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Linkin Park Biography

For those of you who dont know Linkin Park is...

Michael Shinoda - Emcee/Vocalist - dob: 2/11/77
Chester Bennington - Vocals - dob: 3/20/76
David "Phoenix" Farrell - Bass - dob: 2/8/77
Joseph Hahn - Deejay - dob: 3/15/77
Rob Bourdon - Drums - dob: 1/20/79
Brad Delson - Guitar - dob: 12/1/77

Chester Bennington - vocals
When Chester was young, he'd sing around the house, dreaming he was the fifth member of Depeche Mode.

On occasion Chester moons people

Chester says that S.T.P. had the most influence on his career. He saw them when he was 14.

Chester is from Phoenix, Arizona. He now lives in the LA area.

Chester says he was a geek in high school.

Thanks to his brother (who's 13 yrs older) Chester was influenced by bands like Loverboy, Foreigner and Rush.

Chester got married at the age of 20 to his wife, Samantha.

Chester announced his 4 yr anniversary to Samantha at the 10/31/00 Hollywood,CA show
Chester's birthday is 3/20/76.

Chester used to enjoy the hip hop genre (acts like the Sugarhill Gang and Slick Rick) between the ages of 10 and 14 before delving into the punk rock scene.

The first album that made an impression on Chester was the Misfits.

Chester's first instrument was the piano.

Chester has his own "unique" thoughts on religion.

Chester's defining moment, early in his career, was when he vomited on himself and some fans to finish the show.

Chester's career highlight so far is making the "One Step Closer" video.

Chester's favorite albums are Black Celebration, Purple, Zeppelin #4.

Chester's musical role models are Robert Plant and Scott Weiland.

Chester's greatest obsession is his music, which he started at age 13. He kept practicing until it hurt and he could sing how good he does now.

Chester will never part with his guitar.

Chester can't imagine being on the road without lubricant. (I think he gave a little too much info for that question)

Chester is a complete sucker for good beer.

The latest record (as of oct '00)Chester bought was STP #4.

The strangest request Chester ever got from a fan was to have his clothes.

The riskiest thing Chester has ever done was join the band.

If Chester could be someone for a day, he'd be Orgasmo.(that is the funniest thing)

If Chester could repeal one law it would be the legalization of marijuana.

If Chester wasn't a musician right now, he'd be "an Average American doing average American things."

Chester went to Greenway Highschool BUT graduated from Washington High School in 1994.

Chester has two dogs: an Australian shepherd and a Rottweiller / Labrador mix.

Chester once road a snow saucer down a cliff and went headfirst into a brick wall. He had to get 47 stitches.

Chester had a couple of friends commit suicide when he was growing up. "I also lost a friend in a tragic freak skateboarding accident. He was skateboarding down this little hill, hit a pebble and hit his head just right, and it was over. It can happen to you a million times when you're a kid, you fall down and hit your head-he just happened to hit the wrong spot."

Chester owns every Madonna record on the planet.

Chester's top five albums are: 1)Fugazi, 13 Songs 2)Al Green, Greatest Hits 3)Led Zeppelin, IV 4)The Beatles, the White Album 5)Stone Temple Pilots, Purple

Chester is the only member that needs a carrying-kit cargo case for his wardrobe. He's got shoes that go with every outfit, his underwear has to match his outfits, his socks have to match his shoes and his pants-everything is a very big deal to him.

In airports Chester has to take off all his metal spike bracelets,etc and he has a little bag or something that he arranges them all on. They must be in the same place every time.

Chester likes to cook.

Chester's previous day job was as a coffee barista

Chester has been reading the Anne Rice 'Vampire Chronicles' series and "Hannibal," which he says is "an amazing book."

Chester has become addicted to 'Tony Hawk II', the second Tony Hawk skateboarding game...while on the tour bus.

Chester's a fan of the Phoenix Cardinals football team.

A good night out for Chester, back in Phoenix, is to go to a place like Axis Radius for dancing or Club Rio on Thursdays, for 25-cent draught beers.

Chester says Mr Hanky the Christmas Poo is the cartoon character that represents him best.

Chester's most poignant moment was getting married.

Chester was sexually abused as a child and addicted to coccaine as a teen.

Chester has done some radio ads for something called CAPP, whose intentions are to help sexually abused boys.

