Rock
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For years, the idea of a Linkin Park without Chester Bennington seemed unfathomable. When the singer with the titanic voice and breathtaking emotional range passed away in 2017 at the age of 41, the band had just released their seventh studio album, One More Light, two months earlier, and the sorrowful pop album became what amounted to a swan song for one of the best-selling rock acts of the 21st century. Years passed, early albums were reissued, cutting-room-floor tracks were scavenged — but for all intents and purposes, Linkin Park had finished.
And then in September 2024, they roared back with stunning vitality.
With new co-vocalist Emily Armstrong and drummer/co-producer Colin Brittain in the fold, guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave “Phoenix” Farrell, turntablist/producer Joseph Hahn and singer/rapper/producer/sonic architect Mike Shinoda revived their once-mighty band, with arena shows that included their many hit singles and hints at what a next era could become. While longtime supporters will likely (understandably) approach new album From Zero with hesitancy and a range of feelings, Linkin Park have proven time and again that they deserve to have their creative instincts trusted.
Throughout their run with Bennington, the band changed its sound from its rap-rock beginnings, explored new sonic ideas and often presented rewarding full-lengths that harnessed the boundaries of their aesthetic. Now with Armstrong’s voice front and center, Linkin Park use From Zero (a play on their pre-Linkin Park band, Xero) to press the restart button and let their artistry roam into new, often thrilling territory.
This was always the upside of bringing in a new vocalist that wasn’t simply a Bennington impersonator: Armstrong, formerly the singer of Dead Sara, can scream with towering fury and croon with fragile beauty in a way that recalls Bennington at times, but she brings different musical sensibilities and a singular point of view to the band’s palette, her wrath more pronounced and her melancholy finely drawn. Shinoda, who’s spent the past half-decade developing his voice as a solo artist and producer, sounds reinvigorated working in a band setting once again, and raps, sings and occasionally yells with an urgency that suggests that he understands how unique this new chance can be.
Fans of different eras of Linkin Park will find favorite moments on From Zero — A Thousand Suns supporters will adore the woozy “Overflow,” for instance, while Meteora diehards will wrap their arms around the breakneck speeds of “Heavy is the Crown” and “Two Faced.” Yet on the whole, From Zero imagines a new beginning for one of the biggest bands of the past few decades in a way that any fan can appreciate. Most of us never thought we’d be pressing play on a new Linkin Park album. In that sense, From Zero is a gift that sounds as special as it deserves to be.
While there may be no skippable tracks on the new album, here is a humble, preliminary opinion on the best songs on Linkin Park’s From Zero.
From Zero (Intro)
Linkin Park is heading back on tour with new co-vocalist Emily Armstrong, and the band’s co-founder Mike Shinoda is opening up about returning to the stage with the group seven years after the untimely death of frontman, Chester Bennington.
In an upcoming interview with The Zach Sang Show alongside Armstrong, Shinoda shared that getting back in the swing of Linkin Park has been “amazing,” despite his initial nervousness. “Part of it is going from the band being an indefinite hiatus or whatever it was — we didn’t put names on it, it was just like, ‘We’re not doing it anymore.’ From it being that to standing on the stage doing it, there were all these weird little moments that were so surreal,” he explained. “Getting in a room and doing it was so cool.”
He added that there were moments that were “stressful,” because he wanted to “set aside enough time for us to get this right,” continuing that with Armstong’s vocal talent, “We were changing keys on songs we played for 20 years. I had to relearn ‘Breaking the Habit’ from scratch basically.”
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“It’s like, having a thing that you felt like it was taken away and then being able to get it back like, ‘Oh, you can’t play shows as Linkin Park anymore,’ even though Linkin Park is like Part of my DNA,” he added.
Shinoda concluded by noting, “Linkin Park is part of my DNA. Everybody’s got a core identity diagram, like, this is who I am. If you were to sit down with a piece of paper and write down the things that make you you, that’s a crazy exercise when you think about it. It’s things you love to do, your family, your kids, your spouse, whatever. The things that make you you and your beliefs, right there in the middle of it is Linkin Park for me. There are many other things too, but to have that one out was painful. To have it back in, there’s nothing like it. There never will be anything like it.”
