement and fun as you can and you have and you'll have more and so as we meet you Emily someone who's dedicated your life to music um with dead Sarah achieved things made great music played shows done all the things you wanted to do as a as a young person starting out on this and then it's like boom welcome to Burbank B welcome to Sunny B the only place where you can build a place this big to store an Arena Stage just for fun right exactly um how has that before even get into making music and the chemistry of how you got here yeah just staying in the moment um what were your first impressions when you sort of walked in here and you were like all right this is my stage now yeah I was like whatever cool I mean it's been it's been you know this past year just like little by little you know being able to like process a little bit of it day by day yeah um and also like we got to see pictures of the stage and everything and how it was being built but it was like that first day coming on stage I was like oh my God everything is so neat look how everything is perect round and wrapped up there's not one wire out going get that was actually me it was a [ __ ] show in here and I came in one night late at night just OC the heck out of this place no one even acknowledged it but I feel like I'm getting my proper uh we can acknowledge it now and and also listen not everybody needs to be pat on the back for doing what is inherently their job just by Nature he were built this way get out of your own way be the tidier it's who you are accept it embrace it if you need a cord tidied I'm your guy so I've got to get past this now I got to get past how it feels just to be here with you in this room it's taken me a while because it it was emotional for me as well as a lifelong fan and friend to to to know that this was even happening we were going to be able to talk and I'm really grateful that you've taken the opportunity to talk with me and with all of us and you chose us to have a conversation with so thank you let's get into how this group of people started to form and what steps needed to be take for Colin and for Emily and for all of you now to be able to sit here today and say to fans we're Lincoln Park you know we're not another name this isn't in honor of of playing shows cuz we want to go out and play shows which some people reunit to play shows this is it feels real there's an album you've announced an album we made some music so let's talk about how we got here for me I've been doing lots of stuff like I did the postraumatic record I did some singles I was working with a bunch of different artists like writing producing and I had there was one moment um few years ago specific specific moment where was the end of summer and I remember getting on the phone with Joe and Joe was like I really want to get back together as friends like I I feel like we haven't been hanging out and we haven't seen each other as much as I'd like and like what are you doing you know let's go get breakfast or something when we sat down at this like a little brunch spot we had this conversation about like the wh ifs the wh ifs of the band and it wasn't like let's do it it was like can you imagine there was a million questions right they just and everything was unanswered so it was kind of like we went through this weird little like idea or list of it and and at one point I was like what if you know what if we do it and we're really happy with it but nobody else really likes it great question by the way powerful question I my feeling was well I won't say my feeling because Joe's answer was oh I'd totally still do it it was and he was so decisive like it was so real and I felt the same way and that was for me for me personally that was big did you feel the same way before Joe unlocked that in you because I can also understand why you ask the question because those expectations you got to acknowledge that they're there even if even even just to get past him otherwise you're in denial right it's almost like an unspoken goal or hope or whatever and you're right like I feel like I'm not 100% sure if I felt it the way he felt it yeah but when he said it it was like a real Jo had you considered that question even just privately in your mind like if we had a chance to do this again would I be happy just doing it to my own satisfaction without the pressure of it being a Lin and po that everybody else wants it to be or did it surprise you your own answer to that question yeah for sure it was a thought in different at different moments in time I would think about that and probably have a different answer at different times depending on how I'm feeling and yeah I I I think it comes down to to when we started the band um it was just it was just friends getting together and just like oh that's cool like not just making the music or thinking about playing live but us talking about life and the things that we like and the things that we could create together whenever conversations steer towards that type of enjoyment then it gets to a pure place of of creation and freedom and that's really what I miss from everything and I I think as we became successful um some of that would get lost sometimes but whenever we get back to the core even making this record uh we just get together and we sometimes 6 hours goes by we're not making any music we're just hanging out um and that's that's what what it's about and there might be like