Chester Bennington’s New Lease On Life
Best known as the voice of multi-platinum hard rock band Linkin Park, Chester Bennington has a multitude of other musical ideas he’d like to get off his chest. And in his six-piece group Dead By Sunrise, Bennington has found the perfect vehicle for his ruminations on life, love, loss, hope, faith — as exemplified by the diverse and emotional musical offerings of DBS' strong debut album, Out Of Ashes.
While few were aware of the project until earlier this year, Dead By Sunrise has actually been four years in the making. Bennington and his bandmates — Anthony "Fu" Valcic, Julien-K's Brandon Belsky and Elias Andra and Orgy's Amir Derakh and Ryan Shuck — have been raring to go for ages, but Linkin Park's touring and promotional duties for their mega-successful Minutes To Midnight kept the vocalist occupied for a three-year stretch.
Thankfully, a break in Linkin Park’s schedule finally gave Dead By Sunrise room to run, and ShockHound caught up with Bennington right before DBS’s recent NYC gig to chat about the group, their new album and their future. And yes, they do have one — Bennington’s already writing material for the next Dead By Sunrise release. Let's just hope we don't wait four more years for a follow-up.
SHOCKHOUND: Out of Ashes explores lyrical themes concerning loss of identity, trying to find yourself and trying to connect with other people. Was a lot of the Dead By Sunrise material written during a self-destructive period in your life?
BENNINGTON: I go through my ups and downs. There were periods during the making of this album that were pretty dark and pretty difficult. I'm an alcoholic and I battle with staying sober all the time, and that could've been part of it. Being divorced — leaving my ex-wife was not the problem, it was actually losing all my money and all my shit that really fucked me up. That was really difficult for me. I never really knew how much value I placed on all of that stuff, but I'm pretty sure if anybody went from being rich and having lots of material stuff to a year later having no money, that would pretty much fuck them up. That was difficult for me, but at the same time there were a lot of things that happened that were very positive during this period of time. But I tend to be more comfortable writing about the shitty stuff.
SHOCKHOUND: What's the most personal song on this album for you?
BENNINGTON: Every single one of them is pretty personal, but I think the most important one for me is "Give Me Your Name.” I wrote that one for my [new] wife. We danced to that song at our wedding. I didn't write the song with the idea that it would make the album. I actually wrote it to play at our wedding, but it turned out to be a great song. "In The Darkness" is another one that is very personal for me. It's not necessarily about anything personal, but it's my song about making love and how that feels. At the same time there are songs like "Condemned" and "My Suffering" which talk about my love affair with feeling like shit, so to speak. There's a weird juxtaposition between some of the songs. Some of them have more of a deep, emotional thing, and some of them are directly about specific things like relapse or learning not to repeat the mistakes of your past relationship in a future relationship. Then there are songs that I tried to mess with a little bit lyrically because they dealt with the God and my personal feeling about God. Those were "Fire" and "Too Late". Some people kind of get squirmish when you're dealing with that subject matter, so I changed it up a little bit lyrically to make it more about a relationship between two people rather than a relationship between myself and my God.
SHOCKHOUND: Isn't it funny that when you write lyrics that address God, people immediately assume that you're doing Christian rock?
BENNINGTON: Yeah, and that's kind of what I didn't want. I don't want to preach to anybody because I know that not everybody believes what I believe in. In "Too Late," there are times I feel like I want to be closer to God but wonder if I will ever be able to get there, because at times I've been so far down the other road. The reality is that I know in my heart that's completely ridiculous, because if I want that I can have it. Sometimes people lack the confidence to have that. That's what that song is about. And then with "Fire," it's about feeling alone and kind of like an island and knowing that even at that moment, when you feel that way, if you believe you can look up or look outward and know you're not alone.
SHOCKHOUND: I noticed that "Crawl Back In" was used for a promo for TNA Wrestling. Do you think that's ironic considering that song is probably more appropriate for The Wrestler?
BENNINGTON: Yeah! [Laughs] It's really funny that you say that. Yes, it probably is.
SHOCKHOUND: Is it true that during some of your recent Linkin Park concerts overseas that you performed some Dead By Sunrise songs with your DBS band during the set?
