Sometimes working on side projects can pull a band apart and lead to their break-up. But there are other instances where key members taking time off from a giant act can help everybody recharge their batteries. Though Foo Fighters is Dave Grohl's main squeeze, he hasn't been hurt by dalliances with Queens of the Stone Age, Probot or Them Crooked Vultures. The members of Linkin Park also haven't had any trouble keeping their core strong while branching out into other areas of the music world. Mike Shinoda has had a successful run as part of Fort Minor, and Chester Bennington is currently enjoying success as the frontman of Dead by Sunrise.

Dead by Sunrise combines Bennington with members of arena-goth act Orgy. Interestingly, the Orgy members also have an electronic side project called Julien-K. The family tree runs so deep, in fact, that Bennington joked that they could plan an entire festival featuring only his bands and the connected side projects. "We're going to call it the Narcissism Tour," he joked to MTV News at the Ulalume Festival. "It'll be Linkin Park, Orgy, Fort Minor, Dead by Sunrise, Circuit Freaks, Julien-K and JK DJs."

"That's like a seven hour work day," added guitarist Ryan Shuck.

Be sure to check out the Ulalume Music Festival playlist, which features live performances from Dead by Sunrise, A.F.I. and Paramore. You can check out the whole show tonight (October 30) at 9 p.m. on MTV or at 11 p.m. on mtvU.

Throughout my career as a music writer and critic, I've been wrong about plenty of things. I gave Missy Elliott's Under Construction a poor review (it ended up being one of the best albums of 2002). After hearing the title track from the not-yet-released American Idiot, I declared that Green Day would only sell 50,000 records and would probably break up. And more recently, I didn't think that Kings of Leon would ever become as big (or as cool) as rock critics wanted them to be. But the Tennessee quartet has proved me wrong, having taken their latest album Only by the Night to platinum status, headlined huge concerts and festivals and now getting an all-star remix album together care of some of their high-profile fans. The group told Billboard that the forthcoming compilation would feature remixes care of Justin Timberlake, Linkin Park, Pharrell Williams and Mark Ronson.

"It's neat to have these people who we would've jumped at the chance to work with ourselves ... coming to us before we even get a chance to ask them," drummer Nathan Followill said. "It's amazing to hear your song played by these people who are so creative."

It's not clear what the remixes would sound like or even which tunes will be getting a re-jiggering, but there are a few team-ups that would be ideal. Timberlake should lend a bit of harder-edged disco to the sorta-dance-ready "Sex on Fire." Linkin Park could turn "Molly's Chambers" into one of their aggro stomps, while Pharrell should take "The Bucket" and slather a little bit of robot funk on it. But since Rihanna was recently spotted hanging with the band and attending a KOL show, somebody should give her a call and encourage her to do a straight cover of "Use Somebody." The band's gorgeous ballad — their first trip into the upper-echelons of the Billboard Hot 100 — could be reduced to little more than Rihanna's haunting voice, which could add layers of pathos to an already stunning track. And to return the favor, Kings of Leon should cover "Umbrella."

By Eric Ditzian

Out with the actor, in with the musician. That is UCLA's answer to the abrupt loss of the school's prospective commencement speaker James Franco, who controversially bailed to shoot a film in Ireland. His replacement is Linkin Park guitarist and UCLA alumnus Brad Delson.

How will students react to a musician whose band is most known for aggro shout-fests like "Bleed it Out" as the replacement for an actor known for his role as a baked-out drug dealer in "Pineapple Express"? If Franco didn't cut it, it's hard to imagine that Delson will, even though the LP guitarist has raised millions of dollars for several charitable causes and established annual four-year scholarships for exemplary UCLA students (which is the sort of charity that tends to go unnoticed).

But I'm going to side with college administrators on this one and against the students who protested the selection of Franco, arguing that he lacked the gravitas and credibility to deliver a commencement speech. Read more...

First Linkin Park had to cancel their gig at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas on Monday, then they axed their five-date China tour, all because of lead singer Chester Bennington's back injury, according to the band's Web site. The tour was supposed to raise money to benefit Sichuan Province, the area ravaged by May's earthquake. At least disappointed concertgoers will get their money back, and the band's concert promoter has donated money to earthquake victims anyway.

Read more about Linkin Park's canceled tour dates here.

Long-running, sweet-leaf-loving rappers Cypress Hill are in the process of making their first new album in four years, according to founding member Sen Dog, who told Billboard.com that the group has finished 30 songs for the untitled project. Dog described the album as "definitely hard-core hip-hop" and said the trio hopes to have the album out by the spring, though they’re currently looking for a new record deal.

Sen Dog boasted that it would include writing and production collaboration with Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello on the song "Rise Up" and a cameo from Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda on another untitled track. Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash is slated to appear on a tune called "Front Line."

All of which begs the question, "Wait, Cypress Hill are still together?"

Since it was revealed two months ago that singer Scott Weiland had been booted from the band, the rest of Velvet Revolver have been searching for his replacement. Apparently, the guys have been hosting auditions, and they've even fielded an offer from reality-television producer Mark Burnett, who wanted to make VR the subject of his next "Rock Star" series.

Over the past few weeks, several names have surfaced online as possible future frontmen for the group — including Linkin Park's Chester Bennington, who dismissed those rumors in an interview for this week's Kerrang! magazine.
Read more...

MTV News producer Yasmine Richard spent yesterday afternoon on the set of Busta Rhymes' video for "We Made It," featuring the boys of Linkin Park. She wrote in from the abandoned warehouse in downtown LA:

So we spent the first hour waiting and watching director Chris Robinson's crew set up Mike Shinoda's piano solo shot. And when Mr. Shinoda rolled up, he told us he had some fond memories: Linkin Park shot the cover of their second album, the massive Meteora, right on that spot.

Whatever. You'll have to wait like everybody else until this thing premieres...

Busta's newly re-titled album, Blessed, is due this summer. But for now, you can check out some more exclusive snaps from the "We Made It" set.

The fifth edition of the PROJEKT REVOLUTION tour will kick off on July 16th at the Tweeter Center outside Boston and wrap up on August 24 in Houston. This year's tour will feature Linkin Park, of course, along with Chris Cornell (who will not be performing with Timbaland), The Bravery and Ashes Divide on the main stage. The second stage will host Atreyu, 10 Years, Hawthorne Heights, Armor For Sleep and the Street Drum Corps.

The band and concert promoter Live Nation will forgo charging fans the typical $8-10 service charge per ticket on all tickets purchased through the band's fan-club, lpunderground.com, or livenation.com, for a limited time tomorrow (April 4). Which is very gracious of them.

Tickets for most of the tour go on sale April 11.