OC Register Interview with....

... Ryan Shuck.

At this point, with only a single in rotation on KROQ and an album still a week away from being released, some might be inclined to write off Dead by Sunrise as nothing more than a side project from Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington.

It's an impression further deepened by the group's debut at the end of August before a Southern California audience of more than 30,000, when, in the middle of Linkin Park's set at the first Epicenter festival in Pomona, DBS unveiled a handful of songs.

"While we were playing," remembers Ryan Shuck, the band's guitarist, "people were yelling 'TOOL!' It was one of the hardest shows … but we didn't expect it to be easy. Between all of us (in the band) we've sold 57 million records, and we didn't get there by going in front of a bunch of people and expecting not to have to fight for it."

What some might not realize, however, is that this band has been almost decade in the making. At the turn of the millennium, when Linkin Park was first breaking big, Bennington met Shuck and Amir Derakh, who were also enjoying success with their band Orgy, riding high off their rocked-out version of New Order's "Blue Monday."

Though the trio soon went different directions professionally – Linkin Park quickly became one of the biggest rock acts of the era, while Orgy disbanded in 2004, leading Shuck and Derakh to form a new band, Julien-K – they stayed in touch, often getting together in their time off for barbecues and to mess around with music.

These days, Bennington shares his time between Newport Beach and Phoenix. Shuck and Derakh now live in Long Beach but got their start in Orange County; Shuck owns a couple of local restaurants, Lola Gaspar in Santa Ana and Gypsy Den in Costa Mesa.

While at a get-together five years ago, Bennington pulled out a guitar and started playing some songs he had written that didn't fit the Linkin Park mold. Shuck says he immediately heard potential in the songs and wanted to help Bennington put them on record. The guys had always said they should play together – this seemed like a good start. Already Bennington was considered the unofficial fifth member of Julien-K, given how often he would stop by the studio to offer pointers.

So Shuck and Derakh were excited when one day Bennington asked them to return the favor, handing them a disc with new guitar parts and vocals to see what they might add. The result of their three days of tinkering ultimately became the basis of Dead by Sunrise. The duo soon brought in Julien-K bassist Brandon Belsky and drummer Elias Andra, later adding keyboardist Anthony "Fu" Valcic to the project.

"It's really incestuous and extremely complicated in the way that it all pencils out," Shuck says of the lineup. "The 'Reader's Digest' version is that we were all just really good friends who play music together … and create all sorts of different sounds."

"Out of Ashes," the band's Warner Bros. debut, drops Oct. 13. The following Monday DBS plays to its hometown crowd at the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood.

"I'm totally excited," Shuck says, "because we've been working on this for, like, five years. We've finally found a window (of time) to get this record out. We feel like we've been carrying a baby for five years and now it's finally being born."

Although all pre-production was done by the band in Shuck's home studio in Long Beach, big-time producer Howard Benson – noted for his diverse work, ranging from Motörhead and Papa Roach to Kelly Clarkson and Daughtry – was called on to polish the record.

"It could have probably been released the way it was," Shuck figures, "but when you work with someone like Howard, he's going to sit there and take an objective look at it. He's going to dig into things that matter, zero in on them – make it into something that really pays off. … This project deserved that sort of respect after all of the sacrifice and dedication that went into working on it."

As to what critics might think of Dead by Sunrise – or whether people will take the group seriously or bet on it fading away – Shuck says they're all out of their heads.

"This is a real band and it's going to be something that stays around," he insists. "We're not going to just go away – and no, it's not cutting into Linkin Park time. We're looking at it as bringing people double the Chester."

Source: LPTimes