User:Awolf58/Dave Farrell

David Michael Farrell or "Phoenix" (born February 8, 1977) is a musician best known as being the bassist and backing vocalist of rock band Linkin Park. He was the last member to join Linkin Park.

Early Life
Farrell was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts on February 8, 1977. When he was five years old, he moved to Mission Viejo, California. His first instrument that he learned how to play was guitar, mainly taught by his mother, but he later switched over to bass. He attended Mission Viejo High School and graduated there. During his high school years, Farrell joined a christian punk/ska band called Tasty Snax and became their bassist.

College
Farrell went to college at UCLA and graduated there in 1999. While in college, Farrell was still in Tasty Snax. He shared a room with future bandmate Brad Delson at that time and they practiced together. He was convinced by Delson to join his band called Xero that Delson had formed with two high school friends a couple of years back. Farrell was put in as bassist of the band. Farrell left Xero in 1998 because he had other commitments with Tasty Snax. Kyle Christener took Farrell's place in the band Xero.

Early Years
During the time that Christener took Farrell's place as bassist in Xero, Xero changed their name to Linkin Park. However, a short while later, Farrell left Tasty Snax to rejoin Linkin Park in 1999. He left the band again later in 1999. Ian Hornbeck and Scott Koziol filled in as temporary replacements from 1999-2001. In 2001, Farrell returned to the band. However, he returned to Linkin Park after their first studio album Hybrid Theory, which shot Linkin Park into popularity.

Reanimation
Farrell's debut with Linkin Park was in the 2002 remix album Reanimation. The album contained remixed versions of songs from Linkin Park's first studio album Hybrid Theory and from other songs before Hybrid Theory. Most of the songs on Reanimation featured underground hip-hop artists. The album helped those artists reach a larger audience. On the album, Farrell played mostly cello and violin.

Meteora
Meteora was the first studio album that Farrell participated in with Linkin Park. The album reached #1 in the US. It was released on March 25, 2003 and it has sold over 16 million copies worldwide. They released six singles for over a year, five of which reached #1 on the U.S Alternative Songs chart. The short 35-minute album was mostly nu metal and rap rock but there was an alternative rock track ("Breaking the Habit") and an instrumental ("Session"). Farrell played bass guitar for all of the tracks on the album.

Minutes to Midnight
Dave Farrell helped Linkin Park continue with another studio album that was released in 2007. It is titled Minutes to Midnight. Farrell once again was the bassist for the album. It has sold over 8 million copies worldwide. Its sound was very different from all of their previous songs. They had a lot of alternative rock on this album. The album had a much softer rock sound with less rapping and less screaming vocals.

A Thousand Suns
Linkin Park's fourth studio album is titled A Thousand Suns, released in 2010. Farrell contributed to the album as the bassist. It was released on September 14. Some songs on the album contain excerpts of famous speeches that were given in the past. There have been four singles released from it "The Catalyst", "Waiting for the End", "Burning in the Skies" and "Iridescent".

Living Things
Linkin Park's fifth and most recent studio album "Living Things (Linkin Park album)", released in 2012. Farrell contributed to the album as the bassist. There have been three singles "Burn It Down (Linkin Park song)", "Lost in the Echo" and "Castle of Glass".

He got married on December 28, 2002 to Linsey Farrell. He also became a father in 2007. He has two brothers. The older one is named Joe and the younger one is named Tyler.His greatest inspiration is his mother because she is the one who taught him how to play the guitar.His advice is to take naps.Farrell prefers to wear boxers rather than briefs.His favorite movie is Braveheart.His favorite food is Mexican food. He has two phoenix tattoos on his back. He also likes to play soccer and go snowboarding.