Dave "Phoenix" Farrell

David Michael Farrell, better known by his musical alias "Phoenix," is an American musician known for his role as bassist in rock band Linkin Park. Farrell has been a member since their early days, taking time away from the band early on to perform with his previous band, The Snax. Farrell is also an amateur golfer, participating in multiple competitions. He also hosted a podcast called Member Guest with professional golfer Brendan Steele and Linkin Park videographer Mark Fiore. He was born on February 9, 1977.

Early Life

Dave's older brother, Joe, started playing cello in fourth grade. Dave wanted to learn it too, but the cello was too big for a first-grader, so he started playing violin instead. He did classical training for eight years and in the process learned a bit of cello and viola. His mother, Kathy, played piano and sang and, in the beginning of high school, she showed him the basics on a guitar. He switched instruments a couple years later when members of his first band, Tasty Snax, decided that they had too many guitarists and nominated him to play bass. He got the nickname "The Phoenix" around this time; it comes from the Ben Stiller movie Mystery Man. He explained, "It was just a joke between a bunch of my high school buddies. Long story short, a girl once told me my real name ... was boring. Can you believe it? She was pretty annoying herself." He and his bandmates gave each other ridiculous stage names, but his was the only one that actually stuck. He says he's glad they decided on that name because the other option was "Little Bitch" from BASEketball.

In college, Dave entered the University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA) as a biology major (pre-med), but finished as a philosophy major with a minor in classical Greek. He was a college roommate of guitarist Brad Delson and the duo were playing small jazz events together.

Career

Linkin Park

Dave first became involved with Linkin Park (then known as Xero) when he was roommates with Brad Delson at UCLA. While the duo performed at small jazz events together (with Phoenix playing cello), Delson would simultaneously be working on his own studies and his band. Dave had been excited about the progression Brad had been making with his high school friends in Xero, so when the opportunity arose, he joined the band.

Xero played their first shows as a band on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, with the first one taking place on November 14, 1997 at the Whisky A Go Go, playing before SX-10 and System Of A Down. Rob Bourdon explained how they got on the bill: "Basically, with clubs of that magnitude, you pay to play. If you can sell enough tickets, you can play. But, actually, we made a little bit of money, because we could sell a lot of tickets. At that time, all of us were either in school, or just out of school. I was in between high school and college. So, we had a lot of friends at school, and all of us would each try to sell 50 to 75 tickets. We would just go crazy, and try to sell them to everyone; family members, it didn't matter. We had to sell them to everyone just to play there."

Talking about the show, Mike Shinoda said, "I remember that gig. I was wearing the most ridiculous thing ever. I had this white beanie hat on with blue goggles and white gloves, I think because it made me feel more like a performer and not the normal dude that I knew I was. So I had to get into costume in order to get psyched up and get into character. We were awful, just horrible but we survived." The club was packed with A&R scouts that had all fled by the third song. Jeff Blue added, "The place was empty. You could hear crickets." He saw that the group had potential but were pretty far from actually "making it," so he offered them a development deal with a little financial support from Zomba Music Group. Brad received the proposal on December 4th, but the band didn’t accept the deal right away. Mark and Brad were convinced Jeff Blue was the right person to help them, but Mike and the others disagreed. They shopped the deal to other managers for 9 months in hopes they would find something better. When the band decided to sign it, Jeff's surfing buddy Danny Hayes was hired to represent them. The deal was signed by every band member except for Phoenix at the law offices of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Los Angeles. The moment was registered with several group photos. This was followed by a Zomba Signing Party at Hollywood Athletic Club on October 10, 1998.

Mike said, "We would write a lot more than we played. A lot of bands rush their songs, and go out and play a ton of shows; we spent weeks and weeks on the music, and probably only played one or two shows a month." Dave added, "We definitely weren’t polished but we had a lot of potential. We only really played shows as an excuse to get our friends together for a party afterwards. In the early stages, it wasn’t about getting a record deal. But the more we played, the more we realised we might have a chance." It was at one of those after show parties in February 1998 at Brad and Dave's apartment that Mark Wakefield introduced Mike to his friend Anna Hillinger (Mike's future wife) from Long Beach.

Dave would leave Xero after a tumultuous 2008, due to him being committed to another band, Tasty Snax, with whom he had been close friends since high school. They released their debut album, Run Joseph Run, in 1998 and when they left on tour, Dave went with them. After renaming themselves Linkin Park and starting work on their debut album, Hybrid Theory, the band would have various touring members or Brad perform the basslines on the album. According to Scott Koziol, the band's touring bass player, the payout for Hybrid Theory says “Scott - 1 song, Ian - 3 songs, Brad - 6 songs.” Mike explained, "Dave was gone and so we played his bass parts, me, Brad, our producer Don at one point was putting them in. We were just like... I didn't want Don playing bass on the record, it was our record. He's a good bass player but it's just the premise of it. We tried out of a couple of other people at the time. You mentioned Kyle Christener, he was in the band and we played with for a while. Scott Koziol was in the band for a while, we actually toured with Scott for a little bit. And there was another kid who played... he just like played on a couple of tracks but he wasn't a great fit."

