Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Originally consisting of three high school friends, Linkin Park’s foundation was anchored by Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson along with Rob Bourdon. After graduating from high school, the California natives began to take their musical interests more seriously, recruiting Joe Hahn, Dave "Phoenix" Farrell, and Mark Wakefield to perform in their band then titled Xero. Though limited in resources, the band began recording and producing songs within Shinoda’s make-shift bedroom studio in 1996. After they failed to land a record deal, however, tensions and frustration within the band grew, and the lack of success and stalemate in progress prompted Wakefield, at that time the band's vocalist, to leave the band in search for other pr