I met Joe at MAGFest 2017 through some mutual friends. We immediately found ourselves nerding about metal for the entire night! The evening ended up with us making some plans to make a piece of music together in the future.
Fast forward to late summer 2017.
As we all know, a huge influence to us, Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, passed away. This made a huge impact on all of us that took in Linkin Park's music when we were younger. I don't even need to explain how huge that band was for our generation.
Joe and I decided after grieving the loss of a fellow influential musician, that this would be a perfect opportunity for us to make a kick ass track together; to honor Chester!
Jack writes:
One Step Closer came to mind because it is definitely in my top 3 Linkin Park songs of all time, and had potential to make a KICK ASS metal cover! I know Linkin Park is already a pretty heavy band but I always found One Step Closer to be even a step ahead of their other songs in terms of heaviness.
I used to listen to Hybrid Theory on the bus on the way to school every single day. I remember a specific time where my 5th grade teacher had banned the words \"shut up\" in the class and I always laughed when I'd be blasting the bridge section of this song on the way to her class. Take that teacher!
Chester passing in the way that he did is was a brutal reminder to me that happiness and mental tranquility aren't necessarily a guarantee when you achieve success in your goals. The most important things in life seem to be the relationships you build and maintain with your loved ones and with yourself. It seemed like Chester has been fighting his mental illness his entire life it's amazing that he turned his demons into beautiful art for the entire world. Thank you for everything Chester and I'm so sorry you were hurting!
Joe Writes:
When I was a kid, I used to daydream that I was the frontman of Linkin Park.
When I grew up, I used to daydream about becoming even half the frontman Chester actually was.
I may never be, but it's just as good knowing that he was - one of the greatest performers of modern alternative music that ever lived. Thank you for challenging and inspiring me, and goodbye.
Cinematography (Joe) by Cris Araya
Vocals tracked by Josh Johnson of Great Interstellar Studios
