"My December" - Uncovering the Nashville Studio Behind the Song

It's been almost a year since Linkin Park surprised us all with their comeback. With all the new activity and touring, my curiosity about their history was reignited, and I recently set out to uncover a specific corner of the band's history. Namely, how "My December," one of their only studio tracks not done in Los Angeles, came to be recorded in Nashville. As a Nashville local myself, as well as an enthusiast of music history and preservation, I saw this as an opportunity to document a somewhat-overlooked footnote in both the band's and city's recording history. Fortunately, I was able to piece together a good bit of this mystery. Read below if you'd like to learn more about this unique segment of the band's history in Nashville!

Bridgestone Arena's Linkin Park teaser from November 12, 2024, displayed on the venue's guitar pick-shaped screen at the south entrance.​

In the fall of 2000, Linkin Park was a young band with only one single to their name, "One Step Closer," traveling the U.S. in support of their upcoming debut album Hybrid Theory. Their first time in Nashville was October 9, when they arrived in Music City ahead of a club performance the following evening. This was just 15 days before Hybrid Theory would release and change their lives forever. But before that incredible rise to stardom, the band stopped in at a local Nashville studio to record a slow, piano-driven B-side for a radio promotional album.

One of the few known images of the exterior of 328 Performance Hall, where Linkin Park opened for Kottonmouth Kings on October 10, 2000. Now demolished, 328 was one of the early Nashville venues that helped to diversify the country-dominated live music scene in the 1980s. Upscaled.​

"My December" was written at the request of KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, which was preparing its annual Almost Acoustic Christmas concert, as well as a companion holiday compilation called The Real Slim Santa. KROQ, of course, was the radio station pivotal in the band's success with "One Step Closer," after pushing Warner Bros. to fast-track the song's release as a single following overwhelming listener response to a test play. Warner, in response, moved up the release dates for both "One Step Closer" and Hybrid Theory—the latter originally planned for early 2001 before being pulled forward into the more competitive fourth quarter of 2000.

Just days prior to the Nashville show, KROQ invited Linkin Park to open their Almost Acoustic Christmas show, on the condition that they contribute a new song for The Real Slim Santa. For the band, who grew up listening to KROQ and understood the influence it had in the rock world, this invitation was an opportunity to build the relationship—and they accepted.

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There was one challenge, however: the band, still with touring bassist Scott Koziol at this point, was in the middle of the country opening for Kottonmouth Kings on the Ridin' High Tour. This made the prospect of writing and recording a new song an extra challenge for Linkin Park, who were 1,500 miles from Los Angeles on October 4th in Omaha, Nebraska, when KROQ contacted their team. Mike Shinoda rose to the occasion, programming much of the song's backbone in his MPC on the band's tour bus. Alongside Brad Delson and Joe Hahn, he created a sparse, melancholic track around a four-note piano arpeggio.

One of the few pictures in circulation from the Ridin' High Tour, the September 18 date in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Credit overlaid; sourced from contribution to LPLive.​

An off day between the tour's October 8 show in Cincinnati, Ohio, and October 10 show in Nashville, Tennessee, gave Linkin Park just enough time to put the song together to send to KROQ. They found a studio in Nashville to track and mix the song…but the facility they used for the tracking has remained something of an unexplored mystery ever since.

Official credits on the "One Step Closer" international single and Japanese editions of Hybrid Theory list the studio simply as "The Loft in Nashville." The only known clue came from a 2002 comment Chester made on the band's first Projekt Revolution tour, saying that they recorded "My December" in a studio where "Elvis used to record." The implication was seemingly that he meant "Elvis Presley," but Elvis only ever recorded in Nashville at RCA Studio B—which had closed in the late 1970s to become a museum, before some members of the band were even born. This discrepancy caught my attention, and sent me in search of information.

Audio recording of the February 12, 2002, performance of "My December" in Fairfax, Virginia, where Chester provides additional background on the recording.​

My initial efforts to investigate where "The Loft" was, upon moving to Nashville in 2016, produced little fruit. There is little to no information about the studio online, making research rather difficult. The trail went cold, and multiple subsequent attempts only left me with more dead-ends. With the band's return in 2024, however, my efforts were reignited. Through a combination of Discogs credits for "The Loft, Nashville," all tied to Warner releases; archived listings on local studios; and eventually articles from The Tennesseean, I finally identified The Loft as a former Warner Bros. Records in-house studio that was once located at 1815 Division Street in Midtown Nashville. Though the building had long-since been demolished, it had once been home to Warner Nashville offices and their state-of-the-art private recording facility on the second floor, which was virtually undocumented. The pieces were seemingly all falling into place.

Photo of the 1815 Division Street building circa 2016, which housed The Loft on the second floor. Photo originally by Mike Beecham Photography.​

Through that trail, I found the website of a former second engineer and intern at The Loft during its final years. After I made an initial inquiry, he generously answered my questions, confirmed the studio's timeline, and put me in touch with the head engineer for the entirety of the studio's operations. Over a long three-hour phone call, he helped paint a vivid picture of the studio's history, unique culture, and eventual shutdown.

The Loft opened in 1986 as the passion project of Warner Bros. Nashville president Jim Ed Norman and engineer Eric Prestidge. The studio was renowned for its attention to detail, and featured a custom mixing console with one of Nashville's earliest full-range designs (20 Hz to 20 kHz), as well as vintage microphones once used by Frank Sinatra or for recording the orchestra in early Walt Disney features such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Fantasia. The Loft built a reputation as one of the city's best-kept secrets, hosting artists such as Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Stevie Wonder, and—possibly the real name that Chester had confused in his 2002 comment—Elvis Costello.