BENNINGTON: Yeah, we did. We played during the encore break of Linkin Park shows. In some cases it was a really great thing and very positive, and in some cases it was kind of crazy. It's pretty much tossing yourself into a pack of wild dogs who have no idea what they're looking at or what they're hearing. It was a really good way for us to gauge whether or not we were awesome live and if the songs were going to be received well. That's always a good way to do it, when you run out in front of a bunch of people who are expecting one thing, and they get another but have no idea what that other thing is. And if they don't completely revolt and kill you, then you're probably in pretty good shape.
SHOCKHOUND: How did your bandmates in Linkin Park react to the idea of doing this?
BENNINGTON: It was actually Mike Shinoda's idea. [Linkin Park] weren't going to go on tour, but we released "New Divide" and it kind of blew up, so we decided to do a quick, five-week world tour. That sucked up all of my pre-Dead By Sunrise time to get any touring done, so Mike suggested we play during the encore breaks during some of our shows. I was like, "Really?" I never would've suggested that. I wouldn't want to take the risk of making anybody feel uncomfortable. It would be like saying to your wife, "Hey honey, do you mind if I invite my girlfriend over?" The only difference is that these guys all know that I have this other group, and they're all very comfortable with that and all excited about the record. They like what I'm doing, but a big part of that is because we're all very close friends. Everyone knows where my loyalties lie. Everyone knows that I will not do anything to jeopardize what we have in Linkin Park or take advantage of it. Within that comes a sense of calm, but at the same time I never would've been like, "Hey, can I take these guys out and play during our set?" That would be totally ridiculous.
SHOCKHOUND: So after all the stuff you've been through, what have been the biggest life lessons that you have learned, and what do you think your fans would be surprised to learn about you?
BENNINGTON: I don't know. Some people think that the music I write, especially with Dead By Sunrise, is cathartic, open and honest, and they find that refreshing. Some people find me narcissistic and unable to think of anything original. The interesting thing is I often feel both ways about myself. I just want to make music. My goal in life is to make music that people like, and hopefully when I put stuff out there, more people like the music than not. I'd be heartbroken if I found out that I really suck at writing songs and I'm only good at singing. I play a specific role in Linkin Park, and I'm totally comfortable with that. I like leaving the bulk of the songwriting to two of the most prolific artists of our time, Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson. Everyone else in the band pitches in as well, but my personal opinion is that when you have someone who's that talented and so good at what they do, you don't want to step on their toes because you want to go do it, too. At the same time I'm really good at singing and really good at writing melodies, and I wanted to give my songs a chance. The songs are a little different from what people might be used to with Linkin Park. So far a lot of people seem to like it.
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While few were aware of the project until earlier this year, Dead By Sunrise has actually been four years in the making. Bennington and his bandmates — Anthony "Fu" Valcic, Julien-K's Brandon Belsky and Elias Andra and Orgy's Amir Derakh and Ryan Shuck — have been raring to go for ages, but Linkin Park's touring and promotional duties for their mega-successful Minutes To Midnight kept the vocalist occupied for a three-year stretch.
Thankfully, a break in Linkin Park’s schedule finally gave Dead By Sunrise room to run, and ShockHound caught up with Bennington right before DBS’s recent NYC gig to chat about the group, their new album and their future. And yes, they do have one — Bennington’s already writing material for the next Dead By Sunrise release. Let's just hope we don't wait four more years for a follow-up.
SHOCKHOUND: Out of Ashes explores lyrical themes concerning loss of identity, trying to find yourself and trying to connect with other people. Was a lot of the Dead By Sunrise material written during a self-destructive period in your life?
BENNINGTON: I go through my ups and downs. There were periods during the making of this album that were pretty dark and pretty difficult. I'm an alcoholic and I battle with staying sober all the time, and that could've been part of it. Being divorced — leaving my ex-wife was not the problem, it was actually losing all my money and all my shit that really fucked me up. That was really difficult for me. I never really knew how much value I placed on all of that stuff, but I'm pretty sure if anybody went from being rich and having lots of material stuff to a year later having no money, that would pretty much fuck them up. That was difficult for me, but at the same time there were a lot of things that happened that were very positive during this period of time. But I tend to be more comfortable writing about the shitty stuff.
SHOCKHOUND: What's the most personal song on this album for you?
