Linkin Park singer partners in Club Tattoo to stay close to hometown
By THOMAS BOND
Get Out

It’s been more than five years since Valley native Chester Bennington moved to Southern California to join an unknown band.

Since then, Linkin Park has sold nearly 30 million albums and toured the globe, but Bennington still has strong ties to his hometown.
“My family’s there and I come out six or seven times a year at least,” the singer says.

But relatives aren’t all that keep him coming back. Bennington recently became a partner in the Mesa location of Club Tattoo (1423 S. Country Club Drive, suite 8, ), joining Sean Dowdell — a longtime friend and former bandmate in Tempe group Grey Daze — in the business.

“It’s my hometown and it’s cool to have something that’s mine there,” Bennington, 28, says. “It’s fun for me and Sean to have something that we’re working together with, rather than just being friends. It gives us a reason to keep more in touch with each other and gives me a reason to go out there and hang out with my friends.”

It’s also good for business; Bennington’s involvement in the tattoo shop garnered national media attention.

“The more press the better,” Dowdell, 30, says. “We want to take over the world with tattoo shops!”

The two are already placing their mark on the rock star world.

“We’re doing a tattoo party at his house next month,” Dowdell says of his partner's Southern California home. “Snoop (Dogg), Scott Weiland (ex-Stone Tempe Pilots, current Velvet Revolver singer) and some others will be there. The public loves to see that you’ve tattooed somebody famous — it gives you more street credibility.”

Dowdell’s known Bennington since the latter was a mere 15 years of age.

“I’ll never look at him like ‘Chester the rock star’ — he’s always my little brother,” Dowdell says. “I’ve seen changes in him, but they’re all positive. We’ve grown up together and it’s really cool to see him come into his own.”

The pair are currently in negotiations to open a Club Tattoo in Las Vegas and “we’re talking about licensing the clothing line nationwide,” Dowdell says.

For Bennington, meanwhile, there’s that small matter of being the singer in one of the most popular bands on the planet. Linkin Park has spent the summer headlining their third “Projekt Revolution” tour.

“What better way to wrap up two successful records than with the biggest tour we’ve ever done?” he says.

Despite selling nearly 10 million copies worldwide of their latest album, “Meteora,” Bennington says touring provides a greater portion of the band's income.
“You don’t really make money selling records,” the singer says. “Eighty percent of (money made on sales) goes to the label and half of what’s left goes to the government and the rest of it goes to paying all of the expenses of the band, managers and employees.

“Music makes a lot of people a lot of money, unfortunately the people that make the music that makes the money don’t see a lot of that money. I’m not bitching about it — that’s just the way the music business is anymore, so you find other ways to make money.”

For Linkin Park that means diversifying into other media forms.

“We’ve got a manga book coming out — it’s basically a Japanese form of a comic book — to go along with the video of ‘Breaking the Habit.’ It’s going to be tight,” Bennington says. “We’re also contemplating doing a compilation of a lot of the different videos in a really dope, thick manga book.

“There’s also a book coming out called ‘From the Inside.’ It’s a bunch of really great pictures taken from the time we started touring before ‘Meteora’ to when we did the Summer Sanitarium tour with Metallica. It’s got a lot of cool, funny stories in it and it’s just a way to thank the fans and give them something if they want it. It’s really beautifully done — it’s like a coffee table book.”

He's looking forward to performing again in the Valley and to many more years in both business and the band.

“It’s been a wild ride,” Bennington says. “And there’s more to come.”