Brad Delson
Bradford Phillip Delson (born December 1, 1977) is an American musician and record producer, best known as the lead guitarist and one of the founding members of the American rock band Linkin Park. Early life. Brad Delson attended Agoura High School in Agoura Hills, an affluent suburb of Los Angeles, with childhood friend and Linkin Park bandmate Mike Shinoda. He played in various bands throughout his high school career, the most notable being Relative Degree, in which he met and teamed up with drummer Rob Bourdon. Relative Degree's goal was simply to play a show and after  achieving that goal, they disbanded. After graduating in 1995, Delson, Shinoda and Bourdon formed Xero, which would eventually become the starting point for Linkin Park. Delson entered UCLA in 1995 as a Regents' Scholar working toward a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies with a specialization in Business and Administration. He shared a dorm room with future Linkin Park bandmate Dave Farrell for three out of his four years at school. Delson also had the opportunity to intern with a member of the music industry as part of his studies and ended up working for Jeff Blue, an A&R  representative at Warner Bros. Records, who offered constructive criticism on Xero's demos, which were from the 4-track sampler tape "Xero", which was released in 1996. Blue later introduced Chester Bennington, who would become the lead vocalist of Linkin Park, until his death on July 20, 2017. After graduating "summa cum laude" and Phi Beta Kappa from UCLA in 1999, Delson decided to forgo law school in order to pursue a musical career with Linkin Park. Linkin Park. In 1999, Delson's band, Xero, replaced former lead vocalist Mark Wakefield with Arizona native Chester Bennington and renamed themselves Hybrid  Theory. Before long, Delson, along with Shinoda, had produced the six-track EP of the same name as the band, distributing it to various websites online and earning the band its own cult following. By 2000, after one more band name change, Linkin Park was signed by Warner Bros. Records. On October 24, 2000, Linkin Park released the overwhelmingly successful "Hybrid Theory". Over the next year, Delson helped produce the remix album "Reanimation" (2002), and added his own creative insight into the remixed interpretation of "Pushing Me Away" ("P5hng Me A*wy"). After "Reanimation", Delson played a key role in the  production of Linkin Park's second studio album, "Meteora" (2003), which featured heavier guitar riffs than ones in "Hybrid Theory". Linkin Park released their third studio album "Minutes to Midnight" on May 15, 2007 in the United States. For this album, the band strayed away from the nu metal style they had perfected in "Hybrid Theory" and "Meteora", and developed an entirely new sound. For Delson, this meant experimenting with different guitars and amps, both new and vintage. It also meant he needed to push aside his disinclination for guitar solos, which are featured in the tracks "What I've  Done", "In Pieces" and "The Little Things Give You Away". While the band pieced together the song "The Little Things Give You Away," Delson experimented with an E-Bow, creating a song called "Ebow Idea," which would afterwards become "No More Sorrow". Listeners can also hear him jingling his keys in "Given Up", an idea which he is credited with in the album booklet, as well as the multiple tracks of hands clapping. He has also played the piano for a few of the live shows on the song "Hands Held High". Brad also added his own creative insight into  New Divide, the track composed and performed by Linkin Park for "" in 2009. It was also the band's last single before the whole band got together, away from their side projects to compose music for their fourth album, "A Thousand Suns", released on September 14, 2010. Their next album, "Living Things", was released on June 26, 2012. The tenth song of this album, "Until It Breaks", features Brad Delson, doing the vocals. Near the ending, Brad sings a melodic part, which is the first time he actually sings lead vocals in a record. Personal life. Delson married Elisa Boren  in September 2003. He was the keynote speaker at his alma mater UCLA's College of Letters and Science commencement ceremony on June 12, 2009, in Pauley Pavilion. Delson has cited that his biggest influence is singer and vocalist Sebastian Bach. Playing style and equipment. Delson's has stated that he "doesn't like to show off", and that he attempts to play his guitar so that it sounds as though it were the keyboard or strings so as to seamlessly fit in with the band's hip-hop- and electronica-style compositions. Delson has also stated that he likes  to produce a gritty, "sampled" feel with his sound. Although a self-described "fervent opponent of guitar leads," he started performing solos in the "Minutes to Midnight" era after his bandmates encouraged him to do so. Delson performs guitar solos on the tracks "What I've Done," "In Pieces" and "The Little Things Give You Away." Delson also played many solos on Linkin Park's 6th studio album The Hunting Party. In the early days of Linkin Park, their usual bassist David "Phoenix" Farrell was unavailable due to touring commitments with Tasty Snax. As a result, on "Hybrid Theory", Delson  filled in as their recording bassist. For live shows, Brad has occasionally swapped instruments with Farrell during "Nobody's Listening" and he also plays the keyboards during the song "Hands Held High." During the "A Thousand Suns Tour" he expanded his live repertoire to include percussion and backing vocals, as well as keyboards during "Waiting for the End" while Mike Shinoda performs the song's rhythm guitar parts. During the 2012 tour promoting "Living Things" he also played keyboards during other songs like "Burn It Down". Delson typically performs while wearing a pair of Shure brand headphones, in order to  protect his hearing. Delson's equipment includes the following: Effects. To avoid problems with pedals being damaged during live performances, Delson keeps his effect pedals in a rack along with his amplifiers and controls them through a pedalboard onstage. The board also contains a pedal control which allows him to change the settings for his effect pedals. Amplifiers and current rig. For the first two albums, he used Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifiers and modified Marshall 1959SLP reissue heads live and in the studio, but during the recording of "Minutes to Midnight" Delson decided not to use much of his old  equipment to give him a new sound. Delson used several vintage and rare amplifiers such as Soldano SLO's, Marshall JCM 800, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, a 1972 50 watt Hiwatt Custom, a Bogner Uberschall, and an extremely rare Bo Diddley amplifier with an onboard tape delay that was probably made for Diddley by Watkins (WEM). During live performances Delson relies on several Randall MTS Modules to recreate the sound from these different amplifiers. In 2014, the Randall rig was eventually phased out for a Fractal Axe-FX II setup, which is run direct into the PA system and a  Matrix GT1000FX power amp. The only analog effect pedals being used are a Devi Ever Shoegazer fuzz, Electro-Harmonix H.O.G. and a Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor.