June 12
APTN

Linkin Park is teaming up with rapper Busta Rhymes and veteran rocker Chris Cornell for their fifth summer concert tour - and they all sat down with AP Television to talk about it. The LA band's lead vocalist Chester Bennington said he's happy to play alongside people like Cornell, whose fans are open to Linkin Park's hybrid of musical styles.

"I love Metallica, they have amazing fans. But you know, you have to earn your place if you want to play with those guys. And not from the band, because those guys are really cool guys. But it's difficult to play in front of people who have their backs turned to you and their fingers up in the air," Bennington told AP Television.

"But with Linkin Park fans, our fans are really open-minded to a lot of different things. They're kind of excited that Busta Rhymes is out, they're excited that Snoop Dogg is out. They excited that we're on tour with Korn or Chris Cornell. And that's something that we receive from the Chris Cornell fans that have followed him for as many years as he's been around," he added.

Rapper Busta Rhymes was a late addition to the concert line up. He's been out of the public eye for a few months after facing felony charges revolving around a New York assault, but has assembled a new CD set for release next month. The rapper said the Projekt Revolution tour would bring out the best in him.

"When I get the opportunity to do something, I already know, I'm a respectable competitor," he noted. "I've never had the opportunity to be in this setting where I can rock with Linkin Park and the greatness of all of the other groups that's going to be in this line up. It's just going to be something that I can take from that and be able to bring it back to hip-hop. And help grow hip-hop," he said.

Mike Shinoda, Linkin Park's lead producer and co-lead vocalist, said he wants to make the nine other bands playing alongside them feel at home. The tour launches July 16 at the Tweeter Centre in Boston and includes a deal for Linkin Park fan club members that will delete ticket service charge fees for a limited time. The tour wraps up in Houston, Texas on Aug. 24.

Chris Cornell is now recording his next album with Timbaland, but says he's worried about playing certain songs too many times on tour. "For me, a lot of it also is repetition," Cornell said. "I've been in situations where I see too much rehearsal, the band starts to play worse. You play a song more than 100 times, it sounds like you learned it two days ago, and it's awful."

Busta Rhymes said he was grateful for his last minute-addition to the line up. "As much as ya'll were hearing that I wasn't going to be there, I think ten times more than that, I was fighting to be here," Rhymes said. "So at the end of the day, this whole thing coming together, this was one of those answered prayers. Thank you very much, brother. Real talk."

Shinoda added: "He's the most grateful man in the music industry. It's like every time I run into Busta, he's celebrating any kind of victory. Small or large victory. This guy is appreciative of everything. It's like 'Busta, there's some food over here. Do you want to have some breakfast?' He's like ' free food, thank you very much. This is fantastic.'"

The Projekt Revolution line up also includes the bands Atreyu, The Bravery, Ashes Divide, 10 Years, Hawthorne Heights, Armor for Sleep and Street Drum Corps.