Disclaimer: This interview may not be reproduced in part or in entirety without the written consent of LPLive.net. 

Intro by LESTAT, Hahninator and Astat: LESTAT, a prominent member of LPLive, conducted a lengthy Grey Daze interview with several of the former members of the band over several months. The members gave him information on the band such as the Grey Daze history and things like the live songs they played. His findings are listed below in our…

For most Linkin Park fans, Grey Daze has always been a band surrounded by mystery. Chester was in Grey Daze until 1998, when he left them to audition for a band called "Xero” that had just parted with their former lead singer Mark Wakefield. "Xero” was later renamed to "Hybrid Theory”…and then as we know them now: Linkin Park.

Chester was first in a band called "Sean Dowdell and His Friends” in the early 90’s. They put out a 3-track demo tape and split up, then Sean decided to form a new band called Grey Daze. By sheer coincidence, Chester wound up auditioning to be the singer, not knowing ahead of time that the drummer was his former bandmate. Some people think Grey Daze was an evolution of Sean Dowdell and His Friends, but that's not true. They're two totally separate bands that Sean and Chester just both happened to be in.

Grey Daze stayed together for 6 years, played really big shows, and yet we barely have any live recordings of them and have absolutely no idea about the band’s life during its existence. So let’s begin.

A little known fact about Grey Daze is that the very first guitarist was named Steve Mitchell.

> Q: So can you tell us your own Grey Daze story?

Sure. I used to be a production manager at a venue in Tempe called The Electric Ballroom. I met Grey Daze there when they played covers at our after hours nights.
They called me to see if I knew any bass players and I said: "Yeah. ME!”
Chester was like 18 or something like that.
Anyway, we made some bad biz' decisions but eventually made a decent CD.
I opened a Tattoo Shop named Club Tattoo from putting on conventions at the club. We got a lot of attention because I had a high profile position in town. This was the hottest club out there...that’s a whole other story.
Sean the drummer came in on the tat shop with me.
I got married like an ass, all the women weren’t getting along. I’m not going to throw stones, but I will say it had nothing to do with lyrics or shit like that. Chester and I quit at the same time. It’s all personal bullshit.

> Q: What was the biggest show Grey Daze played?

We played a lot of big shows, opened up for a lot of big bands. The year we won number one local band of the year in Arizona was one of the biggest.

> Q: What were the setlists like?

We played a little of the first CD...mainly songs off "No Sun Today” - the second CD. And a lot of stuff never released.

> Q: Which song was the biggest crowd pleaser?

"B12” and the cover of "Anything Anything”.

> Q: Have you played in any other bands before Grey Daze?

I have been playing the bass for many years.
Recorded my first record at 16. The Double "O" Zeros which later became The Zeros. We wrote and recorded the Howard Stern theme song (in NYC). Got screwed over by Atlantic Records. Saved our money and with the help of a small label released an EP in 1984 and moved to London. I stayed with this band for 4 years. My singer had a nervous breakdown - I quit the band over a fight about peanut butter…
Moved to LA with a hundred dollars in my pocket. Met some musicians on the plane. Soon after formed a band called SHAME. Got signed to Simmons Records (Gene Simmons from KISS, his label). We lost the deal. I was in that band for 4 years as well. In the process of being in LA, I auditioned for Alice Cooper. Was runner up for the gig.
Ozzy Osbourne - my buddy Mike got the gig over me.
Then Iggy Pop - almost had that gig.
Steve Vai - played with him for three days and lost out to his friend for that world tour.
Had a few bands in between all of this...Then I sang for a band called So What. Got offered a deal, but it wasn’t good enough so we didn’t take it. Left that band ‘cause they were racist. Opened up for Rage and Body Count a lot.
Had a few bands after that and then moved to Arizona to join Grey Daze.
At this point I have done about 11 records.

> Q: So what did you do after you left the band?

I messed with a few bands in AZ then moved to NJ to write songs on my own. Got a job at a Hot Topic as a manager. Saved money and recorded my own solo CD (http://www.killingtimeproductions.com/me). I played all the instruments, wrote, sang and recorded it myself.
Was going to have Chester sing on a track, but when I showed up in Philly he was too sick to sing on it. Then he kept getting bigger. Decided to find a tour to get my bass playing back in shape after playing drums & guitar for while. Found a band in Ohio online, joined the band and have played over 180 shows with them touring the Midwest and East Coast. They are called Woodside Quinn. Well, we lost our sax player because he lost his mind and was committed. The style of music and the musicianship really aren’t what I am used to.

> Q: Can you tell me some interesting stories about the band?

Chester called me to audition for a band called Hybrid Theory (at the time they had a publishing deal and a few labels interested), so I flew out to LA. The bass player Scott at the time was on drugs, so I played behind his back. It went well, but…the guys thought I was too old. Sorry, but I still look young as hell, and my chops are better than Phoenix's, but that’s the biz for ya.

We are not sure what happened to either Chris G. or Jason C. I haven't seen them in at least 12 years.

> Q: Why did Grey Daze decide to part ways with Steve Mitchell (the very first guitar player)?

He was very temperamental and a bit unstable so we actually fired him.
Steve was only in the band for about 5 months. He helped write a few songs, only 1 of which was ever recorded: "What’s In The Eye". But it was changed.

> Q: Is it true that "Soul Song” was the band’s biggest hit?

Soul Song was not our biggest hit. "B12”, "Down Syndrome”, "Anything Anything” and "Hole” were our biggest hits.

I'm not sure. Probably dozens.

> Q: Jonathan Krause has just released the live video of the song called "Smoke Mouth”. We've never heard of it before. Was it recorded in the studio?

No, never recorded in the studio.

> Q: Are there any other Grey Daze songs that fans don't know about?

There are probably 20-30 more Grey Daze songs that were never released.

So Kongo Shock's lead singer was being deported back to Canada. We tried out quite a few people to fill his shoes. Grey Daze had just broken up, and their practice studio was located in the same complex. I also went to High School with their drummer. We had always been friends with them, but were miles apart in styles. Chester (with his 2 foot, stringy, blond dread locks) tried out and was the one that we eventually chose, but he was also very persuasive. He threw a BBQ at his house after the second tryout as a way to really shake us up.
A few weeks later some personal problems with a couple of remaining members of Kongo Shock led us to call it all off. We never really told him that he was our pick. We just said "sorry, we broke up".

There is a Rolling Stone interview with him that sort of goes into his state of mind when this happened, but they don't mention Kongo Shock, they just say that he didn't get the gig with us and after that he really wanted to quit music all together. I think his girlfriend at the time got him to keep going on and to eventually do an audition in LA for what became Linkin Park.

Now, Dave and Jodi own "Oz Tattoo” and are playing in a band called SistamattiX.

I used to have a copy of a show with Chester at the Fenders Ballroom, but have since misplaced it.

It was at the Fenders Ballroom in Tempe, Arizona. The venue was referred to as "the Ballroom".
Back then chester had dreadlocks and quite honestly his whole stage persona was very, very resemblant to Jonathan Davis of Korn.
His body English on stage is definitely more his own now.