Greetings from our new studio headquarters. We’re in a pretty low-key area on the northeast side of L.A. Nearby, there are ethnic restaurants, schools, dance classes, used car dealerships, martial arts studios, nail salons, palm trees, and the usual L.A. traffic. It’s The Valley, dude.

The main room is where the vocals and foundational songwriting is coming together, along with Mike’s beats and Brad’s guitar. Next to the main room, there used to be a lounge…last month, Joe decided to “move in,” and he turned the lounge into a second studio, so now we’re multi-tasking. Joe brought in a lot of his sonic toys and keyboards, and turned the hangout room into a mad scientist lab.

We’ve been talking a lot lately about how grateful we are for such a long career in music. Being together this long means having a need for regular reinvigoration. We have to keep things interesting and, for us, part of staying engaged is continuing to learn. That search for growth sometimes happens when we’re playing with new music gear, new techniques, or new people—and, as some people have noticed on our regular Facebook streams, all three are going on right now. While we have no idea what the songs will turn into, or which will make the final cut, we’re excited to have a ton of creative momentum, and looking to see how things develop.

Most of the stuff we’re writing is still focused on the words and melodies, not sounds or style of the song. We just want to tell honest stories first; we’ll get to the rest later. We’re still in the early stages of the album, but we plan to keep posting info and live feeds to give you guys a peek into the studio as the album progresses, so make sure to follow us on all your favorite social media.

Talk to you soon…

LINKIN PARK