BENNINGTON: Every single one of them is pretty personal, but I think the most important one for me is "Give Me Your Name.” I wrote that one for my [new] wife. We danced to that song at our wedding. I didn't write the song with the idea that it would make the album. I actually wrote it to play at our wedding, but it turned out to be a great song. "In The Darkness" is another one that is very personal for me. It's not necessarily about anything personal, but it's my song about making love and how that feels. At the same time there are songs like "Condemned" and "My Suffering" which talk about my love affair with feeling like shit, so to speak. There's a weird juxtaposition between some of the songs. Some of them have more of a deep, emotional thing, and some of them are directly about specific things like relapse or learning not to repeat the mistakes of your past relationship in a future relationship. Then there are songs that I tried to mess with a little bit lyrically because they dealt with the God and my personal feeling about God. Those were "Fire" and "Too Late". Some people kind of get squirmish when you're dealing with that subject matter, so I changed it up a little bit lyrically to make it more about a relationship between two people rather than a relationship between myself and my God.
SHOCKHOUND: Isn't it funny that when you write lyrics that address God, people immediately assume that you're doing Christian rock?
BENNINGTON: Yeah, and that's kind of what I didn't want. I don't want to preach to anybody because I know that not everybody believes what I believe in. In "Too Late," there are times I feel like I want to be closer to God but wonder if I will ever be able to get there, because at times I've been so far down the other road. The reality is that I know in my heart that's completely ridiculous, because if I want that I can have it. Sometimes people lack the confidence to have that. That's what that song is about. And then with "Fire," it's about feeling alone and kind of like an island and knowing that even at that moment, when you feel that way, if you believe you can look up or look outward and know you're not alone.
SHOCKHOUND: I noticed that "Crawl Back In" was used for a promo for TNA Wrestling. Do you think that's ironic considering that song is probably more appropriate for The Wrestler?
BENNINGTON: Yeah! [Laughs] It's really funny that you say that. Yes, it probably is.
SHOCKHOUND: Is it true that during some of your recent Linkin Park concerts overseas that you performed some Dead By Sunrise songs with your DBS band during the set?
BENNINGTON: Yeah, we did. We played during the encore break of Linkin Park shows. In some cases it was a really great thing and very positive, and in some cases it was kind of crazy. It's pretty much tossing yourself into a pack of wild dogs who have no idea what they're looking at or what they're hearing. It was a really good way for us to gauge whether or not we were awesome live and if the songs were going to be received well. That's always a good way to do it, when you run out in front of a bunch of people who are expecting one thing, and they get another but have no idea what that other thing is. And if they don't completely revolt and kill you, then you're probably in pretty good shape.
SHOCKHOUND: How did your bandmates in Linkin Park react to the idea of doing this?
BENNINGTON: It was actually Mike Shinoda's idea. [Linkin Park] weren't going to go on tour, but we released "New Divide" and it kind of blew up, so we decided to do a quick, five-week world tour. That sucked up all of my pre-Dead By Sunrise time to get any touring done, so Mike suggested we play during the encore breaks during some of our shows. I was like, "Really?" I never would've suggested that. I wouldn't want to take the risk of making anybody feel uncomfortable. It would be like saying to your wife, "Hey honey, do you mind if I invite my girlfriend over?" The only difference is that these guys all know that I have this other group, and they're all very comfortable with that and all excited about the record. They like what I'm doing, but a big part of that is because we're all very close friends. Everyone knows where my loyalties lie. Everyone knows that I will not do anything to jeopardize what we have in Linkin Park or take advantage of it. Within that comes a sense of calm, but at the same time I never would've been like, "Hey, can I take these guys out and play during our set?" That would be totally ridiculous.
SHOCKHOUND: So after all the stuff you've been through, what have been the biggest life lessons that you have learned, and what do you think your fans would be surprised to learn about you?
BENNINGTON: I don't know. Some people think that the music I write, especially with Dead By Sunrise, is cathartic, open and honest, and they find that refreshing. Some people find me narcissistic and unable to think of anything original. The interesting thing is I often feel both ways about myself. I just want to make music. My goal in life is to make music that people like, and hopefully when I put stuff out there, more people like the music than not. I'd be heartbroken if I found out that I really suck at writing songs and I'm only good at singing. I play a specific role in Linkin Park, and I'm totally comfortable with that. I like leaving the bulk of the songwriting to two of the most prolific artists of our time, Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson. Everyone else in the band pitches in as well, but my personal opinion is that when you have someone who's that talented and so good at what they do, you don't want to step on their toes because you want to go do it, too. At the same time I'm really good at singing and really good at writing melodies, and I wanted to give my songs a chance. The songs are a little different from what people might be used to with Linkin Park. So far a lot of people seem to like it.
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