Chester And Mike Theory

2010-08-03T12:29:00.001-07:00

Download To Donate For Haiti!

2010-01-24T01:05:00.000-08:00

Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington on divorce, drugs, and Dead By Sunrise

2009-10-20T09:24:00.001-07:00

REVOLVER The hiatus in 2005 was the first time Linkin Park has taken a break in 10 years…
CHESTER BENNINGTON Meteora and Hybrid Theory both had 24-month touring cycles, so we were on the road for a really long time. We weren’t really happy with how Warner Bros. had treated us at that point. It was a pretty frustrating time. It was like, “Here we are, we sold 20 million albums” and they’re still telling us, “You’re a fluke.” We sold 10 million records, how much do we have to prove?

In the print interview, you talk about your divorce. Is this when you started losing your shit?
I just completely lost my mind. Over the course of the next 12 to 18 months, I was just a trainwreck.

Did it start on one day or was a crescendo?
The day it started was the day I knew I was gonna move out.

In our interview you talk about partying hard. What do you mean by that?
It could have meant going to a strip club and having a few drinks. It could have meant staying at home and watching the waves break and drinking Jack and Cokes all day. Or it could have turned into a four- or five-day drug-and-alcohol binge, pushing yourself to the limits of your mind. I think the one common denominator in all that stuff is no matter what I was doing, there was always alcohol…and there was a lot of it. I would sit there with my guitar all day and write songs and get drunk. And when you’re drunk, if somebody said, “Hey let’s go do this particular drug, or that particular drug, or a combination of all of them,” you’re like, “OK.”

And in the middle of this you had to go play Live 8? What was that like?
Live 8 felt like this thing that was way bigger than me. It was important and getting a message out. But at the same time my brain was firing all kinds of electrical signals into the wrong places. Another thing I had to do because it was important and bigger than me [was a Music for Relief show]… I had no idea what my money situation was like. I was living in this little apartment. And it was like, “Hey, we need you to go to Thailand to go for Music For Relief to talk about all the stuff that’s going on over there with the tsunamis.” You guys can’t think of a-fuckin’-nother person that might be better suited for this right now? I don’t have any fucking clothes! All my stuff’s at my ex-wife’s house! She’s not letting me in! You want me to go? I don’t have a couch! … Life doesn’t fucking stop going because you decided you’re having a bad day—or a bad year.

What happened?
Unless you’ve had it happen to you, it’s kind of difficult to grasp. They started prescribing me Klonopin for anxiety. Taking that and drinking as much as I was drinking, it’s a combination of the two things that will kill you if you stop doing them suddenly.

My left arm would start to bounce, and then my head would start to twitch. I was embarrassed by it. There was only a few people who had seen me like that. Talinda [Bentley, Bennington’s current wife] would have to come in and comfort me and talk me out of it, and I would have to get something to drink to bring myself down. It was crazy. I got hospitalized a couple times. Finally I sat down with her and a couple of my friends in Dead by Sunrise and said, “I need to go into treatment.” On the way to treatment the night before, I was like, “Let’s get fucking hammered! This is my last time.” No one else got hammered with me. They just sat in a room and watched me. It was pretty pathetic. Went into treatment, was there for 30 days, got out. Three weeks later I was drinking again. I drank more. That was when my wife pretty much had a complete nervous breakdown over it, called everybody in Linkin Park. Couple hours later they were all at my house. Told me how much they loved me. I got on the plane and went back to treatment again.

It was a real intervention?
Yeah! I was sitting there going, Fuck… If I had just not picked up that first drink again. Went back to treatment. Came out in a much better place. Stayed sober for about a year. Relapsed. Went right back into hitting the program hard. Seven months later relapsed. That’s been the case for me.

