Mike Shinoda (Emcee, Vocals, Beats & Sampling)
Date of Birth: 2/11/77
Mike is half Japanese.
Mike graduated from the Pasadena Art College of Design.
He majored in Illustration but studied graphic design heavily.
Mike got a job as a graphic designer right out of college.
Mike designed the soldier on the "Hybrid Theory" cover.
Mike is from Agoura,CA but lives in L.A. now.
Mike went to Agoura high school.
Mike & Brad met in 7th grade.
Mike was inspired to become a musician after his first concert experience. It was a Killer B's show which was Anthrax and Public Enemy.
Mike had to do his eighth term finals (at Pasadena art school) the same weekend Linkin Park did a showcase for about six record labels (exams at the same time when things started happening for the band...talk about a nervous breakdown).
According to Anna (Mike's wife) who posted this on the linkinparkweb.com message board Mike did the artwork/logo for Styles of Beyond's 2000 FOLD CD. "I used to drive around and see the Sob sticker on a few cars and get all silly and excited... ooohhh Mike did that." - Anna
Mike uses or used a Paul Reed Smith CE-22 guitar.
The first time Mike heard 'One Step Closer' on the radio was in Arizona.
Mike's a big fan of Dido. He also likes a ton of female groups from Kittie to Madonna to Sneaker Pimps to Portishead.
Mike : "I remember getting in trouble in third grade for trading Garbage Pail Kids in class, and we weren't supposed to do that until recess or lunch. But the teacher didn't actually find my stash of cards, so she couldn't take them away."
Albums that Mike most listened to in 2000 were: Deftones - "White Pony" , The Roots - "Things Fall Apart" ,Nine Inch Nails - "The Fragile" , Black Eyed Peas - "Bridging The Gap" , Incubus - "Make Yourself" , System Of A Down - "System Of A Down" , Dido - "No Angel" , Jurassic 5 - "Quality Control" , Stone Temple Pilots - No.4" and Eminem - "The Marshall Mathers LP" .
Mike's top ten songs of 2000 were: Jurassic 5 - "Improvise" , A Perfect Circle - "3 Libras" , Outkast - "B.O.B." , Deftones - "Change (In The House Of Flies)" , Taproot - "Again & Again" , Eminem - "Kill You" , Aphex Twin - "Windowlicker" , P.O.D. - "Southtown" , Lmno - "Grin & Bear It" and Disturbed - "Stupify" .
Mike's guitar from the Crawling video is probably an ibanez rg120. Don't know for sure though.
Mike took classical piano lessons for 10 years. He got sick of playing classical music though and moved into jazz then hip hop.
Before Chester joined the band, Mike would do his parts and find friends to do the other vocals.