Grey Daze, the original band that gave the world Chester Bennington, who would dominate the world of rock music with Linkin Park, has released The Phoenix, today via Loma Vista Recordings. It is streaming on all DSPs at the link below with physical pre-orders also live now. Read our review here. Watch the new music video for the track “Drag” right now!
Purchase and stream the album:
https://found.ee/GD_ThePhoenix
As news of the album’s existence was shared, Grey Daze founder, drummer and songwriter Sean Dowdell said: “Amends was more emotional and reflective. We felt sad when we were writing it. Now that we’re a couple of years removed, it’s very clear what we were going through. We were at a different stage of grief. We went through the shock and the sadness. Now, we’re back to gratitude.”
Dowdell, accompanied by bass player Mace Beyers and guitar player Cristin Davis, with producer Esjay Jones, and with the blessing of Bennington’s family, reconvened in late 2020, re-recording, and re-working the songs which initially appeared, in a very different form, on the band’s largely unknown mid-‘90s releases. A group of special guests also played on the powerful new collection, with Dave Navarro and Richard Patrick featured on “Holding You” and “Believe Me” (respectively), and Bennington’s daughters, Lily and Lila, paying homage to their dad on “Hole.” The band documented the process via a YouTube series which can be seen here.
The Phoenix’s arrival is marked with the debut of a Heidi Gadd directed video for “Drag” (https://found.ee/GD_DragVideo). Dowdell explains the themes behind the song: “’Drag’ is a very dark and droning heavy track, but the underlying message is really special. Chester is telling us, literally, that life is too short to be intoxicated, life is too short to be a drag. It is a song that gives any listener with a substance abuse past something to feel good about, something to help pull themselves out of that dark place.”
Reception for the newly released album reflects the band’s upbeat and joyful tone, with Brooklyn Vegan calling it a “’90s alt-metal banger that finds Chester’s voice as unmistakable as heavier, Revolver describing it as “soaring,” and Rolling Stone dubbing the single “Starting to Fly” a “rock anthem.”
The Phoenix tracklist:
Saturation (Strange Love) (Video)
Starting to Fly (Video)
Be Your Man
Holding You (featuring Dave Navarro)
Hole (featuring Lily & Lila Bennington)
Drag (Video)
Believe Me (featuring Richard Patrick)
Anything, Anything
Spin
Wake Me
The album is available to stream now (https://found.ee/GD_ThePhoenix), with the physical release, including several limited-edition vinyl variants, available on July 1.