Keeping in mind this is one of my favorite bands, the feeling of interviewing somebody you have so much respect for adds additional pressure. Since 1996, Linkin Park has sold more than 50 million albums and also won 2 Grammys. Their latest record, Minutes to Midnight sold more than 600,000 copies in the first week. Currently on an arena tour through North America, this was a once in a life-time chance to meet my favorite band and sit down to talk about their success.

After much anticipation about an hour before Linkin Park took the stage, Chester Bennington and David “Phoenix” Farrell sat down for a round table discussion at the Olympia club in Joe Louis Arena. There were ten of us that had this chance to interview and ask questions about the bands success. Chester and Phoenix were both down to earth and it was very comfortable setting. Most of us that asked the questions to the band were very young and huge fans of Linkin Park. I think we were in awe of such talent. Chester did most of the talking while Phoenix only responded to a couple questions.

One of the questions I posed to Chester and Phoenix was "What song do they like to perform that gets the most out of their crowd when performing?" Chester responded that “Faint” was probably the crowd's favorite song to perform. Ironically it was their last song of the concert and that’s when my group of friends started our own mosh pit. Another question I asked was "Which venue in Detroit they liked to perform at?" Phoenix responded that he wasn’t even sure what arena he was in although it came to him that he was at Joe Louis. Of course they said Joe Louis was their favorite place to perform although I don’t think they have ever played there.

Both Chester and Phoenix were very calm and relaxed during the interview. I kept thinking these guys are about to get in front of thousands of fans and perform in matter of minutes. During the interview, their stage manager interrupted that they were running short on time. Chester looked at him and said we got 2 more questions and that they had time. At that moment I realized these guys care about their fans and know it meant so much to some of us to get a chance and talk to them.

The interview session took about a half-hour and about 30 minutes later the band took the stage to perform. Linkin Park played for just under two hours kicking out new and old songs. It was a great experience and I want to thank WRIF 101.1 for the opportunity to meet my favorite band. If you want to catch the whole interview, you can log onto wrif.com and view their “rifff tube."