something that comes out from a conversation that that's the Genesis of the ideas oh that's right about that okay or like oh this is a rhythm a sound that I'm thinking of and that's that that that's what I missed and like just seeing the seed of that type of idea what it can turn into ultimately playing live and all sharing that with people yeah that works itself out later it extends outside of us too like like you if you talk to anyone that's here it's a job but they're they're doing everything they can because there there's they're invested and in the joy of what brought them to this space too and how they can help us to make something great and they they have ownership of that and we we we draw a lot of power from that as well just give me a lot to think about in particular when you talk about like the idea of of feeling like you can go back to the beginning and I think the album title reflects that very cleverly you know because any real Lincoln Park Fan knows that you're originally called zero with an X which is pretty sick by the way I mean in terms of like discarded band names it's kind of up there you know what I mean it's been a lot worse it feels like you're feeling that that the whole process not just the beginning of the album and the and answering those questions but you wanted to hold on to that sense of like how we felt at the start if we can't be those kids anymore can we recapture that feeling yeah the one of the reasons for the album title I mean it's it's obviously a double on Tandra uh about blank canvas and also about our band in in particular and we felt like we have a new energy like we have it's almost like going back in time and going to the start yeah and starting again except you have the benefit of all the stuff you know yeah we know what we've been through Emily knows what she's been through Colin knows what he's and everybody brought those things to the table I actually one of the things I really enjoyed is they're from a younger generation than me so some of the stuff that they were bringing to the table was refreshing it was just a different like a different point of view that I I wouldn't have had and as we were writing stuff it was a lot of like a lot of that and also a lot of just their own like individual specific individual way of doing things and creative process they're great in the studio they're fun to hang out with yeah you set up on stage how important that is is that you've got people that you want to spend time with and that you want to support personally not just creatively right how important that is um so how did you start to work together because obviously whoever's idea was to hold like a mainstream television competition to to try and get a new lead singer right that didn't land so I I'm only guessing it was the opposite of that that it was like just much let's just be very granular here what's the first pH what's the first phone Colin kind so so we were talking Dave and Joe and I were talking but Colin and I had started when did me 20 21 is yeah about 2ish and I like I said I was doing some sessions with some other artists that was has been what Colin was was doing and we did a we did a session together I walked out of that session being like dude that guy is insane like he's he and I have like a thing like we I feel like we think similarly or something and so we set up some more sessions yeah and actually the only reason I did that session was to work with Mike actually um and so I was just excited I was like kind of whatever on the actual you said that no I I think I she told me that way later though I didn't know that for a really long time yeah that's a weird intro to a session be like hey Mike nice to meet you uh the only reason I'm here today is just cuz I want to work with you there something kind of cool about that too though just put on your play he played it very cool we wound up working together for a long time I feel like over for year probably just periodically you know a couple times a month probably on other sessions and songwriting and it's always fun there's always so much to learn from from Mike and like um you know I think that your creative process was something that I've always really like admired and from the time it it you know Lincoln Park music was what got me into production to start with I've already told these guys this this isn't new information and I used to be like in my dad's house who was a musician and he had a bunch of music gear and I would I would try to like you know recreate the faint sample and it's one thing to go into a studio and get to work with someone who inspired you to want to create music yourself it's another thing to realize that actually now You' fallen into sessions that actually might be something else that might actually be lincol part thing I guess what I'm trying to achieve for all of us here myself included and the fans is when does it actually start to feel in particular to Emily and to Colin like this is is this Lincoln Park we're doing like is that what we're doing like if I gone from working with Mike to like now Dave's here and Joe's here and Brad's here and now everyone's like what's going on do you know what I mean I do to give a look a little bit behind the curtain yeah here we're sitting in this and it's this but there's so many little steps along the way that we were literally starting from zero it sounds cheesy to say in that manner but there was no