Mike Shinoda talks NME through his 'Firsts'

NME

Mike Shinoda talks us through his musical first times, from the first artist he fell in love to the first time he was starstruck.

Transcript

00:00 It wasn't like a full-on like, "Oh, I can't talk. I'm like completely overwhelmed."

00:04 It was that we played our first show with a local band that had just gotten signed

00:10 called System of a Down.

00:12 Hey, what's up? This is Mike Shinoda and these are my firsts for Enemy.

00:19 The first gig that I ever went to was Anthrax, Public Enemy and Primus.

00:29 And there was a group that opened called Young Black Teenagers.

00:32 And people kind of make fun of me because it's like, "Oh, well, obviously that was the first

00:37 gig you went to. That's like basically what you ended up doing for a living."

00:40 I was chaperoned, by the way. It was my friend Mark and I and his dad had to drive us there.

00:46 I think I was 14 when I went to the Public Enemy Anthrax show.

00:52 And I remember the rapper Ice-T was in the crowd and we got his autograph on our ticket.

00:59 Which I believe I still have somewhere.

01:01 I think the first time I heard one of our songs on the radio, I believe we were

01:10 driving into Phoenix, Arizona on our first tour.

01:15 And the local rock radio station there played it and they announced us.

01:23 They actually kind of announced us as a local band because Chester was from Arizona,

01:28 was from the Phoenix area.

01:30 So we were just pulling into town and we were freaking out, running all over the streets.

01:36 We were touring in an RV.

01:38 So we were jumping out of the car and running around the streets.

01:47 The first artist or artists that I fell in love with would probably be the Beastie Boys.

01:53 Loved the Beastie Boys from the moment I heard it.

01:57 First thing I do when I get off stage, I mean, other than drink water and catch my breath,

02:11 usually eat.

02:12 Because I don't like to eat before the show.

02:15 I don't like to go on stage with a full stomach.

02:18 So I'm starving by the time the show's done.

02:21 I think I probably first got kind of starstruck.

02:31 And it was a very minimal, it wasn't like a full on, "Oh, I can't talk.

02:36 I'm completely overwhelmed."

02:40 It was that we played our first show with a local band that had just gotten signed called

02:46 System of a Down.

02:47 And I was like, "These guys are so cool and they just got signed to a major record deal."

02:54 And yeah, we opened for them.

02:56 And I met a couple of the guys and I just thought they were the coolest.

03:00 And I think they're just barely older than us.

03:03 But yeah, I was so impressed.

03:07 I mean, besides, they're incredible.

03:09 So of course I was impressed.

03:11 What was the first thing I thought about when I woke up today?

03:18 My first thought was, "Why can't I sleep longer than five hours?"

03:25 Because I've been in Europe for three days and I can't sleep more than four or five hours

03:33 at a time because of jet lag.

03:36 [Music]

Category

Transcript

Recommended