Chester Bennington Talks New Band Dead by Sunrise, Next Linkin Park Album

Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington debuted his new band, Dead by Sunrise, during an anniversary party for his tattoo parlor chain, Club Tattoo, at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe, Arizona, on Saturday. "I wouldn't call it a side project," Bennington said before the show. "We're a full, ready-to-go band and so this is something we take very seriously." The band, which includes Bennington and members of the group Julien-K (which contains several members of Orgy), is a traditional rock outfit that is more straight-ahead and melodic than Linkin Park.

Speaking of his other band, Bennington revealed that Linkin Park has already begun writing the follow-up to Minutes to Midnight. He explained the band had "the itch" to start writing again and headed toward the studio. "We're way ahead of the game," Bennington said. "We're not planning on releasing a record this year. We don't know when it's going to come out. But we just started working on stuff in the studio. I never want to get in the way of what Linkin Park is. That's my baby. That's my band. Those are my best friends. The last thing I want to do is compromise what we're doing." Bennington also said he hopes to have a Dead by Sunrise album out by 2009, barring other commitments to other bands. "I want to make sure the record gets the chance to do what it can do."

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Song Stories

“(We're Not) The Jet Set”

George Jones and Tammy Wynette | 1973

George Jones and Tammy Wynette were still married when they recorded the tongue-in-cheek "(We're Not) The Jet Set." The lyrics, written by Nashville songwriter Bobby Braddock, who also penned Wynette's "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," make fun of the good life by declaring, "We're not the Jet Set/We're the old Chevrolet set." Braddock recalled that while writing the song, he needed the name of a city that evened out the rhyme he had with "Riviera" and "Missourah." “I got out a Rand McNally atlas," he said. "In the first part are the maps. The last part is an alphabetical listing of cities. I wanted a rustic, small-time sound. I went to the listing for Missouri. And I found 'Festus.' I loved the sound of it."

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