You had demoed much of the Dead by Sunrise album in 2005. But when you re-recorded the vocals in 2008, were any of the songs hard to record?
“Let Down,” for example. That was in the middle of the divorce and that’s what that song was about. When I wrote the demo, it was really fucking good. That was harder to redo in the studio when I’m happily married and got a lot of success and I’ve got stuff again. It was hard for me to go back to that place because I didn’t feel that way; I didn’t feel that desperation. It was harder for me to do the final recording for that song because it was hard for me to tap into those emotions.

When you listen to the record now, do you feel like a different person?
I know I talk a lot about it, but the reality is, I came out on the other side. I made a great record with Linkin Park, made a good record with Dead by Sunrise. I’m good dad, I’m a good husband, I have a lot of friends. The bad thing would had been if I had died or continued to do that to myself. And ended up somewhere in the shithole. The good story is that didn’t happen. I get to keep making music.

http://www.revolvermag.com

Dead By Sunrise - "Out Of Ashes" Track Listing

2009-08-25T01:51:00.000-07:00

Dead By Sunrise will release their debut album, Out Of Ashes, on October 13. The full track listing for the album, which features the lead single “Crawl Back In,” is as follows:

Fire
Crawl Back In
Too Late
Inside Of Me
Let Down
Give Me Your Name
My Suffering
Condemned
Into You
End Of The World
Walking In Circles
In The Darkness

New Song From Chester's Dead By Sunrise!

2009-08-17T01:40:00.001-07:00

Dead By Sunrise, Chester Bennington's new project, just posted their debut single on their MySpace page! Click here to listen to 'Crawl Back In' now or watch the live performance of "Crawl Back In" on YouTube.
You can pick up the track on iTunes on Tuesday!

2009-08-13T01:09:00.001-07:00

Behind the Scenes of Chester's Dead By Sunrise

2009-07-31T00:55:00.000-07:00

Chester has teamed up with members of Julien-K to record "Out of Ashes," the debut album from Dead By Sunrise, due out October 13, 2009. Here's a glimpse at what's in store.

Dead By Sunrise - Album Trailer

Dead By Sunrise to Perform at Select LP Shows

2009-07-27T12:15:00.001-07:00

Dead By Sunrise will be performing a special three song set as part of Linkin Park’s show on the following dates:

7/30 – Stuttgart, Germany
8/1 – Stevenage, UK
8/2 – Graefenhainichen, Germany
8/8 – Chiba City, Japan
8/9 – Osaka, Japan
8/22 – Pomona, CA

For more information, visit http://www.myspace.com/deadbysunrise.

DEAD BY SUNRISE — New band from Linkin Park's Chester Bennington - To Release debut album, entitled "OUT OF ASHES", this fall

2009-07-10T01:01:00.000-07:00

CHESTER BENNINGTON , lead singer for multi-platinum, two-time Grammy-winning rock band LINKIN PARK, has put the finishing touches on OUT OF ASHES, the debut album from his new band DEAD BY SUNRISE. The album is tentatively scheduled for a fall release through Warner Bros. Records.

The band, which is Bennington on vocals, guitarists Ryan Shuck and Amir Derakh (from Orgy/Julien-K), bassist Brandon Belsky, drummer Elias Anda (also from Julien-K), and keyboardist Anthony Valcic, recorded OUT OF ASHES in Los Angeles with producer Howard Benson (Motorhead, My Chemical Romance).

The songs on OUT OF ASHES began to take shape during some downtime Linkin Park had before the band began recording their double-platinum 2007 album Minutes to Midnight. "I came up with a few songs that felt and sounded really good, but I knew they weren't right stylistically for Linkin Park," Bennington says. "They were darker and moodier than anything I'd come up with for the band. So I decided to work on them on my own rather than turn them over and have them transformed into Linkin Park tracks."