Ahead of their 2025 tour, Linkin Park is set to drop their eighth studio album, From Zero, on Nov. 15 via Warner Records. Check out the exclusive clip from the interview via Billboard below, and catch the full episode of The Zach Sang Show on Friday (Nov. 15).
The 2025 Welcome to Rockville festival announced its power-packed 2025 lineup on Thursday morning (Nov. 14), including headliners Shinedown, Green Day, Linkin Park and Korn. The four-day event that will take place at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, FL from May 15-18 bills itself as North America’s largest rock festival.
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The 14th edition will also feature Rob Zombie and Three Doors down supporting Shinedown on night one (May 15), Alice in Chains and Good Charlotte (in only their second show since 2019) backing up first-timers Green Day on night two (May 16), Incubus and Pierce the Veil taking the stage with the recently rebooted Linkin Park on Saturday night (May 17) and Bad Omens and Marilyn Manson warming up for Korn on the final night.
According to organizers, last year’s event drew more than 200,000 fans from all 50 states and 57 countries for sets form Zombie, Tool, Slipknot, Deftones, Pantera and more.
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Among the 150 bands who will perform on five stages at this year’s festival are: Sublime, Knocked Loose, Halestorm, Mudvayne, I Prevail, Jimmy Eat World, Motionless in White, Beartooth, Crossfade, Seven Hours After Violet (marking the East coast debut of the new band from System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian), Bush, Chevelle, Taking Back Sunday, Hollywood Undead, Killswitch Engage, New Found Glory and many more.
“We take this very seriously…it’s symbolic and a massive honor to be a headliner at Welcome To Rockville. This is the biggest rock festival in North America, so LET’S GO!!!!,” said Shinedown singer Brent Smith in a statement.
Next year’s show will feature a number of firsts and notable reunions, including Shinedown returning to their home state and headlining Rockville for the first time, Alice in Chains’ first Rockville show since 2013, one of the first appearances of Sublime with new singer Jakob Nowell, Body Count’s first Florida show in more than two decades, the U.S. debut of Swedish progressive metalcore band Allt and reunion gigs by Three Days Grace, the Dillinger Escape Plan, It Dies Today, All Shall Perish, Power Trip, Chiodos, Dry Kill Logic, Chimaira, Evans Blue and Snot.
“We can’t wait to turn the World Center of Racing back into the World Center of ROCK once again as we will be welcoming back one of the largest rock music festivals in the world, Welcome To Rockville!” said Daytona International Speedway president Frank Kelleher. “Rockville always delivers a high level of electric energy in the fan friendly festival atmosphere. Rockville will yet again continue its tradition of hosting top-tier bands in rock, metal, and alternative genres.”
Single day GA, VIP and Daytona Owners Club passes are on sale now, with 4-day weekend GA, VIP and DOC passes still available; full details are available here. Passes can be locked-in via layaway starting at $1 down (or 10% of the total purchase), with access to nearby hotels, shuttle service and other exclusives.
Check out the full 2025 Welcome to Rockville lineup poster below.
Zach Bryan only has a handful of shows on his schedule for next year so far, and on Wednesday (Nov. 13) he announced a major new addition. “Always been a dream to play MetLife Stadium, so we’re doin it with Kings of Leon on July 20th, 2025,” the “I Remember Everything” singer revealed in an […]
Linkin Park fans are receiving what they’ve been hoping for: The band announced that it is adding 50-plus dates to its From Zero World Tour for the new year on Thursday (Nov. 14), one day before new album From Zero arrives via Warner Records.
“Getting back out on the road has been incredible,” Mike Shinoda said in a statement about the trek promoting the band’s new set. “The fans’ support is overwhelming, and we’re ready to take this energy even further around the world. From Zero is a new chapter for us, and we’re so excited to share it with everyone on a bigger scale.”
Linkin Park previously played several shows around the world after announcing new co-vocalist Emily Armstrong and drummer Colin Brittain, and dropping album singles “The Emptiness Machine” and “Heavy Is the Crown.”