road map and we don't have a direction at that point of what we're trying to land at it was it was at least in my head it was as sincere as let's get together and just see if we even like what we're doing truth be told there's a lot of times when you know I'd drive up to mics and we'd hang out in the studio and we'd just talk for 6 hours and that's funny too because in retrospect like my kids don't realize or understand why all these guys know what's going on in their lives and I'm like it's because we hang out all the time and we talk and we're not just sitting there playing instruments like you've got to like live together and feel it out so when I first met Colin it wasn't there was no part of it of this is where Lincoln Park goes it was strictly like let's just make some stuff and see what happens let's meet let's hang out let's do whatever same with Emily we've known Emily for a bunch of years but it was always this long process of like we don't know what we're doing but let's just hang out and make some stuff and see what happens and then from their side who knows let talk about the who knows you'll never know but wow that's that's very Sage that's very sage and very meditative and and years of being in the music business will hopefully teach you how to do that that being said let's talk about hopes because you're in control of your hopes cuz you have to be right you can't get your hopes up too high you just want your friendship back you want the experience of being together but we got to acknowledge that there are hopes here we spend time in in a room with people making music Emily starting to like sing on some stuff write some stuff figure some stuff out where are your hopes at this point it's a good question we started writing actually in 2019 we did a couple songs and it was just everything was a question mark you know it was just fun to go in and write some stuff and then of course the pandemic happened you know and um and it wasn't until a couple years later whatever few years later you called me and I was like yeah I would love to come in and it was like at that point I felt like I was really open open to to what would eventually be what this is but at the time I didn't know what it was right I felt an energy I did that's all I could kind of go after right and I just knew at that point going in and working with Mike and at the time it was just like a few question it wasn't everybody it was just like certain people and like Colin I got to know Colin and I just knew that I loved going back and learned more and it was fun I think from that point it was it just became it wasn't like a a moment you know where it was like oh my gosh this could be it it was just like what's going on and I I like this and the more and more creative that everybody else got and it was like it was infectious and it was really really fun you know and that's what like I love about being in a band you know having been in a band for 20 years you know it's like magic it's that and I was just like all about it you know and I was like okay this is what we're going to do Emily so um we're going to start booking some shows and I was like okay that was a big that was actually a big moment that was it was very it was SL that the moment you found out you were this was Lincoln Park was when you're like hey our booking agent's on the phone do you want to do six Arenas the context just to lay the context it's exactly how it went to lay out the context we because I know that actually does sound crazy crazy super crazy and we were at that point everything was still very organic and like uh amorphous like there wasn't a lot of shape to it yeah I think you were under the impression that you might be like a featured artist right like she I got the vibe that that' be like yeah like and we weren't even clear at that point if it was is there like am I going to be carrying a bunch of vocals are we going to have another vocalist are we going to have multiple vocalists on stage like I don't know what we had all these options yeah and then yeah and then some real shows showed up on the radar they had like reached out to management those shows since had not happened but it was just like the impetus for like hey like apparently people actually really want to see the band like you still have fans out there yeah and you still have fans out here believe it or not like there are there were moments in the last seven years where I was not positive that was a real I wasn't convinced that there were a lot of fans out there for for us in some whatever version like do you know what I'm saying like I imagine that it could be a lot smaller that we are still here but we have what we need are we in the business of more lincol par is it yeah is it a just a different thing now it's very understandable why you would ask yourself that question because it brings up an enormous amount of imagery and thrash and things and the wha ifs the what Woods we were all feeling the wha ifs there was a huge leap of faith that we had to say like I think she's the one like I think she's yeah well there there was a moment Mike was working with Emily and that you've heard her voice sounds amazing yeah but there was a moment was the first time Mike asked her to scream and that that for me that that did I was like okay this is let's have a conversation your scream is super unique because you're screaming in I didn't even realize that you started screaming