Xero (A&R Demo Tape)

Xero is the self-titled 1997 demo tape by American band Xero (now known as Linkin Park) sent by the band to record label executives while trying to get signed. The tape contains some of the band's earliest known recordings. The existence of this tape first came to public knowledge in 2022 when a copy previously owned by former Warner Bros. Records executive Barney Kilpatrick was auctioned by his family following in death by suicide on December 03, 2021. The label had passed on the band three times before signing a developing deal with them in November 1999.

Background

Mike had been friends with Mark Wakefield since they were 12 and they loved a lot of the same groups. Mark would introduce Mike to more guitar-based music like Rage Against The Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana and Pearl Jam while Mike introduced Mark to hip-hop artists such as Biggie Smalls, Tupac, Mobb Deep and Wu-Tang Clan. They went to high school together and had a reputation as the guys who made funny songs. After both graduated, they started working on a new project called "Xero" (pronounced "zero") in the winter of 1995/1996. "We named it Xero with an X because we thought it looked cool," explained Mike.

When Mike Shinoda was 15, a friend’s dad chaperoned them to a Anthrax and Public Enemy show during Anthrax' Attack Of The Killer B's tour in 1991. Guitarist Scott Ian said, "I had one of the dudes from LINKIN PARK, a long time ago, one of them told me he was at the ANTHRAX/PUBLIC ENEMY show in Los Angeles on the tour, and he loved it, and it was a very important night for him. So that was nice to hear." Shinoda was so inspired by the musical melding that when he decided to form his own group, he wrote with both rhymes and rhythms in mind.

"When we started, we wanted to play something that we weren’t hearing. The first show I went to was Anthrax and Public Enemy. They did ‘Bring the Noise’ together, and I was like, ‘That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard.’ Everybody in our band —– and our fans, too —– has just been raised on different styles of music. Everybody’s mixing everything. When you hear Redman do a song with Roni Size, or Busta Rhymes with Ozzy, you know something’s happening."

After one or two writing sessions, they enlisted the help of Mark's neighbor and Relative Degree bandmate Brad Delson to record a demo containing 4 songs, a few of them having guitars done by Brad. They sent it to an A&R representative from an indie label/publishing company whose mailing address was included in one of the CDs they owned and got a phone call from Paul Pontius, the representative from Immortal Records, a day later asking them to come over. He was shocked to learn the duo recorded a professional sounding demo on a 4-track recorder in Mike's bedroom and encouraged them to put a band together and start playing shows. Drummer Rob Bourdon said, "we haven't really figured out the exact date, but it was somewhere in ‘97 that we came together, most of us came together."

After the demo, the band came together and started writing new music. The exact content of the demo sent to Immortal Records remains unknown, but it's possible it was the same demo sent to Warner Bros. Records executive Barney Kilpatrick.

Track Listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
A1	Dialate	Diggs Robert Fitzgerald, Shinoda Michael Kenji, Smith Clifford, Wakefield Mark, Woods Corey	3:24
A2	Fuse	Shinoda, Wakefield	3:19
B1	Deftest	Shinoda, Wakefield	3:31
B2	Stick N Move	Shinoda, Wakefield	2:41

Personnel

• Mike Shinoda
• Mark Wakefield
• Brad Delson

Gallery

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  Front

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  Back

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  Side A

External Links

• Samples: Archive.org