Part One MP : First time at Musique Plus, thanks for accepting the invitation. Phoenix : Thanks for having us MP : It’s a pleasure MP : So, first time at Musique Plus, and second time in Montreal, why did it take you so long to headline a show in Montreal? Phoenix : I don’t know, actually, on this tour we’ve got 3 dates in Canada, wich is nice. We tried to put more and more, get up here a bit more, and even with the weather we made it out. MP : Phoenix, you have some family in Canada, were they putting pressure on you for you to come in Montreal? Phoenix : Yeah, they’re in Nova Scotia, but I’ve been doing solo tours up here for years and I finally convinced the rest of the guys to make it up as well. Joe : I’m actually Canadian. MP : Oh yeah? Joe : Yeah, I have a big chain of farms across the country. It’s all over the place, I grow a lot of bacon in the fields. MP : You like bacon? Joe : Well, it’s hard to like it when, it’s like, I see the process everyday, but I do like it. Phoenix : He gets attached (laughs) MP : Last time you guys were here was actually a first time in Montreal for the Sanitarium, how was your experience, looking back? Mike : Well Sanitarium was a great tour. We really enjoyed it. I think, that when we first accepted the invitation to come on the tour we were a bit apprehensive because we knew that some of Metallica’s fans are very particular about the bands that they play with and they can tend to be pretty harsh on the other bands and so we were prepared for that if that were the case and we came out and the shows went really well. And they went so well in fact that we ended up recording them at that’s where the CD/DVD Live In Texas is from. MP : Yeah, one thing you did for fans was a CD/DVD, Live In Texas, for the people that didn’t get the chance to see you at Sanitarium. Was that planned or you just, after Sanitarium, said let put that up. Mike : Well, it wasn’t planned before the tour, it’s actually a couple of weeks into it we realized not only it was great to be on tour with Metallica but that the shows were going well as well, and it was to that point Joe said « Let’s bring out those… » MP : …Bacon Mike : It helps him concentrate. Joe : Well, because the band took off so well I have a staff taking care of the farms for me while I’m gone. And I don’t like to be there in the winter either. MP : After Hybrid Theory, you guys put out Reanimation, are you guys gonna put one out for Meteora or Live In Texas kinda replaces that album that maybe you were supposed to do? Mike : When we did Reanimation, I kind of said I was not gonna do it. It was a lot of work coordinating with all the different artists and I think we put in a lot of work on the CD as well.. MP : You always put a lot of work in what you do. Mike : I mean, yeah, we didn’t expect to do that much on that, we figured it was a remix project and that the other people would be doing a good deal of the work, and they did their parts too, but we ended up putting in a whole bunch of effort on it so, I think we won’t be doing an other remix thing like that on this album but maybe we might be doing a couple… *Crowd reacts* MP : But, but… Mike : But we might be doing a couple of tracks, I don’t know how many, I don’t know when they’ll come out but we’ve already thrown around some ideas about how to do things, how they should go, and maybe they’ll be out. I don’t know when. Best thing to do if people want to know the latest up-to-date they can check linkinpark.com. MP : Maybe it could be available only online? Mike : We have no idea… MP : One thing that’s a priority for you guys is really the fans, it’s like the seventh member of the band. Is it still important for you guys to put time into this, like you know there’s LPTV, LP Underground everything, even tough you guys are really busy? Phoenix : One thing for us, that’s part of it. That isn’t really necessarly work. We do a lot of stuff on a daily basis that is difficult like travelling, that kind of stuff that wears you out but the meet and greets that we’re still able to do and the interaction with the fan clubs and fans at the show, that kind of stuff helps to reenergize you and enables you to be excited about what you doing, and to see people sharing the music and enjoying it that’s the rewarding part of what we do, it’s rewarding for us and we’re enjoying that. MP : You guys like to be in charge of what you’re doing, and that’s a strong quality of Linkin Park, [like] for directing videos, it’s Mr.Joe there. Do you guys like Linkin