it's the craziest thing like there's a lot of dynamic shift when people choose to go from singing to screaming it's like that's very much by Design sometimes I feel that yours is just like this it's like a wave it's like a very like it's like a Cris of a wave it's like I'm singing really pure and then all of a sudden I'm screaming but it's like I don't feel that such a hot Dynamic shift we even like soloed it and like there were different takes right and we soloed the takes and we're listening through and we're like it sounds like there's effects on the vocal I mean it sounds like there's like a bit crush or distortion on on the vocal there's nothing on it it just sounds that way it's really yeah it's really unique at that point we were like get by the way get used to this cuz this the timeline is all over the show so if you want quick and easy answers here forget about it you're what your feelings what I'm feeling we're all feeling the same thing Carry On We're we're in in my studio yeah we've been working on stuff off and on for weeks or months and at a certain point it's like we keep inviting Emily and Colin back we keep just it's oh that was good like let's do it again we did it again that was good too it gets better and better and better and we had some songs and we realized I think I think we should like this isn't me speaking this is everybody speaking like I think she's the singer like is that am I crazy and the other guy's like no I feel that too as that was happening like we had a desire to like make things loud yeah the vocal felt right and so that inspired more heavy songs and the heavy songs brought that out more and it was just back and forth what a beautiful beautiful process to be able to allow youself the space to come to a singular moment when you have to actually commit so we had to verbalize that yeah and we said to her so that's the point when I was like Hey holy [ __ ] and by no means up to that point had you allowed any potential or any hopes or any any other reality settle in I mean there was a lot of feeling there was a lot of I definitely didn't want to go there you know and be like Oh I'm the singer or I could be the singer or it was just like what is good for this band as a fan what would be the ideal Voice or energy or what is that fit I took myself out of the equation um and I just looked at it as like what could be a good fit you know and I I held on to that question for a bit as I was going in and singing and stuff and then it would you know there was and that's when the thoughts would trickle you know being like yeah I mean this this would be really fun I mean this is this could work and then it's like oh my God holy [ __ ] you know like when you start to like have that moment it's like whoo can I ask you a question and I really love you to take it in the intention of which it's meant which is really really genuine and honest you know does Chester into your mind in moments like this do you think about when you're trying to sing these songs and do what's right for the band like if if so how does how does he manifest in this and your thoughts and your feelings well when I first listened to uh Lincoln Park like a Hybrid Theory was like my favorite album um and I was starting bands at the time I was in a band and that was the moment where I was like I want to sing and scream you know one step closer I was like I could do that you know and at the time I wasn't even a good singer I was a guitar player in a band you know and I just loved being in a band and I was like I could do that so of course you know it gets to this point in just being like this is crazy you know in that fact where it's like I would have never imagined you know so there's definitely that and obviously in the side of like the feelings and the emotions of it like I I would would love to do him proud you know as of this conversation you've taken a different stage yesterday and presented this is where the timeline gets even weirder cuz we're ways away from that this is the arena setup this conversation will happen the day after you've played your first show and I've seen the set list now everyone's heard it you know there's only one new song I think on this head list so the first times you sang Chester songs because you really became a part of this band singing your songs super unique not even probably thinking because there isn't a Lincoln Park what would it sound like if I sang paper cuts it's the weirdest way to start a new band yeah yeah it like we were literally like writing a new album writing new songs figuring out the band at the same time and then you add on to the kind of the at some point maybe not the end of it but you add them later oh and there's all this other great stuff that we love that we wrote but col and I I both have like a pretty good imagination for what something is going to sound like like that's when we're working on a thing right it's like oh this part could use a sound like this it's in our head we know what it is and we have to make it similarly I could hear her sing and I go I know what she's going to sound like on crawling I think I know what she's going to sound like on faint like and then we started doing it you remember we sat and was it just like a acoustic you mean in your studio yeah oh wait no you've got on your piano we were changing the keys yeah to get into your your range and then I was do this to scream to cover she screaming