Since their 2000 debut album, Linkin Park has always been a band that has had an evolving sound. Mike Shinoda recently spoke with Live 105/San Francisco about the growth of the band over the years.

Shinoda, who is the band’s principal songwriter and co-produced their latest record Living Things with Rick Ruben, broke down the philosophy of Linkin Park, saying, “The name of the band before the first album was Hybrid Theory. Our philosophy has always been about – we like so many different kinds of music that it is sometimes hard to decide.”

Shinoda went on to explain how each album was a step towards the sound and songs on their latest album.

On Hybrid Theory (2000) & Meteora (2003):

“With the first couple records Hybrid Theory and Meteora we were really making a statement about signature style of the band.”

“It just felt like if we did the same thing a third time we’d be stuck doing that forever.”

Minutes to Midnight (2007)

“Its more like a patchwork. You tie together all these different sounds and every one is intended to be really different from the last. So each song is really different from the last.”

A Thousand Suns (2010)

“That was a concept record. It was more of rather than choosing a whole bunch of different sounds and putting them all together. That was more like choosing one lane and going as far down it as possible. We really kinda went down the rabbit hole. It ended up being a more of a psychedelic journey.”

Living Things (2012)

“It’s been a long time since we did anything that had the energy of the first two records. We learned a lot about recording, about writing. Just about the more technical and creative processes in the studio on the last two records.”

Living Things drops on June 26th and Linkin Park hits the road with Incubus as part of the Honda Civic Tour beginning this August in Bristow, VA. Dates and info can be found at civictour.honda.com

- Bradford Hornsby, Live105/San Francisco