Chapter 1

Blending hard core rock hip-hop and electronic

Linkin Park has established a sound that easy to identify but hard to classify

I don't know whenever there is been like diffucult times in my life which there is been quite a few

I've just put the CD in and I listen to it and its helped me a lot just because

I don't know if thats sound cheesy or not but it seriously has

I'd say that the word are like the best part of the album

and the musics are like great too I just

that would be my reasoning for that I don't think there is anyway that you cannot like any of the sounds

The band combined the hard hitting rythem of Michael Kenji Shinoda

The melodic vocal of Chester Bennington,the bone-crashing beats of Rob Bourdon

The vicious guitar riffs of Brad Delson,the pounding bass of Phoenix Farrell

and last but not least,Joseph Hann's slip sliding decks

Yeah people,this band kicks ass

Very strong rythem Very strong rythem.

I mean as long as you know everytime you listen to the radio stations and like you watch MTV or VH1

or any of these music stations just by you know showing the videos or constently play the songs on a radio

over and over again you can't help but falls into it.

and you can't help but want you know their music, their CDs,their posters.All of the above

So how did all of this happened? Where did it all begin?

Well it didn't happened overnight.These guys has done their tour of duty another band

But if you want a starting point you have to go back a few years

Mike and Brad attended the same high school in Agoura it was here that they start to mess around with music

and met up with drummer Rod Bourdon.

Soon after the guys won their first band Xero

This included fellow Linkin Park members Phoenix and Joe

Brad haven't met Phoenix at UCLA,and mike haven't met Joe while studing illustration at Pasadena Art center

Yeah,I believe there were yeah they been sense since they were young and that definitely help growing up playing together

and sure contribute to you know graduate to all of their processers

they've been spend so much time together and they know they can be conbined together

and two of us for a *** year and they could spend a week in a recording studio twelve hours a day

And I'm sure you know starting knowing each other for so long and growing up playing together

and very intimate with each other

and how they gonna react to each other personally and musicaly specially

The lead singer I been listening Mike. I definitely like him just I guess 'couse he is the one like sing the words

and like that's who I daily listening to. I 'm not sure who write the song,do the rhyme together or not

But I definitely see all of them together see them also I've gone MTV at the word ever played in.

they all like seem to like be influence

*everything from hip hop stuff like Black Star the roots back to more like transbonding star

*elemental visionaries word.Ronnie side effect twins like cash mode

I like the driving the pulsing,I like motivitional music, music you can listen to and that will pump you up

It will get you ready for you know any kind of whatever you need to prepare for

when there is a test for school or driving on the freeway

anything that's gonna just you know get you pumped and get you ready make you feel confident and motivated

the guys play for fun at first before setting up their first major show at Whisky a Go Go on Sunset Boulevard LA

The show is really energetic and we like the kids to be as well

So been in a standing venue could be great because you know we'll go out there

and they will freak out we gotta one more playing and stuff

and whole lot stuff is pretty important

Wow the Vally ,you know the Vally is really deverse,ethnically and musicly

You have Jazz,back institute places right here,

you know winin fifty yards of this place you have Jazz bands going on and punk bands going on

Vally had a pretty decent hard core theme.

North hollywood start to have a couple more different music areas plces where you can go

The west Vallly is kind of bad.Actually you can go for another new place,maybe about two miles north from here

So there will be the main competition,

but I think I'm looking at a verge of a big LA music explosion leads to some people noticing from the media or

some big bands coming out here within the next year

the larger focus on what's going on here

Yeah, I would definitely say that there been from south California that's definitely prevalent in there sound

You can tell they are not a Hollywood band, they are west Vally band you can tell

That's for sure that there are many more peaceful a little more serene

but they still have the ad,they still have the California edge if you calling that

but you can tell there music isn't jaded in some of the other places like Hollywood or New York

But they are also not you know from the middle of nowhere try to emulate the band of one of those area

They must've been pretty good because some of the music publisher saw them and sign them there and then

Well the A&R man today as against when I manage to became an A&R person of chain considerably I mean the traditional word

A&R mean artist and repertoire back when I was originated

it was the A&R man was the man who sign the artists, found the material for the artists

found the range of the band leader,*help studio did all of that

Today the A&R world is much different, most acts of conteporary field are self-contained

so you gotta a A&R person who seeks talent,who um signs talent

and then work and coordinate the recording brings the producer working with the others

There are some act who don not write,the A&R person involve will as I have done with artist like Celion Dion.

