Looking for an outlet for some of his darker and moodier material written during the recording of Minutes to Midnight, Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington created Dead by Sunrise in 2005 as a way to explore different creative avenues. Recruiting Amir Derakh, Ryan Shuck, Brandon Belsky, and Elias Andra (whom Bennington had been previously worked with as a part of the production team/synth pop band Julien-K) as well as Anthony “Fu” Valcic, Bennington shied away from Linkin Park’s nu-metal and Julien-K’s dark electro/synth pop in favor of a more melodic style of synth-tinged hard rock. After touring for Minutes to Midnight was wrapped up in 2008, Dead by Sunrise went into the studio and began recording their debut album, with Bennington simultaneously working on the next Linkin Park record. In October of 2009 the band released their debut, Out of Ashes, on Warner Bros. ~ Gregory Heaney