LINKIN PARK To Release 'Living Things' In June

LINKIN PARK has announced a June 26 release date for their new album, "Living Things" (Machine Shop Recordings/Warner Bros.) The CD is co-produced by Rick Rubin (ADELE, METALLICA) and LINKIN PARK vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Shinoda, who co-produced LINKIN PARK's last two albums. Rolling Stone magazine says, "The material is the band's most powerful since its megahit 2000 debut."

The first single from the new album, "Burn It Down", premiered today on radio, and is now available through iTunes. Starting later today, fans can pre-order "Living Things" from the band's web site and will receive an immediate download of the single. All orders come with a monthly subscription to receive eight new "Living Things" remixes.

The band also announced that it will be co-headlining the 2012 Honda Civic Tour with INCUBUS, along with support from MUTEMATH. The tour will kick off August 11 in Bristow, Virginia at Jiffy Lube Live. Tickets begin going on sale to the general public the weekend of April 27, but anyone who pre-orders the album at LinkinPark.com will gain access beginning on April 24 to buy tickets for the tour. Fans will also be able to buy LP Underground fan club memberships at a discounted rate, and earn the right to buy tickets first, get early access to the venues, and be eligible for meet and greets with the band.

Since 2001, Honda Civic Tour has provided music fans with an amazing concert experience at a great value — offering various ticket prices, so there's something for everyone.

"LINKIN PARK and INCUBUS fans have grown up together," said Chester Bennington of LINKIN PARK. "We're looking forward to bringing them all together for a great night of music." Brandon Boyd from INCUBUS adds, "We're going to have a blast on this tour, and I know the fans will too."

Continuing a Civic Tour tradition, fans will have an opportunity to check out LINKIN PARK's customized and autographed Honda Civic Si Coupe and Honda CBR250R motorcycle — which will be displayed at every tour stop.

According to The Pulse Of Radio, LINKIN PARK singer Chester Bennington recently appeared to have admitted that the band went too far with the experimental, heavily electronic sound of its last album, "A Thousand Suns". Speaking with Kerrang! magazine about the band's forthcoming CD, Bennington said, "With this album, we've incorporated a lot of guitar work with big choruses and the heavier electronic stuff to give it that really big wall of sound feeling without getting too metal. This will be more familiar to people than 'A Thousand Suns' was, where we were like 'Fuck it, we're just going to go bonkers."

"A Thousand Suns" polarized the band's fans, while not selling nearly as many copies as the group's previous three multi-platinum studio efforts.

Shinoda told The Pulse Of Radio at the time that LINKIN PARK were glad they went in a new direction. "I think we were just at a point where were hearing out things out there in the music world, a lot of stuff that was kind of boring us," he said. "The music that we were writing that sounded like something that LINKIN PARK would do was kind of boring us. And we wanted to really challenge ourselves to try something that felt fresh and exciting."

Bennington also told Kerrang!, "Over the previous two records, we were trying hard to break out of the nu-metal box that we'd found ourselves in. It's very easy to characterize us as that based on (first two albums) 'Hybrid Theory' and 'Meteora', but we knew there was more to us than that . . . I feel like we've found a place where we've become comfortable in our skin."

Bennington also revealed that the band would stay away from the political themes it tackled on "A Thousand Suns", writing more this time "about relationships."