Find songs for them,and bringing various producers appropriate for the singer and the song.

So the world of A&R is changing considerably. But the basic of the person is searches for the works with talent

Two years later and after a slight of a line up change,

Chester Bennington joined the band after the guys heard his vocal remix of one of their demos

He was so excited when they asked him to try out that he ran out of his own birthday party and go work on his demo

the band love what he has done and ask chester to join the band.

He soon left Arizona and jump on a first plane in LA

The thing that we saw on Chester right away is that he is someone who should be doing sing for his whole life

and I am someone who has been rapping for my whole life,so that's just felt very natural you know

We spent a lot of time working out what we were doing(some ages you wannna be chatter)

and he like me a lot and I can't stand him

With the band line-up complete,the band changed their name to Hybrid Theory to celebrate their new look

The next few month the guys work hard on their demos and sent them out to just about anyone who would listen

Lucky for them it was the Warner Brothers who had their ears glued to the stereo

I think that its really taugh, I think that in the case of Linkin Park,

I think,you know I have a lot of respect to the fact that

they been able to stay on the top 20 charts for well over a year,

and that's huge and one of those things Bennington and I was talking about part you coming here

is that they had a buzz prior to them even when getting signed and I think that's a huge thing

and I think that's the huge thing and the industry start to hear wow you gotta start to start check on this Linkin Park band

They gonna be really great they gonna be huge .

Some part of it the kids has the the kid appeal anyway but I think you'll get something told

that it is gonna be big and for hearing it on the radio and they see them in MTV

and they'll like the way they look then you can now get longer

Well in a general sense ,we look to find the artist.it depends on the kind of music that you working with.

But in the general sense ,to me I think we've gotten away in this day and age we got away a lot from it ,

we have a tendency to jump on the quick trends and not really worry about the artist's integrity out of it

But in truth I still think of the need for great artists.

In real when you look for that you are looking for someone who are a artist or band who the A&R person's opinion

has the potencial to be successful for a long period of time. Has something special about them that stands out

What kind of gimmicks you do right? can make people like our band

and the problem is we coundn't come out with anything so we are kind of forced to play our songs

The Undergrounds sort of graft through kind of viral sort of marketing I think is one way,

and some of these bands by the time they get signed they already havea mailing list to vote, a hundred thousand kids.

So there is that way but also I think there is a old way whitch is

just been you know anointed for success by a major who can marshal this massive

promotional resources behind you.Almost preordained the hit.especially among the steam marketing I think

Getting into the music industry is just,its just one big test .

You know it's a test about everything,it's a test of your stamina,

it's a test of how many time can you be rejected and still believe yourself .

It's a test of you know can you basicly maintain your composure not freak out and strangle someone who just

jerk you over for tens of thousands of dollar .

It's everything you know you never really at the top,

you might think you are at the top but I don't think anyone really is

If you try to break into the industry,just you have to just believe in yourself

and try to meet as many people as you can .Never give up

Um...you know I guess obviously there is something interesting in what I'm doing it means the world to me .

Every little dropback anyone ever gives you a compliment you just have to be as humble as you can be

and just thank them .It doesn't even matter how huge or which or whatever

you gave you have to matain that same atitude as humble as you possible can be

and just keep adding persistence that's how I get through

They have sertain labels,I mean most labels you have in California just because the whole of philosophy

in Southern California should be able to show how much wealth do you

have and be able to live whatever American dream you may think there may be .

But you know for a label,most labels arould here just purely appropriate labels center in

with the radio stations just wanna play whatever is popular .

They wanna play whatever is the softest thing and whatever what they call the corporate rock

you have like insane and all those little band just copy each other and it's more like a state show.

And personally I think that music should be more about platform to be able to get a real messenger cross

and you know I just named it right now

solve the problems you have in the world and the United States people should actually be saying something

rather than just talking about nothing like their girl friend and something stupid

There was a problem though ,turns out there was another band called hybrid theory .

So the guys have to come up a new name .It was Chester who came to a rescue.

He recalled how he used to drive pass Lincoln Park in Santa Monica on his way to band practice.

He relly like the name,and so did the other guys.With that Lincoln Park was born.

If you want people to know about you,you gotta have a website man.

It's here that your fans can learn all about you,listen to your music

and see those tour photos you wouldn't want to show your mom.

I definitely think so that way,cause even for the people younger than me like they like to look it up

and see what's going on and they really like the band in that way.

They are updated and they can see what's going on with tours,

that's just that's the best you can see your favourite band like playing live