Dave did, however, end up with songwriting credits for two of the twelve songs on the album ('A Place For My Head' and 'Forgotten,' and is credited as the band's bass player on later US pressings of the album (even though there's no photos of him in the booklet). On the versions where Dave is listed as a band member, Scott Koziol isn't credited for playing bass.

Phoenix rejoined the band in mid-2000 after fulfilling his commitments with The Snax. He missed their first proper tours in the first half of the year, namely the An Education In Rebellion Tour opening for the Union Underground, but had rejoined by the time they started the Kings of the Game Tour supporting P.O.D.

Linkin Park would go on to achieve international fame following the release of their debut, releasing multiple number one records and selling out arenas around the world. Phoenix remained with the band as their bassist for the rest of their career, returning in 2024 with the addition of Emily Armstrong and Colin Brittain. During the band's hiatus between 2017 and 2024, Dave mostly remained quiet, playing golf tournaments and appearing on podcasts. During this time, he did perform with Mike Shinoda a handful of times during his Post Traumatic Tour at stops at the LoveLoud festival, Las Vegas, Anaheim, and San Francisco.

The Snax

For further information, see The Snax.

While attending high school, Dave joined the band (then known as Tasty Snax) and assumed the role of bass guitarist. Although Dave was trained in electric guitar, what the band sorely needed was a bass guitarist, so Phoenix opted to make the transition from the electric guitar, and has played bass ever since. The band later changed their name to Snax, from Tasty Snax, before the release of their second album under their self-titled band name.

Their track "Run Joseph Run" became a hit throughout California; the video for which had heavy rotation in Vans outlets across the state, as well as being requested by MTV. The band later changed their name to Snax (also referred to as "The Snax").

Dave, for a time, was a member of both Xero and Tasty Snax, assuming touring and studio duties for both. Early on in Xero and Linkin Park's career, Dave left the band to stay committed to The Snax, especially as they had more momentum going for them at the time. Dave was fully committed to Snax from 1998 to mid-2000, leaving Xero. While on tour with The Snax, Dave and his bandmates gave each other ridiculous stage names. His was "The Phoenix", a name they got from the movie Mystery Men.

In early 2000, a follow-up album was planned and they entered Golden Track Studios in San Diego, CA to record their self-titled sophomore album Snax, this time with producer and mixer Matt Wignall.

Dave left to re-join Linkin Park in 2000, and Jim Roach took over bass duties and later drums in studio sessions after Mark Keller left the group. Vocalist Mark Fiore would later become Linkin Park's videographer.

Member Guest

Phoenix launched the Member Guest podcast with his best friends professional golfer Brendan Steele and Linkin Park videographer Mark Fiore on January 15, 2018. He teased the project a few days earlier, tweeting "I’ve been working on a new project for the past few months (hint: it’s not music)... I’m excited to share it with you. More info coming on Monday! Have a great weekend!" The podcast focussed on golfing, music, and other things going on in the host's lives, with them having guests on certain episodes, including Avenged Sevenfold's M. Shadows on the 1st episode. The podcast ran from January 2018 to April 2020, with episodes releasing roughly once a week at the start before slowing down.

Golfing

Dave has been an avid fan of golfing for a long time, playing casually before beginning to enter amateur championships. He has participated in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship eight times, at times playing with partner Brad Simpson. While playing at one of these events, he had a wardrobe malfunction because of rain and had to change his trousers and borrow some fishing overalls from a security officer. Dave has played at this event as recently as October 2024.

Other ventures

Phoenix contributed to the score of Joe Hahn's "Mall" in 2015 alongside Chester Bennington, Mike Shinoda, Hahn himself, and Alec Puro. On top of the expected instrumental tracks, a number of tracks from this score came from previous Linkin Park album sessions.

Phoenix has gone to a number of wine-tasting events in Northern California. Originally a beer connoisseur, Farrell used some of his time on the road with Linkin Park to discover new craft beer from around the world, challenging the band’s longtime chef, Gray Rollin, to find the best local fare. In 2020, he went on Dan Nichols' Dan Really Likes Wine podcast to discuss both his passion for wine and Linkin Park's status during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Discography

Linkin Park

Full article: Linkin Park Discography

• Hybrid Theory (2000) [credited on 'A Place For My Head' and 'Forgotten' only]
• Meteora (2003)
• Minutes To Midnight (2007)
• A Thousand Suns (2010)
• Living Things (2012)
• The Hunting Party (2014)
• One More Light (2017)
• From Zero (2024)

The Snax

• Run Joseph Run (1998)
• Snax (2000)