Out Of Ashes

Background

On August 15, 2005, Rolling Stone reported, "LINKIN PARK screamer CHESTER BENNINGTON will release a solo record, and he breaks the news in the Smoking Section. "We took Nineties rock, mixed it with Eighties pop like DEPECHE MODE, THE CURE, and BAUHAUS and smashed them together," says Bennington. "It's fuckin' driving beats and walls of guitars." Songs like "Morning After" and "Walking in Circles" are in the can, and Bennington is especially psyched about a new song, which a friend says "sounds like T.REX."

Writing and Recording

After forming the band under the moniker Snow White Tan in 2005, Chester, Ryan, and Amir began recording full band versions of songs with other members of Julien-K (Brandon Belsky and Elias Andra). Chester would present an acoustic demo of a song he had written to them and then they'd turn it into a full track. In a May 2, 2010 interview with DevilBearRock Photography at the London Dead By Sunrise show, Ryan described the songwriting process for the album by saying, "The songs start with Chester usually on an acoustic guitar as a little vocal melody, but it’s really sparse. Occasionally they're more complete songs, but a lot of times he has an idea and a really good melody and we just sort of record that and he'll literally go work with Linkin Park then. And we'll build the song and write it, do the parts and everything, he'll come back and he'll get excited and then he'll sing more on it and then he'll go back and work with Linkin Park."

The album was completed in 2005, but was shelved due to Linkin Park working on music.

Chester chose Howard Benson to produce the album and began working with him by October 2008 at the latest. In the LPTV episode "Tracking "Too Late" with Howard Benson", Chester says, "I really liked a few of the records that he's worked on. He's done My Chemical Romance, Papa Roach, All American Rejects, Hoobastank. He's done TSOL records. He's very experienced."

Ryan said about the Dead By Sunrise live show, "It’s going to sound a lot bigger. On the album, the guitars were definitely heavier – there was a bit more grip to the record before and I think the label, when they heard the songs, were like "this could be all over the radio” and they wanted us to polish it up and make it shimmery."

Composition

In an interview with ARTISTdirect on October 5, 2009, Chester said, "For me, it was really about sticking to what the songs were telling me to do. The whole reason why the project even started was because I really liked the songs the way they were. If there was anything that needed to be added, it simply became a nice addition to what was already there. We didn't have to take anything away from these songs. I knew that if Linkin Park was working on these songs, the grungey, punky and real straightforward rock element probably would've been taken out and replaced by another form of it. That's how I feel about the record. I'm not sure if it's my outlaw record. I really didn't break too many rules on this one. I went for simplicity. I started out with the guitars and the melodies. If I could sit down with my acoustic and sing it and it sounded good, then the hard work was already done. It was merely a matter of finding a style and a vibe at that point."

He added, "The fact that I was the only one writing lyrics on the album was really crucial to that. With Linkin Park, Mike [Shinoda] and I both have to really connect to the lyrics. So if I'm writing about something Mike has never experienced—like an addiction problem or something along those lines—the only way for Mike to relate to it lyrically is if we take the actual story out and only leave the emotional attachment to it. We end up doing a lot of character roles with Linkin Park, whereas with Dead By Sunrise I'm the only character to relate to. In a lot of ways, it is very personal, but with Linkin Park I also write in a very personal way. We just generalize it more in Linkin Park, by taking very specific kinds of words out of the songs. With Dead By Sunrise, I was able to be very forward about what the songs were about, especially within the lyrics themselves."

Finally, he said, "There was a lot of freedom in the fact these were my songs and this was my thing. They're my words, so I got to do whatever I wanted. But, at the same time, that is probably the scariest part of it. The reality is if people don't like this record for whatever reason, then it all comes back to me. I don't get to share the blame with anybody else but myself [Laughs]. I feel like this is a great record though—the songs are strong and the melodies are good. The lyrics are important to me, and I feel like that gives them validity. I was involved with every aspect of making the album—from the songwriting to the programming to performing with various instruments. I think that opened me up even more creatively than simply being the guy who comes in and does melodies and lyrics."

Releases

Track Listing

Standard Edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1	Fire	Chester Charles Bennington, Amir Davidson, Ryan Christopher Shuck, Anthony Valcic	3:50
2	Crawl Back In		3:02
3	Too Late		2:59
4	Inside Of Me		2:18
5	Let Down		3:58
6	Give Me Your Name		4:56
7	My Suffering		2:39
8	Condemned		2:32
9	Into You		3:23
10	End Of The World		3:56
11	Walking In Circles		4:43
12	In The Darkness		5:28

Japanese Edition & iTunes Bonus Track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
13	Morning After	Chester Charles Bennington, Amir Davidson, Ryan Christopher Shuck, Anthony Valcic	3:29

iTunes Pre-Order Bonus Tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
13	Morning After	Chester Charles Bennington, Amir Davidson, Ryan Christopher Shuck, Anthony Valcic	3:29
14	Crawl Back In (Live)		3:11

Record Store Day 2024 Vinyl Bonus Tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
13	Morning After	Chester Charles Bennington, Amir Davidson, Ryan Christopher Shuck, Anthony Valcic	3:29
14	Crawl Back In (Live In Las Vegas)		3:03
15	Walking In Circles (Live In Las Vegas)		4:52
16	In The Darkness (Live In Las Vegas)		5:36
17	Let Down (Live In Las Vegas)		4:05
18	Morning After (Live In Las Vegas)		3:49

Personnel

Live Performance

Reception

Gallery

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  Standard cover

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  Full artwork

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  Dead By Sunrise song board