Friday, February 11, 2005
Talkin’ ‘bout a Revolution
August 2008
Linkin Park’s Projekt Revolution tour promises plenty of hard rock and (maybe) flying surfboards
Now in its fifth incarnation, Linkin Park’s Projekt Revolution has established itself as one of summer’s most reliably intriguing traveling rock shows. This year’s lineup offers the same mish-mash of metal, hip-hop and alternative rock that Projekt fans have come to expect, including such diverse acts as electro-rockers the Bravery and gravel-voiced rapper Busta Rhymes. And it’s achieved some serious gravitas with the addition of Soundgarden/Audioslave singer Chris Cornell, a guy who’s been belting out fist-pumping anthems for as long as some of the tour’s more upstart acts (like Armor for Sleep and Hawthorne Heights) have been alive.
During a pre-tour press conference, three of this year’s headliners—Cornell, Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda and the Bravery’s Sam Endicott—joked about stage design, sang the praises of the tour’s supporting acts, and explained why you’ll never see them wearing baseball jerseys onstage.
Can you guys give us a preview of the production for your sets? What kind of staging are you thinking about?
Sam Endicott: We’re all going to fly in on surfboards, hung from the air.
Mike Shinoda: For Linkin Park it’s going to be kind of like “Reading Rainbow,” I think.
SE: We’re going “Fraggle Rock.”
MS: Yes, I think all of our sets are going to be in that ‘80s kid’s television kind of thing.
Chris Cornell: Yes, and everyone’s road crew is going to have to talk in a high Teletubbies voice. “Hi, I need a 24-inch cable.” Everybody.
Mike, with all the other big touring festivals happening these days, what niche does Projekt Revolution fill?
MS: Well obviously, just to mention a couple other tours, this is obviously not an Ozzfest; it’s not a Warped Tour. Some of the bands on this bill have played those tours, but I think that really, when we started this tour, our idea [was] to showcase groups that were doing something revolutionary, something original, something different. Also, I want to mention, it’s not all about Linkin Park fans. We like the fact that people may be coming who aren’t familiar with Linkin Park, who aren’t familiar with the Bravery or Chris Cornell…they come for other bands and then they get to see everybody.
Chris, I hear you’re working with Timbaland on your next album. I don’t know if that means your music is going in a more hip-hop direction, but maybe Mike can give you some MCing tips on this tour?
CC: I don’t know. I’m always down for tips.
MS: I’ve hung out with Tim as well—not with Chris, but we did that thing on MTV with him [at the Video Music Awards]. I’ve met him a few times and he’s a real character. Chris, do you think there’s any chance that he would be coming out to one of the shows or possibly getting on stage with you?
CC: I hope so. That would be great. You never know.
MS: He’s a riot, that guy.
One of the co-sponsors of this tour is Major League Baseball. Are you guys big baseball fans? Any particular teams you’d like to give a shout-out to?
MS: I always feel like that’s a lose/lose question, because if I say anything, some of our fans are going to be like, “F.U., man.”
CC: You can get into some trouble just wearing the wrong jersey on stage.
Can you tell us more about Street Drum Corps? They sound like a pretty cool part of the show.
MS: When I was doing Fort Minor shows, we played with Street Drum Corps and Chester [Bennington] came to that show, he saw them play and that’s kind of where he first got interested in them and that’s why they ended up on this tour. When we described them to the rest of the band, I think we called them a punk rock Blue Man Group. It’s almost like “Stomp.”
CC: Yes, like they take cigarette cellophane and do like a rhythmic piece out of it…like anything that you can make a rhythm out of.
MS: Right, but it’s obviously a lot less Broadway. It’s way more street than Blue Man Group or “Stomp” or anything like that. These guys are little punks, which is great. I love their attitude and their look is just so cool.
You have a great lineup on your second stage, the Revolution Stage, as well. Any artists you’re really excited about there?
CC: I actually don’t know who is on the Revolution Stage.
SE: Hawthorne Heights is playing, right?
MS: Yes, it’s Atreyu, Hawthorne Heights, 10 Years, Armor for Sleep and Street Drum Corps.
SE: We actually played with Hawthorne Heights at the Bamboozle Festival. Their guitarist has the best guitar rock moves I’ve seen in a long time.
MS: I think all the groups on the Revolution Stage are really great. Last year we had Medina Lake open the show, and I’ve never seen so many people show up so early for a show. I think that that’s going to happen again this year with Armor for Sleep opening up. It makes it a little trickier for the people who play later, because now all the fans have been there since 11 o’clock [in the morning]; they’re tired and we have to work extra hard to get them into the set and keep them excited—which we are happy to do.
thanks to lptimes.com
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