MIKE'S ATTEMPT AT AN ENGLISH ACCENT:
MIKE: "Listen 'eres wat's goin on, wat we've got is da real drums ....'bang bang bang' got dem, and we got da fake drums ... 'bang bang bang'... that dont make any noise and he's (points) sayin why you av dis sutupid fing, cuz they make a sound on the sampla ever ere. I'm speekin in yer language......I'm just tryin to relate .... its okay right?...."
PHOENIX: "Hey Mike, they said you sound South African" (LAUGHTER!!!)
"A good night is when you sing so hard you throw up!!!! " - Mike ......... "...and a bad night is when all your equipment brakes at the same time, and the crew don't know what to do!"- Brad. ( On what a good and a bad night on stage are at a Linkin Park concert!) :-)
"I don't think you should ever be ashamed or afraid of who you are or anything that's happened to you. Life is good man. You can either feel like the victim all the time or get off your ass and do what you want to do!" ~ Chester
Q: Is there any female influence in particular to any of your songs?
Mike: Musically, I'm a big fan of Dido. I also like a ton of female groups from Kitty to Madonna to Sneaker Pimps. Portishead. If you ask Brad, he'll tell you he loves his Britney Spears.
Brad: I love Britney Spears.
Mike: She's a big influence on his guitar playing, especially.
Brad: She drives me crazy.
Q: Why does Brad wear headphones in concert?
Brad: Brad cannot reveal his inspiration.
Mike: When Brad's being mysterious he speaks in the third person.
Mike: When Mike speaks in the third person he makes himself crazy.
Brad: Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich.
Q: What was the hardest part about making the album?
Mike: Sitting in the same room with Brad for two months. But then we got on tour and it just got worse.
Brad: I didn't shower a lot then.
Mike: He showers less now.
Q: Does Joe Hahn have a split personality?
Mike: Absolutely. Joe Hahn keeps inventing new personalities daily. We're not sure how many he has, but at this point he's keeping us on our toes.
Brad: I think my favorite Mr. Hahn personality is the practical joking Mr. Hahn that probably doesn't have a name yet, but he's constantly inventing things in conversations with new fans who don't know us very well. He'll make up things about us that are totally untrue. So beware.
Chester: Yeah and I've got what they call the crispy cream which is a little fat area around my belly button which is kinda like a donut.
Mike: Its from eating too many donuts.
Q: Who has the worst habits in the band?
Chester: I would say that I'm probably the most annoying. There's a reason for it.
Mike: NO!
Brad: C'mon Chester!
Chester: I'm always touching them in their privates!
Brad: Yeah, Chester the molester!
Mike: It was scary in the beginning, when we started writing about what we felt, but once we realized we weren't the only ones who felt that way, once we saw the audience was coming along with us on that, it freed us up. We wanted to be a little more descriptive, instead of just going 'fuck' all the time. We wanted to go into detail.
Chester: In between the letters of the word fuck -- that's where we go. That's where we dig deep.
Mike: I guess our cover's blown -- we're not big, scary assholes, people should just feel comfortable being normal. You don't have to put up a huge front to be in a band.
Chester: I do. Every day when I get ready, I look in the mirror and say, over and over again, 'Must become action figure. Must become action figure."
Mike: You need to get a little clamp for that bracelet, so you don't have to pick it up every time you want to reach down! (Chester starts hitting him.) I'm not banging on you, bro, I just used to have the same problem!
Chester: It's art, dude, OK?! I'm not into image, it's fucking art!
Mike: Art? Whatever!
Mike: I'm not a very reading person, I like to look at pictures.
Chester: Mike likes porno.
Mike: I don't like porno. I like graphics...
Q: Do you guys feel like you've got some pretty big shoes to fill with all the Limp Bizkits and Korns out there in today's music scene?
Brad: Well, I'm not that tall - I actually wear a size 11 [shoe] - and we're actually getting stuff for free now. I just got a pair of Converse, so in terms of filling shoes I don't have any complaints.
Mike: Filling shoes? Wouldn't that mean that those bands are gone? I don't think any of those bands have left the scene. We're all playing music together at this point.
Brad: That was a very adept answer.
Mike: Thank you, Brad. Brad's so kind. He's here for my moral support. Without Brad I think I'd be pretty bummed out on tour, because he's the only one who gives me any moral support. Everyone else makes fun of me - especially Mr. Hahn.
Chester: Brad, be a big-ass Gumby for Halloween.
Brad: Actually, that would be good idea, but before Mike had red hair he actually once had green hair and he looked like Gumby, so that would be more appropriate for him.
Mike: I have red hair now that can work around it.
Chester: There was another time when Mike was in a really foul mood and we had to make a pit stop so he could use a porta potty.
Mike: Chester?!
Joe: I remember this one!
Chester: Anyways, Mike went to use the porta potty and we were waiting inside the RV. It was Joe's idea, but we all got out and started to rock the thing back and forth. We didn't mean to, but we ended up tipping the porta potty over while Mike was in it!
Mike: That was so not funny.
Joe: Yeah it was, you should have seen the look on your face when you got out of there!
Rob: Mike was covered in crap. He had to strip down before we let him back on the bus because he smelled so bad!
Chester: Then we attacked him with air freshener.
Brad: Lysol!
Brad: Mike, were you like in a pop group before Linkin Park?
Mike: I was in menudo
Brad: I heard that you can sing and dance real nice. Is it true you had a fight with Ricky Martin, and that's why they kicked you out? or was it the age thing? Mike: ricky is an ass. he's just bitter 'cause my name was first on the first cd
Mike: You know those guards with the hats? The ones that don't move. Can you touch them? Can you, like, stick your thumb up their butts and they wouldn't move?
