Grey Daze’s Sean Dowdell On The Release Of “Amends,” The Legacy Of Chester Bennington & More

Prior to finding long-term global success with Linkin Park, singer Chester Bennington fronted a band known as Grey Daze. Around the time of Bennington’s untimely death in 2017, he was actually planning on reuniting with his Grey Daze bandmates for some new recordings. Grey Daze drummer Sean Dowdell — a long-time business partner of Bennington’s — ultimately made it his mission to finish and released a Grey Daze album, and did so with the blessing of Bennington’s widow Talinda.

The end result of Sean Dowdell’s hustle is Amends, which had its long-awaited release via Loma Vista Recordings / Universal Music on June 26, 2020. Amends features original (remastered) vocal tracks from Chester Bennington, as matched up with music recorded in 2019 and produced by Jay Baumgardner. Beyond Dowdell, bassist Mace Beyers and guitarist Cristin Davis, Amends features contributions from Korn’s Brian “Head” Welch and James “Munky” Shaffer, Helmet’s Page Hamilton, Chris Traynor (Bush, Helmet, Orange 9MM), LP (Laura Pergolizzi), Jaime Bennington, Jasen Rauch (Breaking Benjamin), Marcos Curiel (P.O.D.) and Ryan Shuck (Julien-K, Orgy). The aforementioned Jaime Bennington, Chester Bennington’s son, was also at the helm of the music video for “Soul Song.”

Meanwhile, Amends is available in a variety of collectible formats with several iterations available exclusively via the band’s website. The standard CD edition comes with a 16-page case-bound book. There is also, as part of the first pressing, a ruby red vinyl variant exclusive to the band’s webstore. In addition, the Grey Daze website is offering a numbered deluxe edition featuring both a CD and LP, which includes the first ever disc tray designed for vinyl, a 60-page book with never-before-seen photos, 180-gram red and white splattered vinyl, and a collectible set of band memorabilia.

As embedded below, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sean Dowdell via Zoom on June 25, 2020 — one day prior to the release of Amends — about Grey Daze’s past, present and future, his long-term friendship and business partnership with Chester Bennington, his current ventures outside of Grey Daze, and more. The author and Club Tattoo co-founder was as personable as can be, and can be visited online via www.seandowdell.com and www.instagram.com/sean_dowdell.

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Tags: Chester Bennington, Grey Daze, Helmet, Korn, Linkin Park, Loma Vista Recordings, Sean Dowdell, Thora Dowdell

About the Author

Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."