On Friday, July 21st, just one day after the world lost Chester Bennington, lead singer of the world famous band Linkin Park, I had the chance to speak with Jeff Blue, a writer and producer for BMG.
In addition to signing mega-acts Korn and Limp Bizkit, Jeff is credited with discovering and signing Linkin Park to Warner Bros Records in 2000, the label under which they released their hit debut album Hybrid Theory.
In roughly 15 minutes, we covered a myriad of topics, ranging from personal stories of Jeff's time with Chester, mental health and the music industry, and (my favorite question) names the band considered before settling on Linkin Park. I finished the interview with some questions from Linkin Park fans that I gathered from listeners.
Below, listen to the three parts of the interview as they aired on Y95-7. Follow Jeff on Instagram @JeffBlueMusic
Part 1: Jeff talks about how he brought Chester Bennington and Linkin Park together when they were looking for a new vocalist, as well as his first impressions of Chester after inviting him to his office in Los Angeles to discuss joining the band. I also ask Jeff for a personal story about his time with Chester, and he shares an incredible story about a vacation they took together in Mexico.
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Part 2: I ask Jeff what is next for Linkin Park; how do they react to this and what does this mean for the world tour they had scheduled for the following week. I also ask Jeff what steps he thinks need to be taken within the music industry to help artists better deal with mental health.
Part 3: I finish the interview with a few questions from Linkin Park Fans. 1) Do you have a favorite album/songs from Linkin Park? If so, what are they? 2) What other names did the band consider before settling on Linkin Park? 3) Since your focus has been in artist discovery, what new bands might Linkin Park fans be interested in listening to now?