The super deluxe box set release of Elvis Costello's King of America, originally released in 1986, featured outtakes recorded at The Loft—which also opened in 1986.​

The Loft's operations under Warner began winding down as budgets came under scrutiny amidst the AOL-Time Warner merger, finalized in January 2001. The studio was officially closed in spring of 2002; however, most perplexingly, both of my contacts said they did not work a session with Linkin Park in 2000. The head engineer noted that he recalled someone who had used the space in the transition period mentioning working with the band at the very least. This was a bit of a frustrating dead end, but suggests the possibility that the band used the studio without the usual staff's help and mostly independently, consistent with the credits listing Mike as producer/mixer.

It seems plausible that the band used the space at the behest of someone in Warner in Los Angeles, since they wouldn't need any of the Nashville staff. With how much of the song was programmed on the bus, the band would have only needed to record the few live parts—vocals, guitar harmonics, and turntable work—before mixing. While there is plenty more work to be done to tie off this final part of the mystery, we can fairly confidently say that the band recorded at the studio located at 1815 Division Street.

Whatever the scenario, Linkin Park tracked and finalized "My December" between their arrival on October 9 and their opening act performance at 328 Performance Hall (now-defunct) the evening of October 10. The song was sent to KROQ immediately and debuted on-air the next day. Linkin Park played it live for the first time at Almost Acoustic Christmas that December, and the song would go on to become one of their most enduring B-sides. It first returned in 2001 during Ozzfest as a live intro loop to "With You," and appeared in full several times throughout their touring history.

Nashville didn't get to hear "My December" live until 2004, when it appeared in the band's encore at Gaylord Entertainment Center. They brought it back again for Projekt Revolution 2008 at the Sommet Center (the same venue, which is currently named Bridgestone Arena), and that performance was officially released by the band on Songs from the Underground, their 2008 Linkin Park Underground compilation. It again appeared on the digital compilation A Decade Underground in 2010. As a result, Nashville holds the unique distinction of being the city where both the studio version and an official live recording of "My December" were captured.

The 2008 performance of "My December" in Nashville released on Songs from the Underground later that year.​

The building that housed The Loft was demolished in 2016, after efforts by local preservation groups failed to stop a development project. The historic building was leveled, replaced by a high-rise modern condominium development. No plaque or marker remains to commemorate the space’s quiet, understated role in Nashville’s recording legacy—which includes the particular quirk of hosting the session that produced "My December."

Now, as we near 25 years since that recording session and club show at 328 Performance Hall, Linkin Park returns to Nashville for the first time since 2015. When they take the stage at Bridgestone Arena on August 21, they’ll be just a mile (approx. 1.6 kilometers) down the road from where "My December" was recorded during that moment of calm between shows—a fleeting intersection between a rising band and a fading studio space full of history.

Satellite imagery of Nashville from shortly after The Loft's closure, showing the distance from Bridgestone Arena (then Gaylord Entertainment Center) and The Loft's site. 328 Performance Hall, where the band performed in 2000, is also marked.​

With this feature on the history of "My December" in Nashville, I would also like to petition the band to include the song in their setlist for August 21, as they did in 2004 and 2008, in honor of 25 years since it was recorded and in recognition of the city and studio that helped bring it to life. They've played it as recently as last year, and I think that all things considered, it would be a great song to fit in for the place where it was recorded. If you agree, share your support on social media using #MyDecemberInNashville and tag the band!

 

Woah! This is so detailed, amazing work! Hoping that we see My December return, it would bring things really full circle

 

I am pretty sure this is so detailed that even Mike and the others wouldn't remember so many things you collected here

What a fantastic post, this is really peak researching.

 

I THINK the credits for My December mention Joe Hand (not Hahn) on some/all releases? Double check me if you can.
https://joehand.com/producer This guy? Maybe he can help?

Here is what we list on Linkinpedia:

• Written by: Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson and Joseph Hahn
• Produced & Mixed by: Mike Shinoda
• Additional Pro Tools by: Joe Hand
• Recorded at: The Loft in Nashville

 

I know the earliest credits (LPU 2 and OSC) list "Joe Hand" - but HT20's box set booklet lists it as Joe Hahn. It made sense to me for the earlier releases to be a misprint, especially since no one who worked for the studio I talked to had any recollection of the band coming through. One was particularly insistent that it was not the case.

I have a few other engineers and contacts I've reached out to about a larger project documenting this studio. It appears he's local, so I could send something over to this Joe Hand.

EDIT: For clarification, a reply from one of my closer contacts suggests it could have been scheduled during the wind-down period when there was less direct oversight at the studio. Says "Joe Hand" might sound familiar but he couldn't give it any context.

 

Damn you just outdid yourself here. Great read.

 

This is fascinating stuff, awesome work @Christøffer

I've always loved My December. I had no idea it was completed in Nashville, much less in an old legacy secret studio that has now been demolished. Adds to the aura of the song.

Again, outstanding work!

 

Great post!

I first heard My December on a bootleg compilation called "Under Attack". Anybody remembers that?

 

Those bootlegs had such weird covers ahah ... The good old days.