Grey from p 30 second record, we kind of had the process down of how we were going to approach the entirety of the record rather than each individual song. We knew what was a comfortable way of working.” Perhaps as a direct consequence of that process, and the band’s newfound perspec- tives, the record itself is sonically different. “This record feels a lot heavier,” Dowdell says. “If you love the old Chester, where he’s screaming a lot, you’re going to love this record. That first record, I think, had a thread of sadness and somberness throughout the entirety. A lot of people cried when they listened to it. I don’t think you’re going to get that on this record; you’re going to feel more of a celebratory anthem rock feel to it. I think you’re going to want to raise your fist and scream.” He adds, “This record feels much more like a celebration of Chester, and that’s how we want to put it out. We want people to celebrate Chester and feel that gratitude for having him in our lives at all rather than focus on the loss.” That doesn’t mean, however, that there weren’t some challenges in recording this record, just as there was with Amends. For instance, the band had to get inventive in dealing with a lack of certain song elements. “We restructured a lot of the vocals in songs,” Dowdell says. “We found that in two of the songs, we literally had no choruses, and so we had to write these choruses. Now, without a vocalist to come in and do that, I had to sing one song and Richard Patrick from Filter sang one song. I think we did a great job of comple- menting what Chester was already doing. That was the challenge, to do it in a way that didn’t make the song worse.” And through those creative challenges, Grey Daze were able to generate a few special moments. The first involved Bennington’s own daughters.. “I think we curated the entire recording process, so everything was special about it,” Dowdell says. “We took one of Chester’s original lyrics and we turned it into a little nursery rhyme and had [his] girls sing the nursery rhyme at the beginning of the song. That was not only emotional for all of us, but it was a way for us to give something back to Chester. He had never gotten to do that while he was alive.” The other hallmark moment, he says, came with yet another special guest. (Amends had its own big-name cameos, including Helmet’s Page Hamilton, pianist Jean Yves D’Angelo, and Korn’s Brian “Head” Welch and James “Munky” Shaffer.) “We also brought in Dave Navarro to play on a track called ‘Holding You.’ Initially, he was just going to come in and double some guitar parts and put a little bit of flair,” Dowdell says. “He came in and absolutely crushed it. It was an incredible experience. And I really believe that he showed up wanting to honor Chester at the forefront of his mind, because he showed up with his A-game. That was a really cool Chester Bennington, circa 1996. experience to see.” Leaving it all on the record is sort of all the band have. Because, as Dowdell explains, they’re strategically limited in what they can do for promotions. “There’s no tours planned,” he says. “We’re not going to replace Chester and we’re not doing a hologram of Chester.” He would, however, like to eventually “do something in a tribute fashion,” adding, “we’d love to do a festival or something like that, but where it made sense.” There will also be a “five-song acoustic EP later this year,” Dowdell says, though nothing offi- cial has been announced. But even without all the tried and true “victory laps” that other bands have avail- able post-release, Dowdell is already cele- brating their efforts. The second album isn’t just a personal triumph, but a kind of validation for their work, Bennington’s legacy, and whatever else Grey Daze have in the works. “When Linkin Park hit huge, Warner Bros. buried Grey Daze,” Dowdell says. “They took everything off iTunes and everything off the CDs.” Dowdell notes that Bennington, who experienced similar issues with other bands, helped intervene. Dowdell says that it “felt a little bit like redemption. Like, ‘Okay, we finally get to put this stuff out and there’s not a damn thing Warner Bros. can do about it.” Even if that doesn’t “redeem every- thing” in Dowdell’s eyes, he says he’s moved on. The goal, no matter how insane or difficult it all may seem, has been to honor this thing they’ve created the best way possible. “I mean, there’s a lot of lost time and a lot of lost things for the band,” Dowdell says. “I’m proud of what we did. We had some great growth. I have some great memories and some great relationships. But losing Bobby [Benish, guitarist] and Chester, those were big things. The loss of those guys, it just cast a shadow of sadness over the whole project. But to me, the focus is on how good the music really was. How great Chester’s vocal performances really are. And how amazing of a singer he was.” Sean Dowdell 33 phoenixnewtimes.com | CONTENTS | FEEDBACK | OPINION | NEWS | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | PHOENIX NEW TIMES JULY 14TH–JULY 20TH, 2022