Bennington says that the music he wrote for Dead by Sunrise is darker, sexier, and more personal than anything he's done before. "It's got me all over it," he says. "This is the music I hear in my head." Indeed the creative freedom that Bennington felt making OUT OF ASHES is evident on songs like "Crawl Back In," "Let Down," and "Walking in Circles." "There are no hip-hop influences at all on this record, which is obviously a big difference," he says. "Also, the amount of vocal layering and use of harmony really showcase my voice in a new way. I was involved in the entire process of making the record, including the programming and the production, which was not only a great educational experience, it was very empowering. I'm really excited that the album is finally going to see the light of day!"

Bennington has been busy as of late, having spent the past 18 months touring with Linkin Park in support of Minutes To Midnight, which has sold more than six million copies worldwide since its release in spring of 2007. One of the most successful rock bands to emerge this decade, Linkin Park has sold more than 45 million albums worldwide. They've scored a remarkable string of chart-topping hit singles, a pair of Grammy wins, and earned an international fan base whose members number in the millions.

Linkin Park's ONLY North American Show

2009-06-24T04:41:00.000-07:00

Linkin Park will be playing their only concert in North America in 2009 with Tool, Alice in Chains and others at the first ever Epicenter '09 at Fairplex in Pomona, CA on Saturday, August 22nd.
PRE-SALE TICKETS are currently ON SALE NOW for members of the LP Underground, Linkin Park's official fan club, and LPU members will save $10 per ticket during the pre-sale! Tickets go on sale to the public on Saturday, June 27th at Ticketmaster. Visit http://epicenterfestival.com/ for more info.
Fansa can SAVE MONEY by joining LP Underground and ordering pre-sale tickets! In addition to discounted tickets for Epicenter, LPU members are eligible for Meet and Greet opportunities with members of Linkin Park, have access to the members-only LPU website, exclusive discounts, content & contests and SO much more!

Linkin Park Nominated. Please Vote

2009-06-17T03:11:00.000-07:00

1. Vote for 'New Divide' on VH1
Linkin Park's new video for "New Divide" will be up for voting in VH1's Top 20 Countdown beginning Saturday, June 13. Starting tomorrow you can vote here, just drag and drop Linkin Park's section of the list in the first spot on the grid to the right.
VOTE HERE

2. Linkin Park nominated for Teen Choice Award.
Linkin Park have been nominated for Teen Choice Award for Favourite Rock Group, up against All-American Rejects, Green Day, Kings of Leon and Paramore. Click here to vote for Linkin Park (registration required). Winner will be announced at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards on Monday, Aug. 10 at 8pm ET/PT on FOX.
VOTE HERE

Worl Premiere of "New Divide"/ "Making Of "New Divide"/UK Sonisphere Ticker Giveaway

2009-06-13T06:28:00.000-07:00

World Premiere of "New Divide" Music Video on MySpace
You can now watch the brand new video for "New Divide" from the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen soundtrack over on Linkin Park's MySpace page.Linkin Park - "New Divide"
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More Footage From the Making of the "New Divide" Music Video
Linkin Park has some more footage from the making of the music video for "New Divide." This one's just for our Facebook friends. Filmed from the set of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Check it out HERE.
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UK Sonisphere Ticket Giveaway
inkin Park fans in the UK now have a chance to win a pair of tickets to Sonisphere Festival, Knebworth on August 1. One runner up will receive a Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen USB flash drive and four others will receive a copy of the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen soundtrack, featuring “New Divide.” Click HERE to register for your chance to win.

Mike on Last Call with Carson Daly

2009-06-02T14:57:00.000-07:00

Tune into Last Call with Carson Daly on June 4th at 1:35am EDT to see an interview with Mike about his new DC shoe, "New Divide," and Linkin Park's tour plans for the summer. Be sure to check your local listings.

"NEW DIVIDE" NOW AVAILABLE ON ITUNES!

2009-05-18T18:16:00.000-07:00

Linkin Park's new single "New Divide," from the motion picture Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, is now available on iTunes! If you want to hear the song first, click here!