Brad: At that point wouldn't they, like, destroy you?
Q: You guys really don't know what your next single's going to be?
Chester: We have no idea.
Mike: Good job, Chester. Good boy.
Shoutweb: Have there been any casualties on tour yet?
Mike: I chipped a tooth on a mic once. I hurt my back in the pit. Chester got spit on. We got human fesces thrown on us. We got a sign one time when we were playing with Union Underground a couple of months ago that said, "Go Back To The Suburbs". Chester held it up and said, "We love fan mail." In the beginning they were talking some trash but by the end they were signing up for our street team. Chester kissed both of them on the face. The kids standing around were rolling on the floor laughing. I'm trying to think because I know there have been way more casualties. We've been hit and broken things. Brad's guitar has hit me in the head before. I actually threw up in my mouth in Des Moines.
Shoutweb: Ew... gross!
Brad: I got my first guitar about 11 years ago. I was probably in the sixth grade, [and that was how I got] inspired to grow long hair, 'cause that was the era in which Guns 'N' Roses, Metallica -- those bands were at their height, but my hair doesn't grow long really. It kind of grows outward so I tried to straighten it with a hair dryer and wound up trying to chemically straighten it, and then it died. So now I'm left with the bare minimum.
Mike: Actually, I remember what that looked like, and it wasn't like your typical long-hair look from that time period. He really had a mullet.
Brad: I had a mullet. Yeah, and that's inspired me to overcompensate ever since.
Chester: Joe and the guys keep on threatining me that on my next birthday they're gonna kidnap me and let orgy give me a makeover!
Mike: Awwe stop whining!
Joe: Yeah you know you want to get all dressed up and be glamarific!
Joe: What the hell is it with you and Jiggly Puff's?
Chester: What the hell is it with you and frogs?
Joe: Don't disrespect the almighty froggie!
Chester: Oooooh I'm scared! Should I run?
Joe: Yes very, very fast.
Mike: We're not like other bands you know. We actually visit our website and care about our internet fans. We visit as many fansites as possible.
Joe: Yes and I like to send threatending emails to people.
Phoenix: No you don't.
Joe: Yes I do! Shh, its supposed to be a secret!
Joe: Yes I do think Britney's boobies are fake!
Mike: Hehe boobies!
Chester: I like small boobies. Small ones are just right. Big ones are baaad. I'd be afraid that I'd get suffocated by them if they were too big.
Joe: Our fans are intelligent. They know their shit.
Mike: Yeah most of them know more about us than we do!
Mike: My walls are about three inches thick and my neighbours must have thought people were dying in my house! The whole neighbourhood could hear it!
Chester: And you'd hear someone go, "You fucking SUCK! Shut up!"
Mike: I think we were subliminally influenced for the bridge on 'One Step Closer' by my neighbours; "SHUT UP! I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!"
Chester: At ten o'clock every night, we'd hear (he bangs his fist against the wall) and that was our alarm, so we almost ended up naming the band 'Ten PM Stocker', 'cause we recorded on Stocker Street every night and at 10 PM, we had to stop.
Chester: That's a really well thought out answer. Possibly because he's answered that question 500 times in the past week?
Phoenix: Oh my God, they killed Kenny!
Chester: Huh? Lenny?
Joe: Lenny Kravitz?
Phoenix: No I said Kenny! Southpark, you know!
Chester: Mr.Hanky rules! Pooooooopoooo!
Chester: Scott Weiland is a God!
Mike: Yeah we know, you talk about him 24/7!
Chester: You're just jealous!
Q: So how do you guys like fame?
Mike: We're famous?
Chester: Are you sure?
Phoenix: Subfamous!
Mike: That's craptacular!
Chester: Brad has stinky feet! It smells like a skunk died in both his shoes!
Mike: Yeah Chester likes to smell people's shoes.
Chester: My shoes smell spiffy! Wanna sniff?
Mike: Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't.
Chester: And sometimes you feel like my nuts.
Mike: I'm going to sprout wings out of my ass one day and fly around the world.
Chester: Sounds like fun, can I join you?
Q: Speaking of which, the band recently enlisted former bassist Phoenix back into the group after having not played with him since your Xero days, how is the chemistry with him, and who handled the bass duties during the tracking of your latest album?
Mike: We wanted someone in the bus to beat up on. Since we hate Phoenix so passionately, he was the only logical choice.
Q: While performing live, band guitarist Brad is usually wearing large headphones, is there a distinct reason behind this or is he trying to make a fashion statement?
Mike: I don't know. He won't say. It's just a big mystery.
Q: The video for your first single "One Step Closer" is quite eclectic and getting heavy rotation as of late, where did the whole kung fu ghost monk theme come from and is it actually you guys in the make-up?
Mike: Our DJ, MISTA HAHN, wrote the treatment for the video. It's a scary look into his head, isn't it?
Q: Nah, it's completely normal to think of flying kung-fu ghost monks.. I do it all the time.
Q: With the way things are going, the possibilities seem endless for you guys, what should we expect from the band in coming months?
Mike: You shall see soon, my friend.
Q: do you do that pelvic thrust thing to hold it up?
Mike: that's the only way to hold it up. you don't understand, like people do that and it's not like a style thing
Phoenix: it's a neccesity, really
Mike: yah, it's functional. like the pelvic thrust is functional adaptation
Phoenix: it's called "going shotgun", that's the technical terminology for that rock and roll move ( mike has a fit of laughter in the background)
Mike: WORD
