Linkin Park goes platinum again (August 10 2007)

Quelle: http://www.northjersey.com

One of the gentlemen on the conference call was grappling with the how. How is Linkin Park selling albums in a down market? How did the group flip 635,000 records during the first week of sales if everybody is downloading music for free off the Internet?

It didn't take long for the catcalls to follow.

"Yes, Chester, what's up with that?" said Matt Rubano of Taking Back Sunday.

"Give us the secret, huh?" said Ray Toro of My Chemical Romance.

Left to explain the inexplicable was Chester Bennington, lead singer of a band that has another platinum album (2007's "Minutes to Midnight") flying off shelves.

"The reality is I have no idea," Bennington said. "We just go in and we try to make the best record that we possibly can every time we go in and do something. And I firmly believe that we have the best fans in the world, like they will die for us to a certain degree."

Bennington and Linkin Park, the engines behind Projekt Revolution, are leading a collection of handpicked rock bands to Holmdel for the fourth edition of this summer festival. Bennington said the band would have tables set up encouraging fans to be more environmentally aware.

"It sort of reminds me of when I was a teenager and going to see the first couple of Lollapaloozas, where there was something more than just going to see bands," Rubano said. "It was going to see really, really unique bands playing together, and then there were a bunch of other sort of ideas and concepts floating around the place while you were enjoying your band."

Bennington and his collaborators went out searching for bands that do more than tour. He wanted bands that go all out.

"I mean it really was like, 'Who do we want to tour with that we haven't toured with before that just simply kicks ass?' " Bennington said.

He put in a call to Taking Back Sunday and another to My Chemical Romance. Both bands leaped at the chance to play the show. Rubano said the members of Taking Back Sunday have always been big Linkin Park fans.

"We've never toured together, never done any shows," Rubano said, "but from afar I've always respected not only the music, but just the work ethic and how much effort each of those guys puts into every aspect of the band. And that's really inspiring and encouraging that people care so much about their art."

And the respect goes both ways.

"If you take Linkin Park off this bill," Bennington said, "it's still going to be the biggest tour of the summer. You can mix up the main stage any way you want and it's awesome; it doesn't matter."

He said he and his band mates will play close to 90 minutes, deliver their signature hard rock ... er, metal ... er, how exactly do they categorize it?

"We kind of want to be a band that's kind of ambiguous," Bennington said. "That's our goal. We want it to be difficult for people to try to pinhole us into something. I think that as our career develops and keeps growing we'll hopefully be a band that's known for writing good music."