Chester Performs With Julien-K

2009-04-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

Chester Bennington joined his friends Julien-K on stage at The Roxy in West Hollywood last night. Chester sang "Maestro" and "Technical Difficulties."

Julien-K just announced an upcoming show in Las Vegas, May 10th, and their album Death To Analog is available everywhere now. Interested in helping get the word out about Julien-K? Join their official street team – Systeme De Street! www.systemedestreet.com

Technical Difficulties live @ The Roxy Feat Chester Bennington

Maestro live @ The Roxy Feat Chester Bennington

Vote Earth!

2009-03-23T06:56:00.001-07:00

Okay, so this post doesn't really have anything to do with Chester or Mike but I beileve that it is necessary as it has a lot to do with the world we live in.

We all know how Global Warming is destroying our world gradually by melting glaciers and causing floods so I, D.A, on behalf of the C&MT Team request all our visitors to switch of their lights for one hour from 8:30pm-9:30pm on March 28th 2009."The Vote Earth Orginization" is looking for One Billion votes so that they can send a message to show all the world leaders how important it is to take action against Global Warming.So please, Join now and place your vote.

No matter who you are or where you are from just help us because it doesn't matter what country you are from, it's what world you live in! (okay...so what if i got that last line from the add!?! =P)

Thank you,
-D.A

Happy Birthday Chester!

2009-03-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

Today is Chester Bennington's birthday and I would like to wish him a HUGE birthday wish on behalf of the C&MT team.=)
May you have many more! ;)

Street Fighter Arcade Game - Proceeds MFR Benifit

2009-02-28T03:43:00.000-08:00

Music for Relief is auctioning off STREET FIGHTER arcade game cabinets custom designed by artists MEAR ONE, Otto Murga of SOTA TOYS, Lemar and Dauley, Scott Spatola and Mike McWhertor of Meat Bun, and Jim Mahfood aka Food One of I AM 8-BIT.Auction is now live at www.eBay.com/musicforrelief.Each cabinet comes with a copy of Street Fighter IV for Xbox 360 or PS3 and a limited edition Chun-li figurine (only 700 were made). All proceeds from this auction benefit Music for Relief and the organization’s aid to victims of the wildfires in Victoria Australia.

Songs From The Underground/ Chat With Chester!

2009-01-22T07:52:00.000-08:00

A collection of LP's past underground songs is now finally in a CD! And you can buy it!

Be sure to catch more news about this on Linkin Park's Official Website
And Stay undated with us at Chester And Mike Theory

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Also, don't forget, this Friday ( at 4:00pm PST!) Chester will be online chating with LPU Members!
Yes! That gives you a chance to finally talk to him, make sure you're there and if you're still not a LPU member then what's the wait? Join Now

Mike's New Art Exhibit in Barcelona

2009-01-18T15:36:00.000-08:00

The opening reception to the “Nobody Walks In LA” art show to support Mike’s new painting, and other fantastic works by a number of Los Angeles based artists, is January 23, 2009 from 20:00pm to 24:00pm at Master Art on Calle Johann Sebastian Bach 14, in Barcelona Spain. Mike’s brand new work continues the "Glorious Excess" theme and will lead into the new show he is currently working on. This is definitely something exciting for Barcelona fans to check out. Enjoy!

For more information check this out.

-myspace

New Layout

2009-01-07T23:40:00.000-08:00

Finally! The layout has been changed. I apologize for the late update. I think we all had a lot of Red so why not chill with some darker colours Hope you guys like the new layout. :)

Also, we're celebrating the winter season with some brighter, colder and paler colours at What You've Done Dude! Check it out! ;)

LPU EXCLUSIVE - Lockjaw

2008-12-24T10:14:00.000-08:00

Linkin Park released their latest instrumental Lockjaw

Get The Limited Edition Road To Revolution/Minutes To Midnight Set!