Chester says he sees the fans as fans and not as an oppurtunity to hav an orgasm.

Chester says he gets a hard on when fans sing along so he has an erection for the whole show.

Chester's brother taught him to sing 'Hot blooded' when he was 2 and learning to talk and taped him when he was doing it. This tape is still somewhere but he says its lost. He told a kid about this because he had nothing clever to say and is amazed that everyone around the world now knows about it and everyone asks about it.

Chester needs glasses but takes them off on stage so they don't fall off. Without out them he can't actually see the front row.

Chester and Samantha have designed some clothes for Replicant Clothing, the company owned by Korn's Head and Orgy's Ryan Shuck. Basically, the idea of the business was to see if some of their friends might want to do some 'signature' stuff. Ryan asked me if I was interested a little while ago. I never had any prior experience in something like this, but I said I'd love to try. I started doing it, and now I'm crazy for it!" You can find these clothes on Replicant's site or at stores like Hot Topic (Replicantclothing.com)

Chester's first band was called Grey Daze in 1993.

Grey Daze was actually pretty popular and getting airplay in the Phoenix,AZ area but they never got signed. Eventually Chester got tired and had to move on.

Chester was also upset that he was writing the lyrics by himself while all the band members took credit.

Mike Shinoda - emcee
Mike is half Japanese.

Mike graduated from the Pasadena Art College of Design.

He majored in Illustration but studied graphic design heavily.

Mike got a job as a graphic designer right out of college.

Mike designed the soldier on the "Hybrid Theory" cover.

Mike is from Agoura,CA but lives in LA now.

Mike's birthdate is 2/11/77.

Mike went to Agoura high school.

Mike & Brad met in 7th grade.

Mike was inspired to become a musician after his first concert experience. It was a Killer B's show which was Anthrax and Public Enemy.

Mike had to do his eighth term finals at Paseadena Art School the same weekend LP did a showcase for about six record labels(that must have sucked major)
According to Anna (Mike's girlfriend) who posted this on the linkinparkweb.com message board Mike did the artwork/logo for Styles of Beyond's 2000 FOLD CD. "I used to drive around and see the Sob sticker on a few cars and get all silly and excited... ooohhh Mike did that." - Anna

Mike uses or used a Paul Reed Smith CE-22 guitar.

The first time Mike heard 'One Step Closer' on the radio was in Arizona.

Mike's a big fan of Dido. He also likes a ton of female groups from Kittie to Madonna to Sneaker Pimps. Portishead.

Mike : "I remember getting in trouble in third grade for trading Garbage Pail Kids in class, and we weren't supposed to do that until recess or lunch. But the teacher didn't actually find my stash of cards, so she couldn't take them away."

Albums that Mike most listened to in 2000 were: Deftones - "White Pony" , The Roots - "Things Fall Apart" ,Nine Inch Nails - "The Fragile" , Black Eyed Peas - "Bridging The Gap" , Incubus - "Make Yourself" , System Of A Down - "System Of A Down" , Dido - "No Angel" , Jurassic 5 - "Quality Control" , Stone Temple Pilots - No.4" and Eminen - "The Marshall Mathers LP" .

Mike's top ten songs of 2000 were: Jurassic 5 - "Improvise" , A Perfect Circle - "3 Libras" , Outkast - "B.O.B." , Deftones - "Change (In The House Of Flies)" , Taproot - "Again & Again" , Eminem - "Kill You" , Aphex Twin - "Windowlicker" , P.O.D. - "Southtown" , Lmno - "Grin & Bear It" and Disturbed - "Stupify" .

Mike's guitar from the Crawling video is probably an ibanez rg120. Don't know for sure though.

Mike took classical piano lessons for 10 years. He got sick of playing classical music though and moved into jazz then hip hop.

Before Chester joined the band, Mike would do his parts and find friends to do the other vocals.

Mike says Gizmo the Mogwai and Spike the Gremlin are the cartoon characters that represent him best because every time he's not on stage he's Gizmo, he's a silly little shit, than he gets on stage and he's not anymore.

Mike's most poignant moment was getting a college diploma.

Mikes says dark blue is his natural hair colour, the light blue was just a phase.

Mike thinks the Aphex twin 'Windowlicker' video is hilarious.

Mikes says the hardest part of being in the studio for 2 months was being with Brad because he didn't shower much then, although he showers less now

Mike wears contacts.