into like a pillow or into her shirt so it wasn't so loud so quiet I was like I sting this far apart yeah it sounds great no no no this is good I mean to some degree I can imagine and and I mean this well as a little anticlimactic because you waited your whole life to to to probably sing those songs and when really Let It Go as a fan not under the circumstances that they're in um probably with chester probably one day to get on stage with chester at a festival and do it with him right so that moment when you actually get to like really sing that song what did that feel like when you got to sing a Lincoln Park song that that Chester sang and that inspired you to be a singer in the first place Colin and I like we had to like go in and like we we spent a lot of of time together and like going through the songs and and really trying to make them our own you know that was a process of like especially the older songs that you just that are just embedded you know and it's it's never a thought where it's like I need to make the song my own right so there's a lot of deconstruction in that way where it's like how do I make this song have the same impact as much as possible with my voice so I had to find the meaning in the song again in a different way um and that was fun and challenging some of them some of the songs came way quicker than others but I definitely noticed that like the newer songs like lost like that was like so easy for me and I thought it would be like we went through it like a few times and I just like had it and the other ones for some reason even though I've listened to them so many so many so many times maybe you just subconsciously still connected to them as a fan it's really hard to figure out how you can actually bring them to life to your point exactly you know keep them authentic but also be you yes cuz you got to do two Authentics here yes you got to do right by the song but you got to do right by you otherwise everyone's going to be like well this is just a b room exactly I don't know if I said this to anyone out loud I really felt like when I met you in person like you you walked into the room at East West I felt like that was the clear spark where I was like oh yeah I get it like this is right even before really hearing you on anything and really thinking about it just like when you walked into the room your energy I was like that's spectacular like that feels right and then I and I think I think your voice the way you interpret things like it's all just like cohesive to me in terms of who you are and it's you said authentic and I think like the greatest opportunity for Emily is just to be Emily like and Emily's energy makes sense with Lincoln Park like it's the feel it's the exact right feeling because like there were even experiments that I had heard with like amazing singers that had come in and worked on stuff some of whom I really like love their voices and when I heard it I was like that sounds cool it doesn't sound like like this band and everything I've seen you like bring to the table feels naturally like this band and and even to your questions about Chester like Chester's One of a Kind like Chester did his thing like no one else could do it and I think like what's amazing is like Emily just being Emily Works in Lincoln Park can I give you the perspective from a fan when I press play on the album damn I shouldn't have let that out I'm going to get BM bed now way too late when I press play on the album who gave you the album I can talk about emptiness machine yes right you can and uh in relation to the album it was the first thing I heard uhhuh and it it it was I'm walking so carefully here it was um it blew me away because obviously you in people heard it live now you know you start the song yeah and you lay out the stall and it's like you know me you think you know me this is what the song's about but you don't actually know me but you know what I sound like so let me just explain to you what the relationship actually is and then when you start singing for the first time yeah I got I get goosebumps thinking about it because it sounded so much like the band and it didn't sound like Chester but it didn't sound unlike Chester's Spirit if that makes sense you know so it was such a tricky for my ear I've got I Don't Know audio baggage like I just there's a lot when I'm when I'm processing things in general I'm thinking a lot when I'm processing our music I'm thinking more and like Brad said we had we did a lot of sessions with a lot of people they weren't tryouts they were just sessions and certainly when I started to hear Emily's voice on things I my brain brain it was like the first time that my brain would accept it as a Lincoln Park song you know you know I mean like I when it was just my voice on the song I could accept it but we put other people on the songs this that having Emily's voice on it over and over again it went yeah that feels good yeah that feels good and um I'm glad that you had that feeling cuz I think yeah I think emptiness machine I think a lot of us when we when we arranged did the way it's currently arranged like when we got to that version of the song it was pretty obvious to us that it was a good thing to lead with well it also feels like it's a very important close closing of the loop from some of the feelings you were all going through seven years ago and that you so eloquently put on as we mentioned before place to