2008-12-03T13:53:00.000-08:00

Starting today and for a limited time only, fans can get the Limited Edition Road to Revolution/Minutes to Midnight Set for $59.99. This package can only be purchased online at http://linkinpark.warnerreprise.com and includes the following:

- Road To Revolution CD/DVD

- Minutes To Midnight CD/DVD with 68-page coffee table-style art book. DVD includes the making of "Minutes To Midnight," "What I've Done" music video, making of "What I've Done" music video, portable audio files for all tracks, make your own ringtone for "What I've Done," tool kit with lyrics, screensaver, and more!

- One month FREE trial to the LP Underground: Linkin Park's official fan club

Search with Chester!

2008-12-03T12:06:00.001-08:00

There's a new search engine in town, and it's built just for fans like you! Make http://www.searchwithchester.com your new home page and start taking home exclusive prizes from Chester. What can you win?

* Autographed Posters
* Limited Edition Prints
* Ve'Cel Apparal
* Chester's Guitar Picks, Hand-Written Lyric Sheets and Stickers!
* Much, Much More.

Hey, you're already searching the web - why not win FREE stuff from Chester just for doing it? Head over to SearchwithChester.com NOW and start winning!

-cbennington.com

VOTE VOTE VOTE

2008-11-18T08:10:00.000-08:00

Linkin Park's video for "Given Up" has made it through the SECOND round of Fuse's Best Video of 2008 competition! Help them win this round too by voting for "Given Up" at FUSE! Be sure to vote each day and tune in to "The Top 40 of 2008: The Good, The Bad, The Britney" airing December 13th and 14th on Fuse.

-cb

Linkin Park Working on New Album

2008-11-07T17:55:00.000-08:00

“I didn’t stop writing since the last record,” Shinoda recently told Rolling Stone. “They’ve seen the stuff on my hard drives. I’ve got a lot of material, and I know the other guys have a good amount of stuff too. It’s going to be fun.”

Road to Revolution News

2008-11-07T17:50:00.000-08:00

Watch the trailer for "Road to Revolution: Live at Milton Keynes" now on Linkin Park's YouTube Channel! "Road to Revolution" hits stores November 25, and you can pre-order it now at the Linkin Park web store!

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The video for "Breaking The Habit" from the upcoming live CD/DVD, Road To Revolution: Live At Milton Keynes, is premiering now exclusively on MySpace. Check it out on Linkin Park's MySpace page and be sure to embed it on your site! "Road To Revolution: Live At Milton Keynes" will be released on November 25.

Linkin Park Hit the Studio in L.A.: “We Have a Ton of Material”

2008-11-07T17:48:00.000-08:00

Mike Shinoda will always make time for important business. Linkin Park’s rapper-songwriter-producer has already been sketching out new songs with the band, and last week they began recording the follow-up to the multiplatinum Minutes to Midnight in Los Angeles. “I didn’t stop writing since the last record,” says Shinoda. “They’ve seen the stuff on my hard drives. I’ve got a lot of material, and I know the other guys have a good amount of stuff too. It’s going to be fun.”

The next studio album will likely appear in 2009. But on November 25th, Linkin Park will release Road To Revolution, a live CD/DVD set recorded this year at the Milton Keynes National Bowl outside London. Shinoda confirms he recently produced a track for Cypress Hill, but is more coy about another project he’s been linked to: a mysterious online music video called “Barack Your World,” which is credited to the band White Pegacorn.

Sitting in a West Hollywood hotel suite with a full beard and a plate of fresh ahi tuna, Shinoda awaits the arrival of drummer Rob Bourdon and talks about the video, which is performed by hair-metal hand-puppets who sing a wacky heartland-rock ballad of politics and sexual innuendo worthy of Spinal Tap (”Baby if you were my Iraq, I would never pull out, if you know what I mean” and “Don’t tell me no lies, you got a weapon of mass destruction between your thighs!”).