Joseph Hahn - deejay
Joe has a split personality called Remy.

Joe or "Remy" talks in the beginning of "Cure for the Itch"

Joe came up with the concept for the "One Step Closer" video.

Joe is from Glendale, CA but lives in LA now.

Joe's birthdate is 3/15/77

Joe was into visual arts in high school and also pursued it after.

Joe and Chester both agree the Foo Fighters' "Everlong" is quite possibly one the best songs ever.

Mike (and then Rob,Brad,etc) met Joe in college since Joe went to the Pasadena arts school/college too.

Joe and Mike both majored in illustration. They were both interested in painting and Joe stayed at the college for a year then he got into motion pictures. He worked on Sphere and Phantoms. He worked on monsters in movies.

"Mr Hahn" constantly invents things in conversations with new fans who don't know lp very well and will make up things about them that are totally untrue. "So beware" -Brad

Joe was born in America, but his parents are Korean which makes him Korean.

Joe says that the valkary fighter in robtek is the cartoon character that represents him best because he's so streamlined and cool.

Rob Bourdon - drums
Rob's birthdate is 1/20/79.

Rob is from Calabasas, CA, but lives in LA now.

Rob went to Agoura high school.

Rob is Jewish

Rob's previous day job was as a waiter

Linkin Park watch videos of themselves and Rob (according to Brad) never plays a part wrong, but he'll always point out if something's not up to par. Rob is the practice-perfect technical guru of the band.

Rob started to play the drums when he was in elementary school (third or fourth grade) after he went to an Aerosmith concert. His mom actually knows Joey Kramer (Aerosmith's drummer) so he got to go backstage and see the whole production.

When Rob got into high school he was into "a lot of funk" like Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown, Tower of Power.

Linkin Park is NOT Rob's first band. He started playing in bands when he was around 13 years old and he'd play cover songs like Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' with his buddies. That's when he met Brad and they played for about a year. It was rock meets rap and funk, they were called 'Relative Degree'. They practiced a lot, played one show and then it fell apart.

Rob likes to play the piano when he has time. He used to take classical lessons when he was young and was forced to keep going

Rob says Princess Jasmine is the cartoon character that represents him best because him and Phoenix are like a team in the band, being on bass and drums. so he's be Princess jasmine cos they fit together.

His most poignant moment was getting gold plaques for Hybrid Theory.

Brad Delson - guitar
Brad graduated from UCLA w/ a Bachelor's Degree in Communications. Brad and Phoenix were room-mates in college.

He didn't go to law school so he could pursue his career in the band.

Brad likes MTV, in particular, The Real World .

Brad is a fan of Britney Spears and the rest of the band is embarrassed of him. (HE DOESNT LIKE HER MUSIC, BUT SOMETHING ELSE ABOUT HER LIKE MOST GUYS IN AMERICA)

Brad is from Agoura,CA, but lives in the LA area now.

Brad calls himself "BIG BAD BRAD" or BBB, that's how he signs his name (BBB)

1st album that made an impression on Brad was: Duran Duran "People are People."

Brad's first instrument was the trumpet.

Brad's first band was the Pricks in 1994

Brad's defining moment,early in his career, was losing his pants at an industry showcase.

Brad's career highlight so far was hearing "one step closer" on KROQ in LA.

Brad's favorite album is Sunny Day Real Estate "Diary."

Brad's musical role model is Chester :)

Brad's greatest obsession is sleeping.

Brad would never part w/ his toothbrush.

Brad can't imagine being on the road without all 16 personalities in the band.

Brad didn't want to go to Hooters to celebrate the success of the album because he was a good (innocent) guy who never really did things like that; he suggested bowling; but eventually went with the guys to hooters.

The latest record that Brad bought as of OCT 2000 was Incubus's new record.

According to Brad,the strangest thing a fan has ever requested was linkin park's pubic hair. Fans in the UK actually brought tape to put it on. He previously said that the strangest request he ever got from a fan was to sign body parts that shouldn't be signed. (ie. boobs, which they don't sign anymore,lol)

If Brad weren't a musician he'd be studying stuff.

Brad's birthdate is 12/1/77

Every Christmas (or almost every xmas) Brad and his family hold a dinner in an auditorium for the homeless & Mike likes to help out.

Brad is Jewish.

Brad went to Agoura high school.