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The next leg of the trek will feature special guests Queens of the Stone Age, JPEGMAFIA, AFI, Spiritbox, Grandson, Jean Dawson and Pvris on select dates as it makes its way to stadiums and arenas around the world, including North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. It kicks off Jan. 31 at Mexico City’s Estadio GNP Seguros, and ends Nov. 15 in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Prior to announcing the tour, banners reading “Counting From Zero” appeared near the venues and seemingly teased the 2025 world trek was coming. And in the band’s September Billboard cover story about its comeback, Shinoda teased that Linkin Park would be “touring heavily” in the coming year, while bassist Dave Farrell noted, “I’m sure we’re going to do some hard touring in 2025.”
General on sale for shows in North America begins Thursday, Nov. 21, at noon local time, while Europe and the U.K. will be available the following day at 10 a.m. local time. For those in the Linkin Park Underground fan club, presales will kick off on Nov. 18, with more information available on the band’s website.
See below for the From Zero World Tour dates below:
Jan. 31, 2025 | Estadio GNP Seguros – Mexico City, Mexico
Feb. 3, 2025 | Estadio 3 de Marzo – Guadalajara, Mexico
Feb. 5, 2025 | Estadio Banorte – Monterrey, Mexico
Feb. 11, 2025 | Saitama Super Arena – Tokyo, Japan
Feb. 12, 2025 | Saitama Super Arena – Tokyo, Japan
Feb. 16, 2025 | Venue TBA – Jakarta, Indonesia
April 12, 2025 | Sick New World Festival – Las Vegas
April 26, 2025 | Moody Center – Austin, Texas
April 28, 2025 | BOK Center – Tulsa, Okla.
May 1, 2025 | Van Andel Arena – Grand Rapids, Mich.
May 3, 2025 | CFG Bank Arena – Baltimore
May 6, 2025 | Lenovo Center – Raleigh, N.C,
May 8, 2025 | Bon Secours Wellness Arena – Greenville, S.C.
May 10, 2025 | Sonic Temple – Columbus, Ohio.
May 17, 2025 | Welcome to Rockville – Daytona, Fla.
June 12, 2025 | Novarock Festival -Nickelsdorf, Austria
June 14, 2025 | Rock for People Festival – Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic
June 16, 2025 | Heinz-Von-Heiden Arena – Hannover, Germany
June 18, 2025 | Olympiastadion – Berlin, Germany
June 20, 2025 | Bernexpo – Bern, Switzerland
June 24, 2025 | I-DAYS Festival – Milan, Italy
June 26, 2025 | Gelredome – Arnhem, Netherlands
June 28, 2025 | Wembley Stadium – London
July 1, 2025 | Merkur Spiel Arena – Dusseldorf, Germany
July 3, 2025 | Rock Werchter Festival – Werchter, Belgium
July 5, 2025 | Open’er Festival – Gdynia, Poland
July 8, 2025 | Deutsche Bank Park – Frankfurt, Germany
July 11, 2025 | Stade de France – Paris
July 29, 2025 | Barclays Center – Brooklyn, New York
Aug. 1, 2025 | TD Garden – Boston
Aug. 3, 2025 | Prudential Center – Newark, N.J.
Aug. 6, 2025 | Bell Centre – Montreal, Quebec
Aug. 8, 2025 | Scotiabank Arena – Toronto, Ontario
Aug. 11, 2025 | United Center – Chicago
Aug. 14, 2025 | Little Caesars Arena – Detroit, Mich.
Aug. 16, 2025 | Wells Fargo Center – Philadelphia, Pa.
Aug. 19, 2025 | PPG Paints Arena – Pittsburgh, Pa.
Aug. 21, 2025 | Bridgestone Arena – Nashville
Aug. 23, 2025 | Enterprise Center – St. Louis, Mo.
Aug. 25, 2025 | Fiserv Forum – Milwaukee, Wis.
Aug. 27, 2025 | Target Center – Minneapolis
Aug. 29, 2025 | CHI Health Center – Omaha, Neb.
