CBN | Chester Bennington’s Band Mates on the ‘Demons Who Took You Away from Us’

Chester Bennington’s band members are grieving the loss of their friend and lead singer, acknowledging the inner “demons” that he fought and eventually succumbed to.

The 41-year-old singer was open about his struggle with drugs and alcohol.

According to the Guardian, Bennington’s battle with drugs started at 11 when he was sexually abused and his parents divorced.

“I remember that stuff happening to me at that stage and even thinking about it now makes me want to cry,” he said in the 2011 interview. “My God, no wonder I became a drug addict. No wonder I just went completely insane for a little while.”

It eventually led him to start using cocaine and methamphetamine.

“Nobody Can Save Me” is a single on the same album and it gives insight into Bennington’s internal struggle.

“I’m dancing with my demons/I’m hanging off the edge/Storm clouds gather beneath me/Waves break above my head/ At first hallucination/ I wanna fall wide awake now/ You tell me it’s alright/ Tell me I’m forgiven/ Tonight/ But nobody can save me now/ I’m holding up a light/ Chasing up the darkness inside/ ‘Cause nobody can save me,” the song lyrics that Bennington sang reads.

Last Thursday, police confirmed the father of six hung himself at his home in Palos Verdes, California.

His death came as a shock to the rock music community and happened two months after his close friend Chris Cornell committed suicide in May.

Greg Laurie, senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside California, called Bennington’s suicide “tragic” and encouraged people considering suicide to find hope in Jesus Christ.

“This is tragic, another rock star, another lead singer,” Laurie said of Bennington’s passing. “This is on the heels of Chris Cornell, the lead singer of Soundgarden. As it turns out, Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell were close friends…Chester was devastated when Chris took his own life, but then he goes and does the same thing.”

Linkin Park’s keyboardist Mike Shinoda said it was a difficult loss for Bennington.

Shinoda said Bennington could not make it through practice. He broke down as he sang “One More Light”, a song that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart.

The title song from the album included the lines, “Who cares if one more light goes out?/In a sky of a million stars/It flickers, flickers/Well I do.”

“It is about the loss of a friend,” Shinoda explained.

“When we were doing a soundcheck Chester couldn’t make it through the song,” he said. “He was getting halfway through and getting choked up.”

Bennington killed himself on what would have been Cornell’s 53rd birthday.

He was married and is survived by his wife Talinda Ann Bentley and six children.

Read more at Chester Bennington’s Band Mates on the ‘Demons Who Took You Away from Us’.