Brad had a mullet (in high school/college?) because he was into thrash metal like Guns n roses and Metallica..and the other long hair bands. He tried to grow his hair long but his hair grew out rather then down ..so he tried straightening it w/ a hair dryer which didn't work so he them tried to straighten it w/ chemicals and "it died"...basically his hair didn't look like it was supposed to, it was a mullet instead

Brad got his 1st guitar in (probably) 6th grade.

Brad does a lot of things in his playing that he does to try and define his own sound, one of which is using harmonics. He likes to use harmonics because oftentimes they don't even sound like traditional guitar playing. "With the right effects and the right performance harmonics on, a guitar can sound like a keyboard, or strings, and more rooted in an approach that works well with the hip-hop and electronic influences in our songs."-brad

Brad used to color his hair different colors (ie./ purple) in high school.

Brad was voted Most Unique in his highschool yearbook (see pics pg)

The first time Brad heard 'One Step Closer' on the radio, it wasn't the full song, it was a clip of the song on a radio spot, and linkin park were all in the van together.

Brad uses:
Guitars: Paul Reed Smith Standard, Ibanez RB 7-string
Amps: Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier, Marshall cabinets
Strings: D'Addario 10-gauge
Currently listening to (jan '01): Taproot-Gift, The Roots-Illadelph Halflife

Brad's superpower is sleep :)

When Brad has 2 hrs off (from lp stuff) then he tries to find a movie theatre and see whatever he can.

Brad's guitar heroes are: Dave Matthews, (Brad doesn't go for his tone but his musicality, his playing is ingenious), Stef from the Deftones, Sunny Day Real Estate and other non-guitar driven stuff. Brad prefers to listen to non-metal stuff like Dido rather then rock this way he can draw from a lot of sources and make something special.

If he was anyone on tv he'd be someone of Seinfeld 'cos he's got such a dorky sense of humour

Phoenix - Bass
Phoenix's real name is David Michael Farrell

Phoenix was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Phoenix grew up in Massachusetts but later moved to Mission Viejo, CA, AND now lives in LA.

After moving to CA, he joined a band in high school called 'Tasty Snax'. The band later changed their name to 'The Snax'

While Phoenix was w/ The Snax he transitioned from guitar to bass guitar and stayed w/ it ever since.

As previously mentioned, Phoenix was the original bass player in Xero.

Phoenix played with Xero until he decided to tour w/ The Snax for a year and a half & then came back to Linkin Park.

Snax was/is a band from Orange County, CA. They are a Christian punk band.

Phoenix was taught how to play guitar by his mom, his greatest inspiration

Phoenix is a graduate from UCLA.

Phoenix is also responsible for some of the song writing on the "Hybrid Theory" cd.

Phoenix uses both 4 and 5 string Ernie Ball Sting Ray Bass Guitars and uses SWR Amplifiers.

Phoenix loves Mocha Almond Fudge ice cream.

Phoenix prefers boxers instead of briefs.

Phoenix's birthdate is 2/8/77

The crowd sang 'happy birthday' to Phoenix at Minneapolis concert on Feb 8th.

Phoenix's favorite movie is Braveheart.

Phoenix's most humiliating experience on stage is slipping and falling in front of everyone.

Phoenix's fantasy girl is his girlfriend.

Phoenix moved away from Massachusetts to CA when he was just 5.

Also according to Phoenix, the band performed My December (live) only once, and that was at the KROQ almost acoustic x-mas.

Phoenix's Schools & Mascots : Montevideo Mountaineers, La Paz Caballeros, Mission Viejo Diablos, UCLA Bruins.

Phoenix likes to play soccer and snow board.

Phoenix likes: Weezer, Beatles, Deftones, Roots, Bob Marley, Sarah McLaughlin, Hughes & Wagner, Harrod & Funck.

Phoenix wishes he could play the drums.

Phoenix's advice is to take naps.

Most inspirational to Phoenix is his older brother (Joe).

Phoenix's favorite food is Mexican

Phoenix was raised in a Catholic family until 2nd grade... then went to a protestant church.

When they were first starting out Phoenix and Brad were college room-mates so they would drive to practice together.

Phoenix has played lots of instruments inclduing the violin.

Phoenix says that prince Ali from Aladin is the cartoon character that represents him best, although he'd say Simba but he's a lion so that doesn't work

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