Can you explain “Barack Your World”?
Mike Shinoda: [Laughs out loud] I can neither confirm nor deny any relationship to that, although I think it’s hilarious. I’ll say this: I have a friend named Mark [Wakefield, onetime singer for pre-Linkin Park group Xero], and we’ve been friends since we were 12. He and I started my band together. We used to make joke songs on the weekends in high school and college. It’s just fun for us to do. Whether or not that [”Barack Your World”] rumor is true, that’s definitely what we used to do.

Can you predict anything else coming from White Pegacorn?
I heard a rumor that there’s some interview footage with that band. Hopefully those will show up online. I don’t imagine that project will be an album. But what would I know? That band is so mysterious.

Minutes to Midnight’s “Hands Held High” is a very pointed song about the war, and you included it on the new live album.
We had put that song in the set and took it out because the chorus has 10 voices singing on it, and live it just never sounded right. But during the Milton Keynes show, there was a fan in front of the crowd who had a sign that said “Play ‘Hands Held High.’ ” Halfway through, I thought, we can’t play the song because we aren’t prepared — but I can give him the first half. So I just threw the verse in a cappella. In fact, we added that verse to the set, so that kid’s sign essentially changed the set for the rest of the year. It was really cool. As for the meaning of the song: We have a policy that we don’t want to give away too much when it comes to the meaning of a song. We want to respect everybody’s impression of what the lyrics are about. I don’t think there’s a ton of mystery over what it’s about.

Rob Bourdon: I think a lot of the lyrics on Minutes to Midnight are really thought provoking, and when you listen to a song like “Hands Held High,” you can’t help but start thinking. It’s good to encourage people to think for themselves and look at what’s going on around them.

You’re in the early stages of a new studio album?
Shinoda: Very early stages. I’m excited about it. I don’t know what it’s going to sound like. At this point we’re doing a lot of demos in small groups. Everybody is throwing some ideas together. At this point, I’m producing. I don’t imagine I’ll be the only producer on this record. I think we’re going to hire somebody else on.

Will it likely be someone you’ve ever worked with before, like Rick Rubin?
Shinoda: We haven’t talked about it at length. Rick was really great. I think we will work with Rick again in the future at some point, but I don’t know if this is the record. At this point, it’s a pretty self-sufficient process. We’re taking care of all our needs at this point.

This will be a faster turnaround for you?
Shinoda: Yeah. The stuff we’ve been writing is a little more challenging, a little more experimental in the way we’ve been writing and the sounds we’ve been making. But once we start getting our hands on it, some of it could straighten out and be a little more familiar. Some of the stuff we’re doing now is a little crazy.

Bourdon: If we get it out in ‘09, we’ll be doing pretty good.

Shinoda: This one will not take as long as the last one — from beginning to end, that one was about 18 months.

There was far less rapping from you on the last record. What about this time?
Shinoda: We wrote 150 demos for that record. If you’d picked a different 12 songs, there would have been a ton of rapping. It just depends on what we want to release at the end of the process. And the songs that we did in the last batch for Minutes to Midnight that did not end up on the record could end up on a record in the future. The good news is we have a ton of material.

Linkin Park News from Today

2008-11-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

"Given Up" Nominated for Fuse’s Best Video of 2008!

Linkin Park's video for "Given Up" has been nominated for Fuse's Best Video of 2008! Vote for "Given Up" at FUSE.TV and help them battle their way to number 1! Be sure to vote each week and tune in to "The Top 40 of 2008: The Good, The Bad, The Britney" airing December 13th and 14th on Fuse.

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Pre-Order "Road To Revolution: Live at Milton Keynes" Now!

Pre-Order the new album now in the official Linkin Park web store! Get Linkin Park's "Road to Revolution: Live at Milton Keynes" CD/DVD with an exclusive limited edition T-shirt not available anywhere else. Items are sold separately or you can bundle them together to maximize your value (while supplies last). Items ship on 11/25/08. While you're at the store, do some holiday gift shopping. More items arriving later this week.

