My thoughts on DBS

[Geki]

I feel like Chester wasnt 100% comfortable with DBS. That could be why he didnt release it in 2005 or 2006 despite himself saying he would back then. They even played Let Down on a television show in 2005, the album was 100% done by the end of 2005. I think he started working on new Linkin Park in January of 2006, when they started working on the new album according to the band, and he just decided to not release his solo album. He also was working with Julien-K writing Death To Analog and I think he really liked those songs. He seemed confident in those and played them live with them, etc. He brought them on tour with LP in 2007, etc. He got done touring for LP in August 2008 and then wrote new music for the DBS album. He changed a lot of the songs. And it didnt end up coming out until late 2009. And when it didnt do well in the charts or with ticket sales at shows, he questioned it on Twitter, saying he must have made a bad album, etc. I think his faith wasnt completely in it from the start. He probably should have just not released it. Another thing to think about is STP. He joined STP in 2013 and put out an EP with them right away in 2013. He also toured a lot with them, much more than with DBS. Another thing to think about is the fact that he was really proud of OML. He wanted to share it with the world. And when it didnt get complete positive reviews, he got pissed, because he was confident in it. It was unlike his reaction with DBS, he didnt question within himself whether or not OML was a bad album. He also basically never mentioned DBS again once he was done with the small touring for the album. Just to me, he didnt seem like he was ever fully confident in it.

[hahninator]

I think the issue with DBS was not putting it out in 2005. I think he was comfortable but maybe the album wasn't done in time in 2005 before LP hit the studio in 2006. Mike was on tour until what, end of March 2006 or something? And then Where'd You Go blew up around that time. I think Chester had time to release it but I guess he made a decision to wait..

 

There is almost no doubt that the 2005 material would have been better off as an album, IMO. The 2009 effort suffers from a lot of overproduction and Howard Benson (although I love him for like his One-X work, etc) really was a bad choice. I think 2005 would have been some straightforward rock with less electronic elements and then they could have released some acoustic demos/versions with it too as bonus tracks. Let Down acoustic and Morning After acoustic are GEMS and I think if you release those full-band, you need the acoustics out there too.

 

The re-do of the material in 2008-2009 really made it suffer overall, especially the live show. Check the excessive electronic noises in the verses here on Morning After live, for example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0SLs_TuekAAnd it was in the normal live versions of the song - yuck. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uYnRKsyfTs On both the remix and studio version too. But what's funny is Morning After is probably one of the most straight-forward rock songs in the whole project and they put it as a BONUS TRACK.

 

Let Down bothers me so much with all of the vocal layering, excessive electronics, SUPER repetitive ending (wtf) that it's almost unlistenable. 2005 acoustic one is absolute gold. I'm not blaming Julien-K for it because Ryan and Amir are good musicians, but that's all on Howard to let all of that stuff happen to the songs. For example, Ryan and Amir have that great "trade off" solo on Let Down that reminds me honestly of what Mark and Myles do on Alter Bridge's Blackbird.

 

You don't have to have all this flashy fancy production. Perhaps Chester's greatest songwriting strength was writing simple songs on acoustic guitar that were absolutely fucking beautiful tracks. He isn't some epic, 6-instrument-playing guy, but he truly did well with melodies and wrote good quiet songs. And sounded flawless when big songs were taken down to acoustic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkKKyWgZSIACheck out this LOATR. Badass that they got right in the middle of the fans to do that, like a foot away.

 

I once saw him play Messenger himself on guitar at a soundcheck and it was A+. In fact it was just exactly like this, only a few weeks after this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He4TOtzlD-I

[Geki]

I just want everything DBS. All the demos, 20 Eyes (studio version), the Steve Wyrick set, I wish Ryan would give us it all.... DBS was always one of my obsessions like MTM, as everyone knows.

Edited December 19, 2017 by Geki

[hahninator]

I really think if they dropped a 12 song demo of the 2005 material, we'd be shocked at how good the material is.

[Geki]

I really think if they dropped a 12 song demo of the 2005 material, we'd be shocked at how good the material is.

 

I know... only in my dreams (as it says in My Suffering).

 

EDIT: I did want to clarify, because I may have come across wrong in my OP. I don't hate Out Of Ashes. I still love it. But I just think the 2005 stuff would have blown it away completely.

Edited December 19, 2017 by Geki