Linkin Park co-founder Mike Shinoda has revealed he is a fan of Sleep Token, the enigmatic British rock/metal band, as well as other young artists outside the rock scene.
In a recent interview with NME, Shinoda talks about the new artists whose work he enjoys following: “Of the stuff I’m listening to right now, I really like Jean Dawson. I love Brakence. I listen to Sleep Token a lot… I think it was someone from the UK who introduced me to this band.”
When the interviewer states that he was actually the one who introduced Shinoda to Sleep Token, the musician replies, “Were you really?” I made fun of you for that, remember? I said, “You always have this hot band that everyone listens to.” And I said, “Why is it always so popular in your house?” Then I listened to it and thought, “Oh! I’ve actually heard this band before. Honestly, I understand why everyone is talking about her because of her new album [Take Me Back To Eden] is really adventurous. He’s really a stranger to me, in the best sense of the word.”
Additionally, Shinoda expresses his opinion on the current rock/metal scene, stating that he is more interested in innovation than strict genres: “You already know how much I don’t care about genres and scenes, I don’t care. I don’t care at all! I hear what I want. When I think about it, I’m usually more impressed or attracted to things that go beyond stereotypes or the usual way of doing things. When they bring something new into the discourse. That’s why I mentioned these artists. I think they all add something to the debate.”
Last month, Shinoda released a new single titled “Already Over,” which he later performed live in Australia with musicians from the rock and metal scene.
Sleep Token’s third album, Take Me Back To Eden, was released on May 19th and performed well on both the charts and online, receiving rave reviews from numerous publications as well as their musical peers such as Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, Mike Portnoy from dream theater and others.
At the beginning of the year, Sleep Token’s streaming statistics on Spotify showed around 200,000 monthly listeners – now that number is over 2.6 million.