start which is the idea of wanting to start find a place to start and you know wanting a place to belong and really what this is about is finding that place to belong again right that reason to want to hang out again to want to create again to have the fun again to do it again um that's how the song ends it begins as a Throwdown very clear Throwdown and I'm not going to say that it's a challenge to anyone or any group of people specifically but to me it's very clear that there's a big distance between what people think and what you want to do I don't want to be dragged down by expectation and so it's hard not to make a connection to some degree between what we've talked about a little bit so far which is this idea of how things going to be are going to be received and and getting ahead of it a little a little bit I don't know if that was conscious or subconscious but I definitely heard the gauntlet being thrown down that I'm not going to sit around and be judged anymore that's an interesting take on it I I don't think that's exactly what I meant but I mean you know the listener's perception of the lyrics is always their own and yours are valid however it came up of your subconscious it feels like it's it's a very clean break you talked about this the catharus having already happened and that makes total sense s years is time but there's still some cathis out there for people who are going to try to figure out okay I love this band what is Lincoln Park in 2024 with Colin and Emily and new music not just shows when I just done festivals I'll decide in a park somewhere no no no we got to see this last night and we got to hear a new song and there's a new album can we get the album artwork up actually on the screen this is a cool track there it is there we go that's why we want to do it power that's cool right yeah that's really cool that's sick yeah it's not CGI it's a photo so did you put in between the glass it is a yeah I don't know I'm not technical enough with photography it looks like they would have had to have created put the liquid in between two sheets of glass or something to create that sprad that's not how it was made I think you that up it's because it's natural like liquids and colors and photography it's you couldn't you you can't make it again it's this is just a moment in time right it feels simultaneously like like really small like microscopic and also Galactic like very big um I think our band is big and small at the same time to to me it it it uh screams possibility which encapsulates what Mike is saying it sums up the from zero concept and it's kind of like okay where it looks cool but it's like what do we where do we go from here yeah it's an organism and and you want to see where it goes right you want to see what it builds from we're all see this now in guesse you hadn't seen it and and we're meeting new people and we've got Lincoln Park back in our lives let's talk to the fans I would just love to know what you would like the fans to know from a from a relationship point of view because this is a relationship that you've built over a long period of time and those relationships are what keep everybody in what we love you get to do what you love we get to love it I've been thinking about that a lot I've been thinking about the process that we've gone through through the steps that we've come to get here we've talked about it in the past that anytime you release a new album you're kind of popping up in a new location and then the fans have to try to like catch up so we might have gone on a 2-year Journey or in this case a seven-year Journey or whatever that is and then for us we've walked that whole path and so for us it feels this is where we're at and it makes sense to us and this is why but to somebody else you've disappeared been underground for forever and and then now here you are so there's a big amount of life that's been lived on our end and on the fans bases end and I think like in the process of all that I'm so excited to share this whole thing with them again as a musician my favorite thing is that interaction and that connection with with your audience like I love this connection first and foremost but then I love to go share it but I also have permission for our fan base to form their own opinion it's okay for them to land wherever they land on it obviously we all I would speak for all of us we want them to be in the journey we're it's it's an Open Arms event where we're like hell yeah come on in cuz we're having a great time and this is like an awesome place to be but respectfully like I know it's a lot I know A lot's gone down I know there's a lot of feelings and everything different people process that differently even amongst the six of us we've processed things differently I want to give space and respect to that and just just have an open invite that was so beautifully said I have to say honestly as a fan I really feel that I think we have a right to to to listen and like whatever we want and I think we'd love to be able to control that all musicians and art would love our art to be heard and perceived the way that we intend it that is the risk it's the risk when you when you dedicate your life to it on day one as a kid not enough emphasis is placed on and understandably so so cuz there are people putting their lives at risk to do things to make the world better genuinely sure but I do put art and Magic as as as magic up up there