Aug. 31, 2025 | T-Mobile Center – Kansas City, Mo.
Sept. 3, 2025 | Ball Arena – Denver, Colo.
Sept. 6, 2025 | Footprint Center – Phoenix
Sept. 13, 2025 | Dodger Stadium – Los Angeles
Sept. 15, 2025 | SAP Center – San Jose, Calif.
Sept. 17, 2025 | Golden 1 Center – Sacramento, Calif.
Sept. 19, 2025 | Moda Center – Portland, Ore.
Sept. 21, 2025 | Rogers Arena – Vancouver, B.C.
Sept. 24, 2025 | Climate Pledge Arena – Seattle
Oct. 26, 2025 | Venue TBA – Bogota, Colombia
Oct. 29, 2025 | Venue TBA – Lima, Peru
Nov. 1, 2025 | Venue TBA – Buenos Aires, Argentina
Nov. 5, 2025 | Venue TBA – Santiago, Chile
Nov. 8, 2025 | Venue TBA – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Nov. 10, 2025 | Venue TBA – São Paulo, Brazil
Nov. 13, 2025 | Venue TBA – Brasilia, Brazil
Nov. 15, 2025 | Venue TBA – Porto Alegre, Brazil
A few years ago, Gin Blossoms singer Robin Wilson had an idea for a band T-shirt with the song title of one of its most popular songs in the style of a satanic metal band. “It was all blood, and there were pentagrams, and it said ‘Follow You Down’ in old English script,” he tells Billboard’s Behind the Setlist podcast. “It was just blood and flames everywhere, and I loved it so much. I thought it was really funny and great.”
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The other four members of Gin Blossoms — a melodic rock band whose handful of lasting hits from the ‘90s alternative rock era have little in common with dark heavy metal — didn’t share Wilson’s enthusiasm, and the idea never got past the conception phase. Why the shirt didn’t get made helps explain how Wilson and his bandmates have kept Gin Blossoms going for 37 years: Wilson was outvoted.
“Part of what makes our band work is that everybody gets a vote,” says Wilson from his home in Arizona. “And despite the fact that I do more work than anybody else, my vote doesn’t count for any more. It wouldn’t work for us. If I made some power grab, that would be one of the things that could lead to the end of the band.”
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Formed in 1987 in Tempe, Ariz., Gin Blossoms first released an independent album, Dusted, before signing to MCA Records and releasing New Miserable Experience in 1992. The band’s catchy, melodic songs sounded drastically different than the heavier grunge sound that was capturing programmers’ attention at the time, but Gin Blossoms eventually found a welcome home at radio and MTV. Their breakout hit, “Hey Jealousy,” peaked at No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1993 and was equalled by “Found Out About You” the following year. A double-A side single with “Follow You Down” and “Til I Hear It From You,” and the 1996 album Congratulations I’m Sorry, peaked at Nos. 9 and 10 on the Hot 100 and Billboard 200 charts, respectively.
A four-year breakup and three studio albums later, Gin Blossoms’ democratic approach to running the band has proven effective. They spent much of 2024 criss-crossing the country playing playing music venues, fairs and festivals. In August, the band hit the road with ‘90s compatriots Toad the Wet Sprocket and Vertical Horizon. In January, the band will board The ‘90s Cruise in Tampa, Fla., that will also feature Blues Traveler, Everclear, Lit and Lisa Loeb.
“I think there was a lot of sacrifices made by the everybody in the band to stay together,” says guitarist Jesse Valenzuela. “But at some after 20 years, you start to see it as maybe, I guess, this is my life’s work, and what are you supposed to do? You better make peace with your situation and try to be positive and be the best person you can be. Try to be helpful to others and be honest.”
“Punctuality,” Wilson adds. “Punctuality is important. You don’t make your bandmates wait for you. You want to keep a band together? Get to the airport on time.”
Listen to the entire interview with Robin Wilson and Jesse Valenzuela from Gin Blossoms in the embedded Spotify player below, or go to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Amazon Music, Audible, Podbean or Everand.
