This man has so many ideas that he needs 2 bands to realize them all! Mike Shinoda has a lot of success as a singer and MC. He also writes, produces and mixes all the songs for his hip-hop project Fort Minor – and he also plays all the instruments on the record! In this BRAVO Interview the Multi-Talent tells us his future plans – with Linkin Park and Fort Minor …

BRAVO: How far are you with the new Linkin Park Record?

MS: Really far! We tried something new; made groups of 2 -3 people and practised a bit. After a while we met again – the results were fantastic! We wrote about 50 songs, but of course they aren’t finished yet! 

BRAVO: When can we expect new songs?

MS: Probably in autumn.

BRAVO: How is it going to sound like?

MS: We’ll do something completely new, but at the same time it will be the typical Linkin Park Sound. We’ll surprise the fans with out new Record. Everybody should say ‘Wow, all the waiting was worth it!’ when the record is released.

BRAVO: You have a hip-hop project, too: Fort Minor. What’s the story behind it?

MS: I got the idea when I worked on the ‘Numb / Encore’ collaboration with Linkin Park and Jay-Z. You know, I had made beats and had been rapping before I was in Linkin Park. I just made more experiences in Linkin Park. So it was time to give the Fans something of me …

BRAVO: How do you mean that?

MS: The Fort Minor record ‘The Rising Tied’ is very personal. It tells you a lot about me and my heritage.

BRAVO: Your heritage?

MS: Yeah, I’m half Japanese and ‘Kenji’ is my middle name. My family was really well before the 2^nd world war began: we owned a supermarket, a hairdresser salon, a gas station and a billard hall in the middle of Los Angeles. And then the 2^nd world war began. The USA sent every Japanese – American to a camp which they weren’t aloud to leave until the war was over. They had to live really poorly there. My family had lost everything when the came back. They had to earn money as cluster pickers. They didn’t even have the money for wallpapers, so they stuck newspapers on the walls! Those were really hard times …

BRAVO: What do the Linkin Park Guys think about your really personal project?

MS: They really like it and they give me a lot support. But they’re also taking a part of it …

BRAVO: Really? How?

MS: We all own the ‘Machine Shop Records’ Label. Fort Minor is our first act. And we have also signed Holly Brook and Styles Of Beyond.