Park videos? *Crowd cheers* And, actually, you’re working on a movie right now, based on the novel King Rat. Can you maybe tell us something about the movie? Joe : I read this book called The King Rat and it’s about the (?) in modern day London and all those weird things that happen, as well as drum and base music in the book, so I really liked all the fantasy elements, and also the musical elements, it’s a really good story, so I’m developing this right now, I’m actually looking at a bunch of things, definately one of my next steps. MP : Are you guys gonna play in the movie? Mike : I don’t think we’re fit for the roles of actors Joe : There’s actually a part where I need really bad actors… We couldn’t possibly play in the main roles. Joe : I’d actually like them to be in but they tell me they’re too expensive. I don’t think we wanna ruin the movie by playing in it, it’d be terrible. MP : Is there’s gonna be a soundtrack for this one? Maybe Linkin Park could do a couple of songs for the soundtrack? Joe : If they’re nice to me, of course. This is a little premature right now, we’re in the story developement right now. MP : Let’s say, aside of Likin Park, would you pick other bands to be on the soundtrack? Joe : When it comes out, it’s gonna be the best soundtrack. And I’m not gonna tell you what it is, but it’s gonna be dope. It’s gonna be all mixed up. Part 2 Fans question : MP : I’d like to know the biggest part of being a rock star That’s tough. One of the things that I appreciated at the very first level, when we’ve got our publishing deal, we were still playing locally in LA, we’d always get free CDs. Like any CD you wanted you call your friends at the label cause they want to promote their CDs and people always give you that. Now it’s at our level you can get to any show for free and then you get any CD for free, that’s cool. Joe : My favorite part is free shoes. I get free shoes. Phoenix : At a certain point, for those of you who might play in a band, the worst part of playing in a band is at a certain point having to load and unload your gear for every practice and every show you do. And it gets to a point you know you know you’ve made it if you now have people to do that, set it up on a daily basis, tune you guitars, tune your bases. Mike : Especially when you have a DJ in a band who’s gear’s basically the size of a full loaded refrigirator, and then you have to lift that on stage every night. Joe : Actually, I was the one doing the lifting for the entire band. MP : Hey, you’ve got new shoes now so you’re alright! Joe : But basically I was the crew for a long time. Phoenix : That’s only because for a while we didn’t include Joe as an actual band member. He was more like a ?/DJ. MP : You’re not nice to him! MP : What did you guys do with your first royality check? Joe : We’re still waiting to get them! We don’t want to talk about that. Phoenix : The first royality check I got actually, because of the way the time schedules work, in the music industry, if you make a dollar a day you end up getting paid a year and an half later. Joe : What’s a dollar worth a year and an half later? Phoenix : Are you talking U.S or Canadian? Joe : U.S. With the inflation percentage. Phoenix : About a buck 25. *Pause, laughs* Phoenix : So my first royality check was literally I think about 36 dollars. And what I did with that, I went to cash it and I think I’ve got some groceries. Joe : If he got that check when he was supposed to get it, he would have been worth 40 dollars… What would be 45$ Canadian, right? Mike : I was thinking that wasn’t even a 40$ dollar check because they got the comission of everyone you worth with, and it turns into a 20$ check. And then you’ve got taxed. Phoenix : And then sales taxes. Mike : And sales taxes when you bought groceries. MP : No big cars, no houses… Mike : What kind of car can you get with 20 bucks? Joe : I bought a big car but it was used, and I didn’t know much about cars at that time, so I ended up buying a piece of junk I payed a lot for, and I had to pay someone like 200 bucks to take it away. MP : Do you have a celebrity crush? Mike : Go ahead and tell them Joe. Tell them about your crush. Joe : Let me think about that for a second… Mike : No but we’re married… *Shows ring* MP : They don’t get MusiquePlus in the U.S., you can tell us. Joe : I like Queen Latifah… *laughes* Joe : Actually, I was watching old movies and Elizabeth Taylor used to look pretty hot, but now she looks like Albert Einstein or something… MP : If not, no one