it can save people's lives it can make life better it can mend and heal and create real experience absolutely and when you commit yourself at a young age to do that and you step out of the framework and you back yourself that is a form of courage whether anyone wants to call it that or not and that is what's going on here it is a courageous step you will taken to continue and to make music and to reconnect you're going to make me cry stop you guys so nuts make me cry and I feel like there's a million different ways people can do that one of them is to kind of put on a front of like I don't give a [ __ ] what anybody thinks this is my thing whatever you can do that and and people take that space and that's sincerely or you know whatever their path is if that's what it is that it is what it is but there's also a space where you can say and this is kind of what I feel like I'm coming from and I think all of us that sincerely we believe in this we love it and we hope you do too and if you don't like I don't think music's competitive I think I think of it as like food if I love mustard and geek out on it and then you don't love mustard like we can still be friends it's not a contest the guy sold 100 million hour pretty easy to [ __ ] not be competitive when you're on top baby that part's competitive but the actual wasn't doing a metaphor or an analogy like this dude won't stop talking about mustard and so this is a great pivot point where I don't relate to his mustard collection just block him out cuz I'm a mustard fan when he was talking about oh we hung out for six hours and we didn't make anything Isn't that cool this is what he's talking about yeah basically it's just him we go to work can we go to work sounds really like prophetic when you're like we sat there for 6 hours we didn't make anything these dudes were literally talking about mustard yeah but that's where it started maybe not mustard but that's where it started and and you're right you made a really important Point very early on Joe you made the point that when it got very big it's easy sometimes for that to to to just get over overwhelmed or overshadowed by the day-to-day experience of just keeping going just keep going I mean you didn't see it on the screen but that's for the same reason that you're talking about is why the album cover was almost yellow back to mustard I tried I tried and also from zero sounded better than almost yellow I don't know if there's any coming back from this I mean you you know you know everybody well enough at this point to goes off it goes off coming back not coming back does Go reverse there's no reverse I'm just grateful I got like some real motion some genuine answers out of here especially out of this guy right here you're lucky this didn't happen an hour ago I feel like I just need to like take what I got if you want the pivot back to sincerity I think that is can you even pivot back to sincerity Brad can do it if you have like three mustards yes this is the Lin Puck I made on day one I'm not even kidding I still remember the first time we met you at BBC yeah at the studios in London except him and you early on from the jump stood out to me as somebody who Not only was like fun to talk to but was sincerely invested in even if I thought you may have started some gnarly rumors about us I swear it wasn't me man I still loved you I love you too and so as a full circle moment yeah it's cool right every time I feel like we hang out it's a bit of a full circle moment cuz there's like a new thing happening but this is this is great it's cool man it's really great to see you and be with you thank you and thank you for inviting us to be here you know I'm glad we ended on mustard because that kind of how it started I remember you went there and you wenten there you guys were fans I remember they I remember you walked into the building and I saw you walking down the corridor toward me and the way the studio was set up is I could see the guests walking all the way from the lift at the other end of the floor all the way down so you could tell if someone was in a good mood or in a bad mood what their energy was like are they in Rockstar mode are they happy with their team if they come off of a bad interview I got real good at reading the room pretty quick cuz you had 15 seconds to figure out what was going on Wow and I I remember you turn the corner looking like the most American band I've ever seen in my life it was just DC Shoes just bagg straight color basses but it was everyone had a different hair color and it was just it was brilliant and I remember how you were all laughing in equal measure at each other you were all like just it was like oh the these guys are so stoked they're in London for the first time as a band they're about to play King's College the songs on radio and you seem so happy and I knew your story I knew Chester was a late Comer to the band my eyes were were like okay is he comfortable are they comfortable together not unlike how it was today M and yeah it was really comfortable then and it's really comfortable now and you're still taking the piss and I love it I'm glad you got back to that right I'm glad you got back to that we'll talk around the album cuz I have so much to talk about on this album and I can't say nothing CU you guys hold the keys to the kingdom why open so [ __ ] I am falling for the promise of The Emptiness machine The Emptiness machine [Music]