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The
Band
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"The
biggest misconception about us is that we're just a rock band,"
describes Linkin Park's guitarist Brad Delson. "We think
our music is a cross-section of many genres; a hybrid of what
the six of us have grown up on." The title of the band's
debut album and its original band name, Hybrid Theory, describes
both the six-piece's artistic goals and its approach to making
music. Linkin Park's sound, a melting pot of heavy alternative
rock, hip-hop, and electronic flourishes, is utterly their own,
an accomplishment strengthened by the band's remarkably powerful,
organic songwriting. But almost everything about Linkin Park
has been unforced, including their Southern California origins.
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Origins
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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.
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The
Album
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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. "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."
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Touring
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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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