April 19, 2012 12:30

Linkin Park: 'We finally feel comfortable in our own skin'

The band also say that their new LP 'Living Things' is 'an uptempo record'

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Linkin Park have spoken about the making of their new album 'Living Things' and co-frontman Mike Shinoda has said its recording was the most comfortable process the band have gone through for a long time.

The album is due for release on June 25 in the UK and June 26 in the US. It is the follow-up to the band's 2010 fourth album 'A Thousand Suns' and has once again been produced by Rick Rubin. You can hear the album's lead-off single, 'Burn It Down', by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking.

Speaking to NME about 'Living Things', co-frontman Mike Shinoda said that his band felt comfortable in their own skin "for the first time in a long time" and that he also believes people imagine he and his bandmates take themselves far too seriously.

Asked whether he thought 'Living Things' was a varied album, Shinoda replied: "For the first time in a long time, we're comfortable in our own skin. Definitely more so than in recent years. People would definitely be surprised by the sense of humour that the band has about itself and the stuff that we've done in the past that we look back at now and we can't believe we did. It's like going back and looking at old pictures of yourself and you can't believe what you're wearing. We wouldn't change it, we just wouldn't do now though."

The singer then responded to a question about how the album compared to the band's previous efforts by saying: "We've learned so much from all the albums we've done, so we've taken everything we've learned and mixed it all into one."

Shinoda then said that the album was an "uptempo" effort and that the band were looking forward to taking it out on tour.

He added: "The record is a pretty uptempo record. That doesn't meant there's lots of heavy metal guitars, it's about the sound we're using and the energy in the songs. The record has a lot of energy and is going to be really fun to play live. All the tracks are three to four minutes long, very compact and they'll fit in with the rest of our set very well."

Linkin Park will tour the US this summer as part of a co-headline trek with Incubus. They will also play a small number of European dates in late May and early June.

You can watch the band's video for their previous single 'Iridescent' by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking.

Video: NME JD See May Forum

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