Aisha Raine:

These days something must really move me before I take one of my rare free moments to blog, but my recent experience with the Linkin Park Remix contest warrants discussion, especially with Linkin Park releasing their single, “The Catalyst” today. Now to my story…

I’ve been a big fan of Linkin Park ever since I bought Hybrid Theory almost a decade ago. A few months later they would become the trigger that launched me into believing that anything is possible and that I can put expectations aside and make the music I love regardless of what the music society may believe someone like me should make. Since that day they’ve been a HUGE inspiration to me and I have always viewed LP as a solid pillar within the structure of Aisha Raine.

Now fast-forward 10 years… Linkin Park is about to release their latest album, A Thousand Suns, next month. I’m in the deep workings of new songs for my upcoming sophomore release, Jus in Bello. And suddenly I happen to stumble onto the Linkin Park site and find that they are doing a remix contest. The idea: To create a remix of their recent (released as of today) single, “The Catalyst”. If you were the chosen one in the end your track would be featured on their upcoming CD. I couldn’t believe it. A chance to recreate a then unreleased track by Linkin Park! And already working on song creation I was in the zone. Perfect timing!

They gave us five pieces from their original track: some vocals, main drums, outro drums, piano, and keyboard. We didn’t need to use them all. I used two… vocals and piano. All else I worked into the track on my lonesome. But after a few days I knew I didn’t have enough time to make the song great but I didn’t give up. I knew I probably wouldn’t win the big prize. But what I got out of the contest was better than I could have expected. I got to work with elements of an unreleased Linkin Park song. I learned (and at one point in the process hated) the lyrics of the song before 99% of the world would hear it. I could to learn the feel of the track before hearing the final. I got to interpret the track my own way and be a part of a process. It gave me a new burst of energy to work on my own music!

A winner was announced on the first of the month. Though it wasn’t me I did not feel defeated. And today, hearing “The Catalyst” for the first time, I felt a connection to someone else’s song that I never have. I knew verses and the chorus. I sang along to a new song that I’d never heard. And I smiled. There is just something about music, something about THEIR music, something about this process that I took away more than even most that participated will. With that I fell in love with a new song and reaffirmed that Linkin Park is still a pillar in my process. And their timing, for the contest, for their single, for their new album, couldn’t be better in one of my biggest musical time of need. In the end I have two words for my favorite band of all time…

THANK YOU.

Aisha Raine

If you’d like to hear the track I created go to: http://www.indabamusic.com/submissions/show/25910

To check out Linkin Park’s release of “The Catalyst” go to their site at www.linkinpark.com or download it from iTunes.