By fulfilling their tribute to the late Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington with the lauded remix album Amends, Grey Daze, another group fronted by Bennington, now returns with a new five song EP titled Amends… Stripped. Although the release date for the new project has been set for January 29, a preview of the EP is already available. “Shouting Out (Stripped)” is out now, alongside its accompanying music video.
After Bennington’s death in 2017, Grey Daze has been jumping through hurdles to try and craft new tunes around existing but uncovered Bennington recordings. The existing members of Grey Daze stepped away from their endeavors briefly, but finally worked out a way to properly capture the integrity behind those shelved Bennington demos the group was so adamant to reveal. They carefully reverse engineered and stripped down their songs, sometimes starting completely over, until Amends was curated just the way the surviving members of Grey Daze envisioned. The album was released this past year, on June 26.
That same act of constantly reevaluating their work, stripping down and shaving the excess, is what might have inspired the upcoming Amends… Stripped. This new sonic monument to Bennington will deliver acoustic versions that were arranged in a manner to spotlight the late Linkin Park frontman’s immense talent. This is an endeavor that was discussed by Grey Daze before Amends released.
“One of the more interesting things about working with such a great singer like Chester, is the more you take away from his surroundings, the more you get to appreciate and hear all of the subtle nuances of his voice,” explains Grey Daze co-founder and drummer Sean Dowdell. “He was a very special vocalist with an amazing writing ability, and it was very meaningful for us to use these different vocal performances on the acoustic version of ‘Shouting Out.’”
Don’t miss the recently released documentary that detailed Grey Daze’s history and reunion for more on the band.
photo credit: Shareef Ellis
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