Linkin Park: Dave Farrell, Brad Delson, Chester Bennington, Mike Shinoda, Rob Bourdon, Joe Hahn
The Pulse Of Radio reports Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington has revealed in a new interview with Metal Hammer that back when the band was working on its 2000 debut album, Hybrid Theory, its label at the time, Warner Bros. Records, wanted the group to fire vocalist/rapper Mike Shinoda. Bennington explained, “This was a time where no one really knew what was f**king going on. I mean the label tried to get rid of Mike, which is probably the funniest thing in the world. Looking back I was just thinking ‘Wow, this is insane, this is a wild ride.’” Bennington added, “We believed in what we were doing so much, and we were like, ‘F**k, why can’t anybody else see this?’ But when the album came out, I guess they saw it.”
Hybrid Theory was a massive, unprecedented success, selling more than 10 million copies in the U.S. alone. The record is best known for its four monster singles: “One Step Closer,” “Crawling,” “Papercut” and “In The End,” released in that order.
Guitarist Brad Delson told us a while back that the success of the CD changed everything for Linkin Park: “When we made Hybrid Theory, we certainly never expected it to be such a huge commercial success. Not only did it, you know, connect with people in such a massive way at the time, but it still resonates. It’s really surreal and it’s certainly a privilege for us to be able to continue to share not only those songs but songs that we’ve made throughout our whole career with such a dedicated and loyal fan base.”
Linkin Park is currently at work on its seventh studio album, which may come out in 2016 and will follow up 2014′s The Hunting Party. Linkin Park has been mostly out of the public eye since an early 2015 tour in support of The Hunting Party was scrapped when Bennington injured his foot. Bennington also ended his two-year run as Stone Temple Pilots frontman in late 2015 to focus on Linkin Park.
Breaking Benjamin has premiered the video for the song “Ashes Of Eden,” from the band’s 2015 album Dark Before Dawn. Frontman Ben Burnley described the clip to Billboard.com as “sort of a modern sci-fi take on Adam and Eve.” The video’s storyline follows two members of a space crew who are separated from their ship and, according to Burnley, “plummet to a water planet where their ashes turn to the building blocks for life as we know it on earth. Billions of years go by and the earth becomes the earth as we know it, and they’ve sort of re-evolved into humans and have found each other again.”
“Ashes Of Eden” is currently Number 18 on the rock radio chart and follows previous singles “Failure” and “Angels Fall,” both of which hit Number One. Dark Before Dawn was Breaking Benjamin’s first album in six years and sold 141,000 copies in its first week of release last year to debut at the top of the Billboard 200. The disc features Burnley leading an all-new lineup of the group, which expanded from a quartet to a five-piece.
Breaking Benjamin has just launched a North American co-headlining trek with Disturbed, Alter Bridge and Saint Asonia and will tour with Korn and Nothing More this Sep.
The Pretty Reckless have premiered a new single called “Take Me Down,” which will be featured on the band’s upcoming third album. The yet-to-be-titled studio effort is due out sometime this fall. Singer Taylor Momsen told us she’s never sure when the inspiration for a new song is going to strike: “It’s different every time. There’s no real process or anything. I mean, the writing dictates where the song goes and how it comes together, and my joke is that if I knew where inspiration came from, I’d move there.”
Check out the single artwork! 
koRn: Ray Luzier, Brian Head Welch, Jonathan Davis, Reggie Fieldy Arvizu, James Munky Shaffer
The Pulse Of Radio also reporting Korn singer Jonathan Davis spoke to Westword about his support for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, an organization with which he became involved because his young son Zeppelin suffers from Type 1 diabetes. Davis remarked, “It’s cool to be able to talk to people going through the same things I do. We run into the same problems, like kids eating things they’re not supposed to. It just helps. There’s no breaks. I can’t say, ‘Hold on, I don’t want to deal with this today.’ I do that, and he’s dead or in a coma. It’s intense.”
Davis in 2014 joined forces with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for a fundraising campaign titled “So Unfair,” which was also the name of a song he wrote and recorded with Korn. He told us at the time about the track “It’s a song about when my son got Type 1 diabetes, little Zeppy. He was diagnosed with it at five, so it’s kind of my — me dealing with that. It’s very personal to me so that’s gonna come out and those proceeds of that go to the Junior Diabetes Foundation. I’m trying to do stuff for them to help find a cure.”
To date, sales for “So Unfair” have raised over $100,000 for the charity. Zeppelin’s struggle with the disease has led Davis and his wife Deven to become deeply involved in raising funds for research.
Korn will release its 12th studio album later this year. The disc will feature a guest appearance from Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor. The as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2013′s The Paradigm Shift also marks the second Korn album since the return of guitarist Brian “Head” Welch. Korn is co-headlining with Rob Zombie and In This Moment on the “Return of the Dreads” tour this summer, beginning on Jul 19th in Englewood, Co. That trek winds down on Sep 3rd in Bristow, Va. The first single arrives Fri Jul 22. It ROOOOOOCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKSSSSSSSS!