else? Phoenix : Tammy on The Real Life Joe (?) : Anna Nicole Smith, the big version. Before Metabo-Life… or Nutri-Life, whatever… MP : I wanna know how do you keep yourselves entertained between the shows? Mike : We’re actually pretty simple guys. Mike : Video games. Mike : A lot of video games, board games, stuff like that. Lately, we tried to get into paintballing, but we’re awful. Joe : We’re actually getting into bodypainting. We make ourselves look like different things. Mike : We’re hoping to bodypaint P.O.D. before the end of the tour. MP : Calender? Mike : End of the tour prank. MP : With Anna Nicole Smith, you have to buy a lot of paint. *Crowd reacts* Mike : You said it, you said it. MP : Video games, you guys play a lot of video games. Have you guys heard about the popstars videogame Jon Davis is gonna put out? Phoenix : We’ve heard about that a couple of years ago. Is that now coming out? MP : I know someone did it before but now Jon Davis… Mike : What do you know about it? Cause we don’t know… MP : It’s gonna be the guys from Korn, from Staind, Mary J. Blige… Are you guys gonna play that game too? Phoenix : We’ll definately check it out… MP : Who’d you pick, and who’d you beat up? Joe : I guess Anna Nicole Smith and Queen Latifah. MP : In the mud! MP : So, we have to talk about this tour, cause you guys are on tour with Hoobastank, P.O.D. and Story Of The Year. So, how has it been on tour with the other bands? Do you guys get along? Get a good time? Phoenix : It’s been great so far. I mean I this is the end so we’ve got 5 shows done and everything is coming together with the tour, but I’d say the biggest thing right now is that people should get there early, cause Story Of The Year has been setting the bar high early. For us, they’re a band we like their CD and we heard they’re good live and got a chance to see them and brought them on tour. From the first night on, they’ve been killing it. Mike : And what’s really great, I think, like Phoenix, they set the bar high, and all the bands can deliver to that. I think it’s really great from beginning to end. MP : It’s a good challenge for you guys to get on the stage at the end. Mike : Well, it’s like Phoenix said, when you get on a tour it takes a few shows to get on a groove, a rythm, and to know how your crowd reacts after they’ve seen this other bands and how you want to put across the things you wanna say and how you wanna sing the songs. And, I think it got that rythm right now, all the bands kinda feel it. I’ve been talking to some of the other guys here tonight, everybody’s really happy, Doug Robb from Hoobastank said this is like the best tour he’s been on but he said it’s not over yet. Phoenix : He hasn’t experienced the body painting yet. MP : Maybe tonight! MP : What’s next for you after, it’s gonna be Projekt Revolution tour, you guys have bands you’re gonna bring… Mike : Yeah, we started Projekt Revolution with the hope we could do it every year and we’re trying to get that done and I think we’re gonna do it this summer. We haven’t decided about the line-up yet, you’ve got to get the bands who are available, who wanna do it, whatever. Pretty soon, we’ll be able to tell who the bands are, and we’re really excited. I think this year we’ll do it bigger than it has been before, I think we’re gonna go with more music, more bands, a bigger show. Phoenix : It’s definately gonna be a bigger concert than it has been in the past. MP : With bodypainting? Phoenix : No bodypainting on that one. MP : This is gonna be this summer? Mike : Yes, this summer. MP : So you guys are gonna come back here for Projekt Revolution? Mike : Yes. *Crowd cheers* MP : You have no choice! Next time, you come back on MusiquePlus and play here! That would be awesome. Thanks a lot guys for dropping by guys, and have a good show tonight! Note : Still needs some correction... I have the audio files if someone wanna correct it!
Uhh...It's a modern day story of the pied piper. This guy is imprisoned for the murderof his father even though he didn't do it, then he is rescued by the King Rat, who says he is the dude's father as well as the guy who drove the rats out of Hamelin 700 years ago. Then King Rat trains the boy to fight the guy who framed him. And that's all I know I'm looking forward to it. Thanks for the interview, by the way!
I can't remember exactly because i read somthing about it Joe said awhile ago. Its basicly about a drifter that comes to a town in London and a bunch of srange things happend if i remember correctly.