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"Leave Out All The Rest" on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Don't forget to watch CSI: Crime Scene Investigation this Thursday, November 6 at 9:00pm ET/PT on CBS! The episode is titled "Leave Out All The Rest," which is prominently featured throughout the show. Watch a preview of the show on CBS.com.

Halloween Memories

2008-11-02T12:55:00.000-08:00

93X Rocks: LINKIN PARK usually spend their Halloween at a party at MIKE SHINODA's house. Unfortunately, this year the band are so busy working on a new record, Shinoda says he didn't have time to plan a party. But looking back on past years, his favorite memory was JOE HAHN and three friends dressing as North Korean dictator KIM JONG IL, U.S. President GEORGE W. BUSH, and a pair of nuclear missiles.

But Shinoda says Hahn didn't leave it at that -- quote, "As the night wore on, "we started finding like Kim [Jong Il] posters around the house. He was literally putting propaganda up in my house."

Road To Revolution: Live At Milton Keynes

2008-11-01T21:23:00.000-07:00

Linkin Park will be releasing their new live CD/DVD, Road To Revolution: Live At Milton Keynes, on November 25th. You can check out "Leave Out All The Rest" from the DVD now at youtube!

Linkin Park - "Leave Out All The Rest" (Live At Milton Keynes)

Linkin Park Thinking Conceptual For Next Album

2008-10-28T12:12:00.000-07:00

Billboard:

Linkin Park is planning what singer Chester Bennington calls "a concept record" for its fourth album, which the group will start recording in early November and be ensconced in making by the time its new live album, "Road to Revolution," rolls out Nov. 25.

Bennington is mum on details -- "I'm not sure I'm allowed to say what the big plan is," he notes -- but tells Billboard.com that Linkin Park "never envisioned ourselves doing a concept record, but we see an opportunity to do something really cool so we jumped on it, and we'll see how it comes out. I think it's a challenge and we'll see if we can rise to the occasion."

The singer says Linkin Park has already started writing music for the follow-up to last year's "Minutes to Midnight," which has been a different process as well. "If we're writing a song with a specific purpose you're allowed to step out of the realms of commercialism a little bit," he explains. "You don't want to dilute that purpose with something that doesn't have anything to do with it, which is really interesting."

While Linkin Park is starting the new album, Bennington will be putting the finishing touches on his first solo album, which he's been recording with producer Howard Benson and hopes to have out next spring or summer. "I'll probably be finished in the next couple months," reports Bennington, who describes the set as "a lot more straightforward rock, with a little bit of an electronic element to it, lots of keys and snyths and stuff like that. And there are a few elements where I think you'll be able to see what my influence on (Linkin Park) is."

Bennington also hopes "to do as much touring as possible" to promote the solo album but adds that he's wary of "putting myself in a situation where I can't finish the Linkin Park record because I'm supposed to be on a tour. It's a really delicate kind of balancing act I'm gonna try to pull off here."

Linkin Park's "Road to Revolution," meanwhile, is an 18-track CD/DVD package recorded at a June concert in England. Jay-Z appears on two tracks ("Jigga What/Faint" and "Numb/Encore"); the set also includes Linkin Park's current single, "Leave Out All the Rest," which has been adapted for an episode of CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" that will air on Nov. 6.

Blog from Chester about Julien-K show

2008-10-26T21:28:00.000-07:00

Hey our friends in Julien-K are playing at the Viper Room Nov. 21st. This is their only show in Southern California in 08' so you don't want to miss it. Some of you may have seen them at Project Revolution 07', so you know how good they are. For those of you who are not familiar with them, this is your chance to see one of the best up and coming bands out right now. I'll be there with my JK button on singing every word!..................C

-CBENNINGTON.COM

Live "Leave Out All The Rest" Video Premiere

2008-10-25T06:39:00.001-07:00

The video for "Leave Out All The Rest" from the upcoming live CD/DVD, Road To Revolution: Live From Milton Keynes, premiered today on Yahoo! Music. Check it out and you can even embed it on your website! Road To Revolution: Live From Milton Keynes will be released on November 25.

