Linkin Park deny calling cops on support band

Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda has denied his band summoned police because support act Sublime With Rome were smoking weed.

The junior outfit’s frontman Rome Ramirez recently claimed that Linkin Park “called the cops” at a festival in Arizona, saying they were “allergic to pot.” Officers are believed to have investigated and confiscated some items, although no arrests were made.

But Shinoda says the police activity was nothing to do with Linkin Park. He tells Sirius XM: “There were a shocking number of officers in the venue. Whatever happened, nobody called POT-911 because the cops were there.

“I didn’t call anybody. Chester Bennington didn’t call anybody. We didn’t call fucking anybody.”

Shinoda accepts there’s a chance someone from his entourage may have said something to Sublime With Rome. He says: “We all had families in our dressing room that day. There were two of Chester’s kids. So if somebody said, ‘Hey man, cut that shit out,’ – which I’m not aware of – I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ If somebody’s got kids around and says to me, ‘Can you cut that out because there’s kids?’ that sounds pretty reasonable.”

And he says he’d never resort to calling police. “We took Snoop Dogg out on tour. We took Cypress HIll out on tour,” he states. “Did I put Snoop Dogg in jail? Why would I do that? I don’t care.”

Meanwhile, Linkin Park’s latest album The Hunting Party made number 3 in the Billboard 200 album chart in the US this week.

Mike Shinoda interview

Not only is one-time online news editor Martin an established rock journalist and drummer, but he’s also penned several books on music history, including SAHB Story: The Tale of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a band he once managed, and the best-selling Apollo Memories about the history of the legendary and infamous Glasgow Apollo. Martin has written for Classic Rock and Prog and at one time had written more articles for Louder than anyone else (we think he's second now). He’s appeared on TV and when not delving intro all things music, can be found travelling along the UK’s vast canal network.