Devil Wears Prada guitarist Chris Rubey, who recently talked to Loudwire about the band's upcoming album, 'Dead Throne' (due Sept. 13), in an exclusive interview, also told us about his love for Linkin Park. He credits the Park as the reason he started playing guitar in the first place. Check out a brief Q&A with Rubey about the influence of Linkin Park on his music:

Who were your biggest musical influences growing up?

It's funny, I kind of have this theory nowadays that anybody that's in this scene that's my age went one of two routes -- you were either more of a punk kid or nu-metal kid. And I was definitely a nu-metal kid. And half [of the Devil Wears Prada] were nu-metal kids and half my band were punk kids -- like Minor Threat, Black Flag, that kind of stuff.

But I loved Linkin Park so much. Linkin Park was like my favorite band ever, and that's why I started playing guitar. And I just wanted to learn all their songs. I liked it because it was the heaviest thing I heard. And if you think about it, it's because that's the heaviest thing the radio played at that time. And that's also why like Slipknot still to this day, because they constantly pushed the boundaries of heavy music.

I liked Linkin Park, and then I just started listening to heavier and heavier [music] because that's what my brain wanted to hear. Nowadays, I don't even listen to heavy music at all because I have to write it. Any heavy music that I listen to nowadays that's in the same vein as our band -- like metalcore -- I generally pretty harshly judge it just because it's my competition, as far as I have to write better songs than this band.

Underoath was always a huge inspiration for anybody that plays in a metalcore band nowadays. As I Lay Dying create great, solid metalcore. It's nice to be peers with a lot of people you looked up to as a kid.

Do any elements of Linkin Park's music have an influence on your songwriting for the Devil Wears Prada?

I think one of the things I liked about Linkin Park so much is that they were one of the first bands that had the DJ so that they could add the atmospheric stuff in the background. I listened back to [Linkin Park's debut album] 'Hybrid Theory' not too long ago, and I was, like, man for its time this was insane.

And it reminds me of how we have a keyboard player and we don't just play rock music with two guitarists and drums. We try to build a wall of sound at all times. Linkin Park was really the first band for me that showed me what that was all about.

Do you think the Devil Wears Prada will ever head in the melodic direction that Linkin Park has taken?

On the new album, we kind of did that with [the tracks] 'Chicago' and 'Kansas.' You may hear more stuff like that from us -- like more post-hardcore influenced with chill guitars. We're definitely interested in the light side of things, but I know as a fan I was always disappointed by bands progressing in the lighter, more melodic side. So, if it ever happens it won't overshadow the entire album. It will be more like we were experimenting on some of the songs.

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