Linkin Park take the Road to Revolution

2008-10-15T11:47:00.000-07:00

The winning title of the DVD/CD package, due out November 25th, is "ROAD TO REVOLUTION." Thanks to all the fans who submitted names and voted, and a special thanks to LPASIANOTTER who submitted the title. Below is the track-listing of the CD/DVD filmed and recorded live at Milton Keynes, UK. Keep checking back here and LinkinPark.com for more details and secret info.

Track listing:

One Step Closer
From The Inside
No More Sorrow
Given Up
Lying From You
Hands Held High
Leave Out All the Rest
Numb
The Little Things Give You Away
Breaking the Habit
Shadow of the Day
Crawling
In the End
Pushing Me Away
What I've Done
Numb/Encore (featuring Jay-Z)
Jigga What/Faint (featuring Jay-Z)
Bleed It Out

-LP Myspace

Linkin Park nominated for AMA

2008-10-15T06:40:00.001-07:00

Linkin Park has been nominated for the American Music Awards in the category of "Alternative Rock Music - Favorite Artist!" Help them take home the award by heading over to amavote.com and casting your vote for Linkin Park! Voting ends November 7 at 11:59pm, and the awards show airs on Sunday, November 23 at 8/7c on ABC.

Chinese Fans wish Chester well, plan party

2008-10-09T16:36:00.001-07:00

BEIJING, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Linkin Park fans expressed regret at the cancellation of the U.S. band's upcoming China tour due to lead singer Chester Bennington's injured back.

"You got to be kidding! I've been waiting for years. Hope you will get well soon and come back," netizen Maggie wrote on Linkin Park's website.

"Oh my God" and "Bless Chester" were the most common messages after the announcement of the tour cancellation on Tuesday on the BBS of the linkinparkcn.com site where there were more than 43,000registered Linkin Park fans.

"It's much better to put off than to cancel the concerts. Chester may come to China and try our acupuncture treatment," netizen LP joked.

The organizer of the Shanghai-based Linkin Park Fans Club, Johnny Mark, wrote on the BBS that although the tour was cancelled many fans would still assemble on Oct. 12 to attend the "fans party" and sing together the songs of the California nu-metal act.

"Chao, a fan from northeast China's Heilongjiang Province planned to arrive in Shanghai as scheduled," Mark wrote. "I am so touched, and we will sing their songs all night and we all hope for Chester's recovery."

Linkin Park cancelled all five of its China dates this month in Shanghai, Beijing, Macao, Taipei and Wuhan.

Taiwanese rock band Mayday was to open the shows in a mixture of East meets West.

The news disappointed thousands of fans of both bands in China. Some who do not live in the host cities had already booked train tickets and hotel rooms and planned their schedule.

Bennington was under a doctor's orders to refrain from traveling and physical activity, the statement said. The band's Oct. 6 concert in Las Vegas was also cancelled.

The concerts in China were organized to raise funds for victims of the May 12 Sichuan earthquake that killed nearly 70,000. Linkin Park said it would still donate to the reconstruction efforts in the quake-hit region.

Qiao Guanyuan, a Shanghai college student, bought tickets one month ago and planned to see the band with five friends, "I am a super fan of Linkin Park and I am so upset."

He said he began listening to the band in high school, starting with the group's first disc "Hybrid Theory," his favorite.

"I took the ticket with me for the whole month, and now I am going to take a picture with it. We have only one Chester. We can wait till he gets better."

The six-piece band is one of the most popular Western bands in China, with two Asian-American members, Mike Shinoda and DJ Joseph Hahn.

In November 2007, Linkin Park sold out its Chinese mainland debut in Shanghai.

Chinese Fans Plan "fans party"

2008-10-09T16:36:00.000-07:00