Minutes to Midnight

Minutes to Midnight is Linkin Park's upcoming third studio album, scheduled for release on May 14, 2007 worldwide, with the exception of North America where it will be released on May 15. The title is a reference to the Doomsday Clock, where "minutes to midnight" is a measure of the proximity of the world to nuclear destruction.

Background information

This album was produced by Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin.

The first single, "What I've Done", is to be released April 2nd 2007.

The album was delayed many times, first scheduled for summer 2006, then fall 2006, then early 2007, and now May 15, 2007. "When songs are pouring out you don't ever want to stop that. We already have over 100 roughs for songs," said Mike Shinoda, "We've narrowed it down since but we're not ready to commit to those yet."

The song from the early demo sessions, "Qwerty", which was rumored to be on Minutes to Midnight, has appeared on the Linkin Park Underground v6.0 CD on December 5, 2006 in both live and studio demo versions. It has been confirmed that "Qwerty" and the other songs on the LPU CD will not appear on the new album.

On December 12th, Phoenix was interviewed by the Linkin Park Association where he cleared up some things about the new album.

"This was a year-and-a-half long process of really hard work and experimentation in the studio that yielded about 150 rough songs," guitarist Brad Delson tells Billboard.com. The band recorded 17 tracks and is now whittling down which ones will make the final cut. "Not only is this album incredibly diverse, but the depth of the material is really strong,” Delson says.

Music style

Mike Shinoda recently said this a Linkin Park Underground Chat, when asked about the genre of the new album, "I just think the styles we're mixing right now are all over the place. We have really been pushing things outside the box. But even like my Fort Minor album--it's a hip hop album, but a lot of the stuff isn't conventional. The LP album won't sound like FM, but it has its own unique sound that still sounds like LP--just different."

In a recent interview with MTV.com, Chester explained that the nu metal sound from their previous albums is completely gone. He also explained that the new album is a mix of Metal, hard rock, and hip-hop beats.

In the December issue of Blender magazine, Chester talked a little bit about the sound of the upcoming album, "Rick has brought more of a stripped down, classic-rock and hip-hop kind of feel. We're using vintage guitars and drums carved out of wood and skin for a more tribal sound. It's definitely not nu-metal."

No official track listing is confirmed yet, although the track names "Bleed It Out", "The Little Things Give You Away", "What I've Done" and "When My Time Comes/Leave Out All The Rest" have been talked about in interviews with the band.

New LPTV episodes are to be released on the band's website showing previous tour footage and a behind scenes look at the recording of Minutes to Midnight.

Verizon Wireless has a clip of "What I've Done" on their ringtones page.

Confirmed Tracks

* "Bleed It Out" (Originally known as Accident)
* "The Little Things Give You Away"
* "What I've Done" (The first single from Minutes to Midnight)
* "When My Times Comes"/"Leave Out All The Rest" (Final title has not been decided)

Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight Announced

Linkin Park's new logo which will be featured on their new album on March 6, a countdown of 100,000 minutes began on Linkin Park's official website. If 100,000 is divided by 60 and then further divided by 24, this gives the date on which the album will be released that is May 15th, 2007. And for further accuracy the Linkin Park Underground confirmed that Linkin Park's long awaited third release, titled Minutes to Midnight, will be released Tuesday, May 15th in the United States, and Monday May 14th in all other countries.

The first single is to be released April 2nd, and is titled "What I've Done."

"We have put more into the new album than anything we have ever done before," says bassist Dave "Phoenix" Farrell. The band spent over 14 months in the studio and wrote more than 100 song demos in the making of Minutes to Midnight, an album which vocalist Mike Shinoda sees as, "a breakthrough in the development of the band's sound."

"This was a year-and-a-half long process of really hard work and experimentation in the studio that yielded about 150 rough songs," guitarist Brad Delson told Billboard.com. The band recorded 17 tracks and is now whittling down which ones will make the final cut. "Not only is this album incredibly diverse, but the depth of the material is really strong,” Delson says.

The title is a reference to the Doomsday Clock, and lead singer Chester Bennington said that the band is writing about "things they wouldn't have touched a few years back."

Mike Shinoda explained that Minutes to Midnight is composed of sounds made by a practically Arcade Fire-esque array of instruments including banjos, marimbas and vintage guitars and amps. “People have always tried to lump us in with the whole rap/rock stereotype, but we don’t intentionally want to be part of that scene. We’ve always had our own personality and I think it really shows on this record.” Shinoda tells us the title of the album has two meanings: “It’s definitely a reference to the doomsday clock…the Apocalypse…a metaphor for death and rebirth, but it could also be applied to the music industry, sort of tongue-in-cheek.” While there are no special artists featured on the album, Shinoda shares a co-producing credit with the Grammy award-winning producer Rick Rubin, “I was raised on his music and to now be working with him, to be mentored by him, is such a huge thing.”

Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight

“We have put more into the new album than anything we have ever done before,”
says bassist Dave “Phoenix” Farrell.
The band spent over 14 months in the studio and wrote more than
100 song demos in the making of Minutes to Midnight,
an album which vocalist Mike Shinoda sees as,
“a breakthrough in the development of the band’s sound.”

Linkin Park Prep 'Minutes to Midnight'

Nu-metal heavyweights gear up for a May 15 release date and summer tour.

Linkin Park have confirmed Minutes to Midnight as the title of the band's fourth long player of original new material, out May 15 via Warner Bros., Billboard.com reports. The album's first single "What I've Done," which the band recently completed shooting a video for in the California desert, will hit radio waves April 2.

Co-produced by Rick Rubin and Linkin Park MC/vocalist Mike Shinoda, Minutes to Midnight was recorded over 14 months, a process which cut roughly 150 songs to only 17. The band has yet to determine which of the final 17 tracks will make it to the album's tracklisting. In addition, Linkin Park are rehearsing for a summer trek, which will kick off May 6 at New Jersey's Bamboozle Festival and continue through the summer with the revival of the band's Projekt Revolution tour.

Linkin Park: New Effort To Be Released Minutes To Midnight

Linkin Park will release their new album Minutes To Midnight, on Warner Brothers Records/Machine Shop Recordings on May 15. The first single from the collection, "What I've Done," is set to be released worldwide on April 2.

The band worked with Rick Rubin on the effort, and in a recent interview vocalist Mike Shinoda talked about what the legendary producer brings to the table.

"Rick's phenomenal. He's... The best thing about Rick is that he's just a library of musical ideas and reference points. You know, you could be writing a song that sounds like Linkin Park, and he'll say you should go listen to this band, this band and this band to inspire you for this song. A lot of times he pulls stuff out that he pretty much knows we haven't heard or haven't listened to anytime recently, and what ends up happening is that you get ideas just from the vibe of different things you listen to -- not so much to listen to and do what they do -- but more to just get inspired by people who are making great music and doing something that's revolutionary and that excitement hopefully translates into some good ideas."

The single will surely be hitting iTunes and rock radio first, but last year at the Chainsaw Awards, the band admitted they're not exactly the best judge of singles.

[Shinoda] "You pick up some records and you really like some songs -- that may be true for our records, I don't know -- but for us when we listen to our records we want to listen to it and like every song. So that's why it's hard for us to pick the singles." [Phoenix] "To add on to that, when Hybrid Theory came out we used to think that we'd be really good at picking singles, and we learned very quickly that the record company does that because they're way better at it. For us know, now we're like, 'You guys pick the singles. That's not what we're here to do. You tell us what will work in your world and we'll just write the music.'"

Speaking of Hybrid Theory, the band's debut, it has alone sold more than 18 million copies worldwide and the band has sold a whopping 40 million in total. Linkin Park has scheduled a handful of dates, but Shinoda says they're going to announce a tour with an "unmissable" line-up. Shinoda realizes unmissable is not a word, but he said that the soon to be announced tour will be "worth making up words for."

Linkin Park's "Minutes to Midnight" Will Hit the Stores Soon

Working hard for 14 months in the studio and writing more than 100 scores in preparation of the new album, Linkin Park is finally set to release "Minutes to Midnight" on May 15 in US and May 14 in other countries.

17 songs have been selected to be in the record and single "What I've Done" is chosen to be the first single released. It will be aired in radios starting from April 2. Meanwhile, the making of the video for the track has also been finished. Directed by DJ Joseph Hahn, it took the set in Californian desert.

Upon the concept of this new album, the band's guitarist Brad Delson says, "Not only is this album incredibly diverse, but the depth of the material is really strong." Delson continues that he is chiefly fond and proud of the song "The Little Things Give You Away" while some other scores such as "Bleed It Out" and "Another Cut" are thought as 'really fun to be played live'.

Meanwhile, one of the frontmen, Mike Shinoda has hinted that the 'diversity' in the album is seen through the composition of the music instruments used. Banjos, marimbas, vintage guitars and amps are among the few used. "People have always tried to lump us in with the whole rap/rock stereotype, but we don't intentionally want to be part of that scene. We've always had our own personality and I think it really shows on this record."

The title of the album itself is, according to Shinoda, the reference of the Doomsday Clock and has two meanings, "…the Apocalypse…a metaphor for death and rebirth, but it could also be applied to the music industry, sort of tongue-in-cheek." Producing this album, Shinoda is honored to share the process with the Grammy Awards winning producer, Rick Rubin.

Album completed and tour to go, the band is currently in rehearsals. The tours have not been specified but are scheduled later this summer, alongside My Chemical Romance.

Linkin Park: Minutes to Midnight

Linkin Park: Minutes to Midnight

Linkin Park: Minutes to Midnight

Linkin Park: Minutes to Midnight

Linkin Park: Minutes to Midnight

Linkin Park: Minutes to Midnight