TALKING TO THE SONGBIRD – GREY DAZE INTERVIEW

On 15th May 2024, Glasgow is in for an absolute treat as alternative rock band “Grey Daze” take to the Cathouse stage for their first ever UK tour in memory of one of the greatest, Chester Bennington.

Formed in 1993 by Sean Dowdell and the late and great, Chester Bennington, Grey Daze took to the scene in Phoenix, Arizona and created 2 albums “Wake Me” and “No Sun Today” before they had a wee break in 1998 and Chester went on to perform in one of the biggest bands in the world, Linkin Park. Fortunately for fans of Grey Daze, a reunion was proposed by Chester in 2016 and movement began in making their new album but on July 20th 2017, the world was shocked and devastated by the news of Chester’s passing.

Whilst the reunion never managed to take place, the band worked on creating the album “Amends” which featured Chester’s original vocals as well as collaborations with his friends and family. “Amends” would be released in 2020 and met with positive reactions from all across the world. Including going No.1 in the UK Rock & Metal album charts. In June 2022, Grey Daze then released their second full length album “The Phoenix”, which similar to “Amends” features Chester Bennington’s original vocals as well as appearances from his daughters Lila and Lily and friend Dave Navarro, from Jane’s Addiction. Which reached No.2 in the UK! Grey Daze will be fronted by Cris Hodges for the first ever UK tour in memory of Chester and I believe it will be one of the wildest nights of the year.

I was fortunate to be able to chat to Grey Daze members, Sean Dowdell and Cris Hodges about the formation of Grey Daze, Chester’s legacy and the highly anticipated UK tour!

Have you ever been to Scotland before?

Sean: “I have not been to Scotland. I’ve been to England, Ireland and Wales before but not Scotland so I’m very excited”

Cris: “I hear the fans get super crazy!”

What inspired you to start a band and with this particular style of music?

Sean: “It’s going to be a cheesy answer but at the time it was kind of the cool thing to do. We love music and it’s what a lot of our friends were doing and (for myself) once I started to learn how to play drums it felt like a natural progression to play with other guys and learning how to write songs and it just felt very natural to do that after we learned how to play.” – Sean

Especially in that era of music in the early 90’s…

Sean: “We love Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Nirvana and all that stu , it was right up our ally. They were huge influences for us on the writing side.”

What was it like creating the Amends album after Chester tragically passed, with the help of his friends and family?

Sean: “Well it’s a very broad answer because it was “like” a lot of things in very specific areas but as far as speaking in broad strokes, it was really cathartic and healing for us to be honest. The loss of our friend hit us pretty hard and we didn’t realise at the time but getting through all that music and finishing what we had started with Chester really helped us get through the grief. So that I think is the most important thing that I can explain, and then there’s you know, it was magical, it was fun, it was exciting, it was creative, it was di erent, it was dicult, I mean there was a lot of things it was like in certain times and areas of the project but overall it was a wonderful experience. You know, losing someone like that who’s one of my best friends in the world, you can’t replace people in your life, all you can do is try to do the best you can and find gratitude in the moments that you had with that person. I feel for myself and I’m fairly sure for Cristin and Mace too that it was the best we could do with what we had in front of us and it was a way for us to heal and it was a way for us to do something meaningful, creative and to complete what we started.”

How did Cris become involved with Grey Daze?

Cris: “It was actually by random chance. I was invited to the private listening party of the Amends record here in Los Angeles. I was invited about 2 hours before the listening party occurred. I didn’t know anything about it. Didn’t know anything about Grey Daze. So I just went and got to hear a part of Chester that I didn’t know existed. It was really special, because we know him from the biggest thing that he did which was Linkin Park, but to hear Chester with raw emotion, raw talent, soul, blues, grunge, it was such an interesting and eclectic sound that Grey Daze had and I was just blown away. That’s when I met the guys, I met Sean and we just exchanged numbers and we stayed in contact for a couple of years then they came out to some shows that I had touring through Phoenix and one day, I guess Sean and the guys had so many inquires about performing live that Sean gave me a call and asked if this is something I’d be interested in and I said absolutely. Let’s organically see what happens and I started flying out to Phoenix privately, not telling anybody, meeting with the guys and we got into the rehearsal studio. I remember that first song we did in the rehearsal studio for the first time. That was the moment when I think we were like yes we could actually do this in honour of what Grey Daze was (and still is) and give the fans something they didn’t think that they would ever hear or experience. So that’s a big reason we’re coming over to The UK. To give the audience something that they never thought that they could experience live.”

That’s exactly it. Growing up, Chester had a massive impact on my life and I couldn’t be more grateful that his voice and legacy gets to live on through Grey Daze. Getting to hear parts of Chester that I never thought we would really means a lot.

Cris: “See that’s the fun part about this! I never knew Chester but I know so many people that came from that camp and Sean has a story about when Chester went into a 7/11 to pay for gum or something like that and he ended up staying in that 7/11 talking to the guy over the counter for like 30 minutes and Sean was out there like “Dude what are you doing? We gotta go!! And that was just Chester’s personality. It didn’t matter who you are or what arena or environment you’re in, he’s going to connect with you and you’re going to have an experience. And so I think that’s what we’re trying to continue here, especially at the Cathouse, this is a really special venue, these are really special people and we want to continue that connection and that experience that Chester had the ability to do and I think that’s what this tour is all about.”

What is your favourite memory/moment or what are you looking forward to most whilst being in Grey Daze?

Cris: “So first of all the Amends album went No.1 in the UK. I believe Phoenix went No.2. So for me personally, the more excited and the more crazy and audience is, the more crazy a show you’re going to get. So something that I’m really excited about; Glasgow (crowds) has this reputation for being insane and crazy and that’s exactly what I’m looking for in a rock show because we can match and get as equally crazy and intense as the people. So for me I think the Glasgow show is going to be extremely special because of who the people are that we’ll be performing for.”

Any messages for UK fans before you head on over here?

Sean: “Yeah a few things! One- the bands going to blow your doors o ! The bands going to absolutely tear it up and we’re excited to show that to you guys! Secondly, we’re going to be doing meet and greets at every single show. We want to meet everybody, we want to give the fans an opportunity to meet the band so if they have any memorabilia, if they want anything singed, we’ll be glad to do that. We’re going to try and hang out as much as possible and really soak up the local culture while we’re there, you know, we want to try and connect with the fan base there as we haven’t been able to do it before and as Cris alluded to, we had a No.1 and No.2 album over there which is incredible for us so we really want to pay homage to the people that put it there. So we’re excited to meet everybody, excited to come to Scotland, England, Wales and all that good stu . We just can’t wait to get there!”