It’s shaping up to be a banner week for Linkin Park. On Friday (Nov. 15), they will release their new LP From Zero – the band’s first record following the passing of lead vocalist Chester Bennington in 2017. Now, the iconic nu-metal band also appears to be teasing some huge headlining shows for 2025.
As a slew of social media posts from venues across North America, Europe and the U.K. revealed uesday (Nov. 12), a “Counting From Zero” banner has been placed somewhere around each arena or stadium. Though the signs don’t explicitly include the band’s name, they seemingly nod to the title of the forthcoming album.
Among those venues are London’s legendary Wembley Stadium, Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena and Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, Germany. Each post appears to indicate that a tour announcement is expected to land Thursday (Nov. 14) at 12 p.m. GMT (7 a.m. ET).
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Billboard has reached out to Linkin Park’s reps.
In September, following a seven-year hiatus, the band released its comeback single, “The Emptiness Machine,” which peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, and entered the Official U.K. Singles Chart at No. 4. The new iteration of the band has seen the introduction of Colin Brittain on vocals and drums, while Emily Armstrong (singer with Dead Sara) has also taken on co-lead vocal duties.
These lineup changes follow Bennington’s death by suicide in July 2017. A tribute concert took place that October, before the band’s members went their separate ways for an extended break. Linkin Park co-founder Mike Shinoda released his solo album Post Traumatic in 2018, which was supported by a world tour.
During the band’s first public show since the loss of Bennington at the L.A. Forum on Sept. 11, Shinoda spoke about the emotional significance behind their reformation. “This is not about erasing the past,” he said. “It is about starting this new chapter into the future.”
The band is currently on their From Zero world tour, having recently played London’s O2 Arena twice, alongside dates in France, Germany, Colombia and South Korea. They are currently gearing up to perform two shows in São Paulo, Brazil, across their album’s release weekend.
Earlier this year, Linkin Park spoke to Billboard, sharing that the band kept its return under wraps in order to alleviate any anxiety they were feeling towards making new music. “Things just came into focus, naturally,” Shinoda explained. “Even with Emily and Colin, we didn’t say, ‘Hey, come in, we’re doing Linkin Park sessions.’ We just said, ‘We’re going to write songs.’”
“For three days at least, I don’t ever remember touching the ground,” Armstrong described of her experience of joining the band. “And then everything was different when I came back down – knowing my life was going to be different, in the best way. I came back to a dreamland.”
A few weeks after performing the beloved 2006 album The Black Parade in its entirety at When We Were Young Festival, My Chemical Romance has announced a string of 2025 stadium shows where the band will also play the album in full. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and […]
When U2’s Larry Mullen Jr. and pop rock singer GAYLE collaborated on the end title song “Between the Lines” for Left Behind, an inspiring documentary about several mothers’ fight to open the first New York City public school dedicated to children with dyslexia, it was personal.
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Mullen’s oldest son has dyslexia, as does GAYLE. Mullen approached GAYLE about working together, who says it was a “no brainer.”
“I have been pretty public about the fact that I have dyslexia, and that is something that has been a part of my whole entire life,” GAYLE tells Billboard over a Zoom with Mullen. “Larry reached out to me about trying to collaborate for this documentary. He was talking about how passionate he was about the project, especially the fact that he has a child that has been affected with dyslexia. He had a view as a parent seeing how it’s affected his child. He didn’t have to sell me in any way.”
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The catchy, propulsive song, which premieres below, is spiky and defiant, driven by Mullen’s drumming and the GAYLE’s refrain, “special and weird is hard to come by,” and her lyrics that explain what it feels like from her experience to be dyslexic. A dramatic bridge heightens the emotional appeal.
Mullen was familiar with GAYLE’s breakthrough hit “abcedefu” because it had been a big hit in his native Ireland and he was also aware that she had dyslexia, which was of critical importance to him in a writing partner. “I was really anxious that when I agreed to do [the song] that somebody who actually had dyslexia was involved and they would do the lyrics,” he says. “It was just completely fortuitous and luck that myself and GAYLE kind of fell into each other.”
