"I wanted somebody in the band who had the same drive and passion for melodic singing vocals as I had towards rapping vocals," said Mike Shinoda. Xero's previous singer, Mark Wakefield, couldn't perform live because of a really bad stage fright, so they were looking for a new singer. Kerry came through at the cost of his job with the remaining members of Grey Daze. Scott called Kerry Rose, Grey Daze's manager, and asked if it was possible to approach Chester about another project, called Xero. He was so desperate he called him up when he was still in Texas and told him he would be sending the music and the original songs for the singer to sing over them. Jeff Blue was also at the music conference when he was told about the singer from Phoenix. They were at South By Southwest in Texas talking about a band that needed a singer and Scott recommended Chester. ĭanny Hayes, the attorney who helped sign Xero to a publishing deal, was partners with Scott at the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. Īfter the group was dissolved, Chester remained friends with Scott Harrington and would receive demos from him every once in a while. This happened the weekend before they were supposed to go into the studio to record a 4 song demo for Warner Bros. Chester and Mace Beyers left the band following a bad show at the Big Fish Pub in 1998. The overall frustration over the band's seeming disability to make it to the next level has led to personal conflicts between the band members. Grey Daze released two independent albums to local acclaim, but to very little national interest. However, the label ran out of money and nothing materialized from the relationship. After several interviews, they selected a Los Angeles based attorney named Scott Harrington. They drew the attention of an independent record company, Real Records, and decided to hire an entertainment attorney to help review the contract. I think it adds a cool depth and vibe to the songs.” īack when Chester Bennington was in Grey Daze, his band opened shows for hundreds of national acts and this introduced them to a lot of people in the music industry. It’s strange, though, whenever I’ve written vocals, I’ve always written them with two people in mind. When we did shows, I’d get friends to the other vocals. Mike talked about being the sole frontman during this period, “I only sang on my own for around two months. Otherwise, that's the end of Linkin Park as it is, kind of thing." When we heard Chester stuff he had done, we're just like 'ok, this guy can sing, we need to get him out here quick and see what the deal is.' We got him out and then 'ok, if the band is gonna work then this is gonna work.
And, you know, we tried a bunch of different guys that were LA-based, whatever, and nothing was really working, nothing we're excited about. Bassist Phoenix explained their situation, "We went through a period where we kinda didn't know what to do with the band, like, the singer we had been playing with was transitioning out and we didn't know if we wanted to continue if we did, if we wanna continue with just with five guys or how that would even look or work out. Following the release of their self-titled demo tape and many showcases, vocalist Mark Wakefield left Xero in 1998.