Chester Bennington (file)
Photo: Chad Buchanan/Getty Images

In the career path of a rock star, playing in a cover band typically comes near the beginning, somewhere between discovering your parents' vinyl and winning a battle of the bands at the county fair.

Lately, however, some rock stars have been forming ironically named cover bands after making it big. In fact, what used to be considered somewhat lame has suddenly become chic, with Dave Navarro's Camp Freddy leading the way.

"Everyone's jumpin' that train, man," said Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, whose cover band Chevy Metal has been playing around Los Angeles for five years.

So why the step back?

"Because we have a really killer time doing it," Navarro answered. "It's kind of a celebration of that time where there's no publishing, there's no management, there's no label that's attached to it. It's really just a group of guys getting together and doing what they love doing, which is playing music."

In many ways, playing in a cover band helps musicians balance the stresses that accompany playing in an original band. "Anything that's no pressure, musically, is a lot of fun," Hawkins explained. "There's a lot of pressure to get up and play drums in front of 30,000 people. So I like those low-pressure things and I think everybody who does what I do enjoys that too."

"None of us are out here trying to prove anything," added Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington, who also fronts the cover band Bucket of Weenies. "We're just out here having a good time and hopefully people show up and listen. And if they don't like it, then they can at least go buy a beer and it sounds like they're in any other bar."

For Bennington, doing a cover band was also a way to play music far different from his main gig, as well as to pay homage to his variety of influences, from the Cure to Oasis. "These are songs you play when you pick up your acoustic guitar and you're sitting there with your friends figuring it out and you're like, 'God, that is good,' " said Orgy's Ryan Shuck, who plays guitar in Bucket of Weenies. "Except all our friends happen to be really talented musicians."

"It's just stuff that we grew up loving and playing in garages with each other when we were kids," added Navarro, whose Camp Freddy focuses on classic-rock hits like Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" and Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz."

Music journalist Lorraine Ali credits rock stars' early fandom as their main inspiration for forming cover bands later on. "Most musicians were influenced by someone, they want to be somebody else — or they did when they were kids," she said, citing John Lennon's love of Elvis Presley. "And doing a cover band is kinda the way to be like, 'I actually can slip into the shoes of, you know, Prince.' And there's something about it that's kind of tongue-in-cheek, so nobody can really ridicule you for doing a cover band after you get famous."

Since Camp Freddy formed in 2002, the band has become a major draw, mostly reserving their shows for special events and posh private parties. There's also been talk of a star-studded album in the works.

For Hawkins and Bennington, though, the occasional gig is enough. "We're the worst band in the world. I mean, it really is a joke," said Hawkins, whose Chevy Metal draw from the catalogs of Deep Purple, Queen and the James Gang. "It's not a joke, but it's not serious, it really isn't. I mean, we don't do corporate gigs or any of that kind of thing. Everybody makes 150 bucks here and there and we have fun."

"It's really something that wasn't planned," Bennington said of the Weenies. "It was really spontaneous and I think it will continue to be spontaneous as far as the songs we play and the venues we play. You know, we played the other day in a parking lot in front of Home Depot. And it was really a fantastic show."

• Chester Bennington
• Linkin Park
• Dave Navarro
• Jane's Addiction
• Foo Fighters

Linkin Park's Chester Bennington
Photo: Getty Images/Timothy A. Clary

HOLLYWOOD — Chester Bennington's house might have been the place to trick-or-treat this year, at least if you had any interest in the Linkin Park singer's top-secret side projects.

"I was thinking of making candies and giving them out to little kids, and then when they eat them, it downloads [the albums] into their brains," Bennington deadpanned. "If anybody out there actually has the talent to create that technology, give me a call."

And if not, at least Bennington is finally talking about his outside efforts, Snow White Tan and Julien-K, both with Orgy guitarists Ryan Shuck and Amir Derakh, as well as cover band Bucket of Weenies, whose Hollywood debut was October 25 at the Avalon.

In fact, it was hard to get Bennington to shut up about the latter, a much less serious band with no plans to record. When he did, however, he revealed a bit about the other two bands. It seems Bennington sings for Snow White Tan, while Shuck handles vocals for Julien-K, an electro band. (Bucket of Weenies features Bennington, Shuck, guitarist Mike Rouse of the Johns, bassist Mike "Cheez" Brown of T.S.O.L. and drummer Sean Dowdell of Bennington's pre-Linkin Park band, Grey Daze.)

"We've been working for a long time on these projects, and they're really interesting and different," Bennington said. "I don't know if I want to let too much of the cat out of the bag at this point, but when the time is right I think people are really gonna enjoy what we've been doing, and hopefully it kind of adds a new flavor to the music scene."

Like Linkin Park MC Mike Shinoda's Fort Minor, which is pure hip-hop (see "Linkin Park MC Gets Director With Flair For Video With Flares"), Snow White Tan and Julien-K are much different than Linkin Park. "It's not done purposely," Bennington said. "It's just that way, it's just naturally different."

Shuck, who met Bennington when Linkin Park were recording their first album at the same studio where Orgy were working, said some of the Snow White Tan material dates back five or six years.

"I always used to go to his house and hear him play acoustic guitar," Shuck said. "And I always thought to myself, 'Oh my God, these are such good songs.' "

Both the Snow White Tan and Julien-K albums are nearly complete, but the guys want to properly release and promote both the projects, which is where the scheduling issue comes into play.

"Timing is everything, and because of the kind of lives that we have, with so many different things going on, we have to really make sure that it's the appropriate time," Bennington said.

"By the time it actually comes out, we're gonna have probably three or four records' worth of material to release," he said. "But we'll see."

In the meantime, Bennington and Shuck are having the time of their lives with Bucket of Weenies, who put a punk or hard-rock spin on a variety of covers, including Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds," Oasis' "Wonderwall" and Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game." At the Avalon, the band also played Snow White Tan's "The Morning After" and a few Brown originals.

Bucket of Weenies formed last spring to play a Tempe, Arizona, show celebrating the 10th anniversary of Bennington, Brown and Dowdell's Club Tattoo chain.

"What was gonna be a small thing turned out to be 6,000 people, and we had a ton of fun," Brown said. "And then we thought, 'Let's keep playing.' "

"It's really kinda cool 'cause we play like, not the typical stuff — it's not 'Smells Like Teen Spirit,' " Bennington said. "We're doing tracks that I think are songs that when you listen to them you go, 'Wow that's a really cool song.' "

The band apparently built its set list while jamming in Shuck's basement, yelling out songs and seeing if they could figure out how to play them.

"We're all over the map," Rouse said. "We've got Dramarama, we've got the Cure, we've got Bowie, just kind of like a collective sort of what we all listened to growing up and kind of got us to where we're at now. And we're having fun re-exploring it."

As for the name Bucket of Weenies, Shuck came up with it during a live radio interview in Tempe.

"It's just when you're partying and all your friends are, like, pulling their shirts off and you're just like, 'What a bucket of weenies,' " he explained.

"It was fantastic and stuck," said Bennington, who noted that the initials spell "bow." "Join the BOW movement!"

• Chester Bennington
• Linkin Park
• Orgy