Mullen and his co-writers, Reed Berlin and David Baron, had ideas for the track, as did GAYLE, and “we found a compromise” through their generational divide and diverse styles, Mullen says. “It was a collide of cultures, two different eras coming together. And the collision is kind of a beautiful one despite the musical differences.”
GAYLE and Mullen talked on the phone about the tenacious spirit of the documentary and how to capture that attitude. GAYLE admits that without the prompting of the film, she likely would not have written a song about having dyslexia, but “because of my experience of being dyslexic and experiencing that my whole entire life, it was not a hard subject for me to write about. It was beautiful opportunity for me to talk about something that I struggle with on a daily basis.”
Within two days, GAYLE sent Mullen her lyrical ideas. “He’s such a legend, obviously. I was extremely intimidated,” she says, even telling him, “‘If you hate this, that’s completely fine.’” Mullen more than liked the direction and took the lyrics and finished the musical track.
Though Mullen had been involved as one of the film’s producers with his production partner Chris Farrell, he says it was GAYLE’s involvement that gave him “the kick we needed” to finish the music because her lyrics were so strong. “It’s not about being angry. For GAYLE, it’s about the frustration and being able to articulate that which is what makes it just so such a powerful idea. GAYLE is relatable as a powerful young woman out there doing stuff that us old guys can’t do,” Mullen says with a laugh.
The two still haven’t met in person — and it’s clear over Zoom that GAYLE is still a little awed by Mullen. “I haven’t even told Larry this, but I used to cover [U2] songs when I was a little kid, and I used to play at farmer’s markets and I’d have a little hat out, just begging for dollar bills, and I would buy an ice cream sandwich with the money,” she says. “So obviously, it just means so much to have somebody that I think is just so talented and such a legend in music to collaborate on a song. It’s just such an honor. And then for him to speak so kindly about me and my musicality and my music sensibilities, it really means a lot.”
Left Behind
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Though the film deals specifically with mothers in New York City, whose activism led to the opening of the South Bronx Literacy Academy in 2023 with more schools on the way, the universality of the story appealed to Mullen. His son, now 29, “fell through the cracks,” he says, in terms of getting diagnosed. “It’s only in the last 10 years that he’s kind of turning it around and starting to understand dyslexia and what it has meant to him. And through that discovery, I’ve learned something about my own reaction to it… so it was in that spirit that I got involved in the film.”
“A lot of people can see dyslexia as a disadvantage, and it definitely is extremely difficult, especially when you’re in the education system,” says GAYLE, whose eye doctor diagnosed her dyslexia when she was in elementary school. “I was in a family full of readers, and it was so frustrating to not understand why it was so much easier for my brother and my mother to read. I’ve learned so much about myself while having this be such a deep part of my life. But I think there’s a lot of frustrating parts about it as well. I think that’s why I wanted to put ‘special and weird is a thinning line,’ because while it’s something that’s really difficult, it’s also a superpower at the same time.”
Mullen, along with Baron, also wrote “One of Us,” which is heard briefly at the beginning of the documentary and then again at the end of the film after “Between the Lines” plays. Donna Lewis, best known for her ‘90s hit “I Love You Always Forever” sings the tune. Unlike “Between the Lines,” Mullen co-wrote “One of Us” to work with the images at the beginning of the film and as he watched his son watch the documentary. “I could feel his stress and this real discomfort, so I actually just translated that into a pair of drumsticks, and I started to feel what he was feeling. It was me trying to let the sticks dictate what was going on through his eyes.”
For Mullen to be able to play on the film’s songs was a major victory given that he has been in recovery from neck surgery that prevented him from playing with U2 during the band’s Sphere run earlier this year. “I’ve been out of action for quite a while. I’m just back a couple of months,” he says. “It was great to be able to do this track because I could play on it, whereas six months ago, I couldn’t because I had a neck surgery. So, I’m just getting back in and it’s slow, methodical. This project was a lot of fun.”
Both Mullen and GAYLE are aware that their involvement can help bring awareness to the film and to dyslexia. “I’m personally trying to sit in the middle, advocating for [those with dyslexia] to not be underestimated, while also still acknowledging the difficulties that come with dyslexia,” GAYLE says.
