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Linkin Park
Biography
[It
starts with one...]
The signature sound that would become Linkin Park’s calling card was the brainchild of two high
school friends, Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson. The two envisioned a band that would defy categorization, blending some of their
favourite styles of music in ways that had never been heard before. Mike was the classically trained musician whose roots
were based in the South Californian hip-hop scene, while Brad was the avid guitarist whose influences included the likes of
Guns ‘N’ Roses and the Deftones. Both decided to form a band that would fuse their favourite styles of music into
one sound. That band was Xero.
[I’m with you...]
Xero was formed in 1996, the same year the two graduated
from Agoura High School. They recruited drummer Rob Bourdon, who had played with Brad in the band Relative Degree earlier
during their tenure at Agoura High. After graduating, Mike decided to attend Pasadena, California’s Art College of Design,
where he met Joseph Hahn, an aspiring illustrator and practicing DJ. Mike asked Joe to sign on to join the band. Joe was considered
a perfect fit for the band, someone who could add another dimension of sound to the band’s resume. Meanwhile, Brad was
accepted into UCLA and roomed with a bass player by the name of Dave Farrell. Farrell was soon added to Xero’s line-up.
Xero recorded a four-track cassette sampler in 1997 with another Agoura High acquaintance, Mark Wakefield, as lead
vocalist. The tape was released locally in 1997. After garnering attention doing minor shows for friends, the band hooked
the opening slot for a System of a Down show at the Los Angeles club ‘The Whisky’. Executives from Zomba Music
were at the concert and signed the band to a development deal directly after the concert. The guys realized they had something
special on their hands and started to get more serious, sensing they had a future in the music business. Despite their efforts
over the next three years, Xero were rejected by every major and independent label in the business. Something was missing.
[Now I find myself in question...]
So the band made a difficult choice. Wakefield was dropped from the original
line-up and the band sent out feelers through Zomba to see if there were any vocalists out there looking for a band. Zomba’s
VP of A&R, Jeff Blue, had heard of a promising vocalist from Phoenix through a friend at a recent music conference. His
name was Chester Bennington. Blue knew Bennington was looking for a new band, and gave him a call.
Chester received
the call from Blue during a surprise party on his twenty-third birthday in 1999. He was told there was an up-and-coming band
in Los Angeles looking for a new vocalist. The next day, a package arrived in Chester’s mailbox, containing two Xero
demos; one with Mark Wakefield’s vocals, and the other with solely the instrumental tracks. Upon hearing the music,
Chester thought the band had potential, and wrote parts for the songs based on his own interpretation of the tracks. He went
to a local studio to record vocals over the instrumentals, and emerged three days later with finished parts. The tape was
mailed back to Blue. Two days later, Bennington was in Hollywood at Xero’s rehearsal space, auditioning for the lead
vocalist position. He was so impressive that another vocalist vying for the same spot left the tryout before auditioning!
Chester was a shoe-in for the band.
After adding Chester, the band renamed themselves to Hybrid Theory and started
writing new material. Soon, a six-track EP named the ‘Hybrid Theory EP’ was recorded.
[I can’t wait
to see tomorrow...]
The band then took advantage of the internet as a marketing tool, and took to spamming their MP3.com
account all over message boards and chat rooms on the sites of similar artists. A steady fan-base grew and multiplied over
the months, and the band began to gain serious buzz on the internet. Soon they opened up a street team, designed to get fans
to promote the band by getting the word out on their music. About one thousand copies of the ‘Hybrid Theory EP’
were pressed and sent out to street team members for promotion.
[It doesn’t even matter how hard you try...]
The band then recorded an album of nine demos that was shipped out to numerous record companies via their contacts at
Zomba. Although the demos gained some interest, granting the band with forty-two separate showcases for labels in 1999, they
were met with denial every single time. No one seemed to be biting. For most bands, this would usually be the time to hang
up their instruments and give up hope, but Hybrid Theory kept pushing onwards, refusing to succumb to the repeated rejection.
[Why I never walked away...]
Luckily, the band still had someone who believed in them: Jeff Blue. Blue left Zomba
and joined Warner Bros Records in 2000. After resolving a legal issue with another band concerning their name, the band, newly
named Linkin Park, were finally signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2000, largely in part to Blue. The wheels were in motion.
The band had persevered.
[One step closer to the edge, and I’m about to break...]
With a well-deserved record
contract signed and in their back pockets, the band turned to writing their first album. Debut albums are often a band’s
only chance to show their label they’re worth the money being invested in them, and the pressure is paramount. The music
industry isn’t prone to give second chances. Linkin Park knew they had to write an impressive album, and their first
step was to find the right producer for their debut.
At first, the label and band had troubles finding a producer
willing to take the helm for a new band. Many newly signed acts lack the focus and skill to be successful, and present a challenge
for producers. Blue proposed the project to numerous producers but many declined, not willing to give the band a chance. Finally,
they found Don Gilmore. With Don at the helm, Linkin Park wrote and recorded their debut album ‘Hybrid Theory’
in four weeks. Many of the songs were rewritten versions of the previous demos they had sent out to record labels. It was
a huge risk. These were slightly modified and polished versions of the songs that had gotten them rejected by virtually every
record label on numerous occasions. The band had taken a risk, and waited to see if it would pay off.
[Left to watch
it all unwind...]
October 24th, 2000: The most important date of their careers. ‘Hybrid Theory’ was released
to the public. The lead single “One Step Closer” was starting to get serious airplay on radio and television networks.
The band themselves were getting increasing media attention. Tour dates were selling out. Within five weeks of ‘Hybrid
Theory’s release, the album had been certified Gold by the RIAA, signifying 500,000 units sold. The band had officially
made it after five years of hard work.
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