Linkin Park's remarkable integration of rock and rap garnered the band a publishing deal the first time it played LA's Whiskey. Singer Chester Bennington and emcee/vocalist Mike Shinoda's powerful blend and the dynamics of guitarist Brad Delson, drummer Rob Bourdan and DJ/samplemaster Joseph Hahn, Linkin Park proved an irresistible force.
Naysayers predicted that this whole rap/rock thing would be dying a slow, silent death right about now, but instead of catching its second wind, it seems to be breathing just fine without needing to come up for air. Linkin Park are the latest guitar-swinging, lyric-dropping scratch wizards to simultaneously glorify the big riff while bowing down to hip-hop. In the course of a song they let their guitars run amok, push plodding rhythms, and growl like angry dogs roused from sleep -- all while dexterously zipping back and forth along record grooves.
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The band saw its beginnings in emcee/vocalist Mike Shinoda's small bedroom studio, where he and Delson recorded the band's first material in 1996. The two had attended high school together, where they met the band's drummer, Rob Bourdon. Shinoda hooked up with DJ Joseph Hahn while studying illustration at Art Center College in Pasadena. Meanwhile, attending UCLA, Delson shared an apartment with bassist Phoenix, who left the band after college and returned a year later. The final piece of the puzzle was singer Chester Bennington, a transplanted Arizona native who started making records when he was 16. "When I was two, I used to run around singing Foreigner songs--there's tapes of me doing that...Since I learned how to talk I've been telling everybody I was gonna grow up to be a singer." laughs Bennington.
Ask Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson for a wish list of bands he'd like to tour with, and he's ready with a response. "We told our manager, 'Pick a band and we can tour with them.' Our music reaches out in so many directions that there's pretty much an unlimited amount of cool bands with which we could play."
Delson is understandably proud of the diversity and uniqueness apparent on the Southern California band's debut album, Hybrid Theory (the band's original name). Built on an aggressive hard-rock foundation, flavored with hip-hop vocal stylings and electronic flourishes, Linkin Park's sound is utterly its own, an accomplishment strengthened by the band's remarkably powerful and unforced songwriting.
The combination of Bennington's rich, mammoth vocal style with Shinoda's rapid-fire emceeing helps to define Linkin Park's sound. "I think one of Chester and Mike's goals is to be as integrated as possible," offers Phoenix. . "We want our sound to come across so that people go, 'Oh, that's Linkin Park,' not, 'I heard this hip-hop part, and now they're hitting me over the head with this rock chorus.' We want everything to have dynamics, but also a continuous cohesive flavor, so that you know what band you're listening to. "Although the styles we're mixing can be very different, we want the combination to feel natural--that is a big part of our band's identity." Weaving influences as diverse as Deftones, Nine Inch Nails, Aphex Twin, and The Roots into a unified whole, Linkin Park "want everything to come together without feeling forced," explains Shinoda. "As part of the writing process, I record everyone directly into a computer to best integrate our digital and live elements. We spend countless hours mixing and matching parts until we get the right combinations and composition."
It was that cohesive style and instantly memorable songs that attracted immediate attention, starting with a publishing offer after the band's very first show at L.A.'s famed Whisky. After showcasing around town and eventually inking with Warner Bros. Records, the band began work on its first album with producer Don Gilmore (Eve 6, Lit, Pearl Jam). "We met with a lot of people and had a very difficult time deciding," says Shinoda. "But Don, aside from making things sound good, stood out as someone who could really push us further as songwriters."
The end result is an album that's as well crafted and melodic as it is confrontational, with a strong lyrical message. "We try to push real things through in our lyrics, whether it's feeling insignificant or questioning your own thoughts or discovering the dark side of yourself."
The band immersed itself in the writing process until the spring of 2000, when they inked with Warner Bros. Records and immediately went into the studio. To help record their work, they enlisted producer Don Gilmore (Pearl Jam, Apex Theory, Sugar Ray). "We met with a lot of people and had a very difficult time choosing a producer," says Bennington. "But Don, aside from making things sound good, stood out as someone who could really push us to work harder as songwriters." The end result is an album that is as well-crafted and melodic as it is confrontational, with a strong lyrical message. "Chester and I write about universal emotions, whether it's feeling insignificant, optimistic, or frustrated," Shinoda describes. "We write about everyday life, because sometimes it's good to know there are other people going through the same things that you are." These lyrics, along with the diverse instrumentation in which they are embedded, result in a powerful musical statement: Linkin Park's debut album, Hybrid Theory.
Following the completion of Hybrid Theory and the return of Phoenix, the band has played incessantly, introducing crowds worldwide to their explosive live performance. "I've always wanted our show to be energetic," says Hahn. "We use drum pads, samplers, and turntables with original vinyl to perform all the sample parts live on stage, which I think brings an exciting uniqueness to the songs." The energy and tightness of the band's performance, on tours with Deftones, P.O.D., and Papa Roach, and as a headliner itself, has secured Linkin Park a strong foundation of dedicated fans worldwide, and helped propel the band's record sales into the millions.
When asked about the secret behind the Linkin Park's rapid success, Bourdon responds, "Ever since the beginning, we've always tried to maintain a strong relationship with our fans. From our close-knit street team family, to our videos, to designing quality merchandise, to our hands-on website activity with www.linkinpark.com, we stay involved in order to put our fans first." Linkin Park's reputation for being fan-oriented is best exemplified in their dedication to interacting with listeners at shows: the band obsessively sign hundreds of autographs at every concert. When asked about this phenomenon, Shinoda explains, "It's just a way of giving back. Our fans have helped us to realize a dream we didn't know was possible." It's taken Linkin Park five years to become an overnight success, and in the process, they've proven that a fresh combination of talent, unwavering dedication to craft, and pure artistic vision can, as Bennington describes, "get you through anything and help you realize your dreams."
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