Similarly, Mullen hopes the film can make people think. “I just think this is a really pertinent question for people to ask about an education system that’s essentially screwed up, and that demonizes and persecutes children for thinking differently,” he says. “If we can just change the conversation, even for a minute, I think that that’s a good thing.”
Left Behind, directed by Emmy Award winner Anna Toomey, premiered at the Woodstock (N.Y.) Film Festival in October and will run as part of DOC NYC Nov. 20-21. Abramorama has acquired the North American theatrical rights to the documentary and will kick off a theatrical release Jan. 17 at New York’s QUAD Cinema.
Never let it be said that Timothée Chalamet doesn’t do his homework. In his first extensive interview about his role as Bob Dylan in the upcoming biopic A Complete Unknown, the Willy Wonka star told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe that he learned how to play 13 classic Dylan songs for the movie, in addition to working with a harmonica coach for five years to nail the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s signature style.
In addition to tapping a movement coach to help him embody the enigmatic icon’s physical stance, Chalemet also told Lowe that he took a “spirit-gathering” road trip mimicking the Minnesota native’s early years as a budding folk singer, starting off in Dylan’s hometown of Hibbing, MN, before traveling to neighboring Duluth, then on to Chicago and Madison, WI.
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“It was the best experience I’ve had as an actor or the most rewarding experience I’ve had doesn’t really necessarily translate to the effect of it, not only on people, but maybe in the finished product because I’ve also had more challenging experiences that come out great,” Chalamet said of the long journey to bring the singer to life on screen. “I’m happy it took five, six years because I am now deep in that Church of Bob. I feel like that’s my mission is the next three months, until the movie comes out, I feel like I’m in the Church of Bob, I’m a humble disciple, and I feel like I got this opportunity to kind of be a bridge to this music or this period, this time period.”
Despite his deep-dive, Chalamet said he wasn’t trying to do an imitation of the singer’s voice, explaining, “This is interpretive. This is not definitive. This is not fact. This is not how it happened. This is a fable.” In fact, he said none of his fellow actors were there to perform impersonations.
“This is about not only myself interpreting Bob, but Edward Norton interpreting Pete Seeger, Monica [Barbaro] interpreting Joan Baez and Boyd Holbrook interpreting Johnny Cash in this moment in the ’60s where American culture was a kaleidoscope and Greenwich Village was a kaleidoscope,” he said. “The way culture still is now too, but without being a history teacher, that was the beginning, personalized music, stuff with intention, stuff with poetry, it all started there in the movie.”
The journey was, as expected, arduous, given Dylan’s unique vocal style and quixotic public persona. Though he said he didn’t play guitar on the pre-records of the songs, Chalamet said he worried the guitar on the songs was too “friendly,” given that in the early 1960s Dylan was playing an instrument was “basically falling apart.” Similarly, the actor said he found that his voice had a baritone range, but that too sounded too “clean” too him.
“I was doing vocal warmups with Eric Vetro, who was this vocal coach who helped me on Wonka and helped me sing ‘Grand’ on Wonka. And then, here, I would listen to it back and I’m like, ‘Man, this sounds too clean,’” he said, calling the role the “most dignified work” he’s ever done.
In a nod to Dylan’s often unpredictable nature, Chalamet recalled that the singer’s manager secretly came to set one day and after watching the actor he praised him for capturing the “spirit” of his client. In fact, the text he got was so effusive and positive, that Chalamet said he and Norton were “jumping up and down and went, ‘man, Bob’s manager loves it’ and then we were like, ‘oh no, the real Bob’s such a contrarian that Jeff’s gonna go to him and say this movie looks good and then Bob’s gonna say well, it must be a piece of s–t.’”
Now that he’s been fully immersed in the “Church of Bob,” Chalamet said he feels like he can be a “bridge” to bring the the voice of a generation to a whole new generation. In a pair of trailers to date, Chalamet appears to fully transform his voice and physical manner to tell the story of Dylan’s early 1960s rise to fame and the controversial moment he switched to electric guitar at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.
A Complete Unknown opens in theaters on Dec. 25.
Watch the full interview below.