Rob Bourdon

Robert Gregory Bourdon (born January 20, 1979) is an American musician , who is currently the drummer and one of the founders of nu metal band Linkin Park.

Early life

Rob was born in Calabasas, California where he grew up with members of Incubus. Rob grew up in a Jewish family.

Rob started to play the drums after watching an Aerosmith concert. His mother was the girlfriend of Joey Kramer, Aerosmith`s drummer, so they were able to go backstage and see the entire production; Kramer also gave Rob a kick pedal.

In his early teen years, Bourdon played in a few bands with his friends. It was around that time that he met his current Linkin Park bandmate, Brad Delson, and they played together for about a year in a band called Relative Degree. Their goal was to play at the Roxy Theatre, after achieving their goal with a sell-out show, Relative Degree eventually broke up.


Musical career

In the albums Hybrid Theory and Meteora, Bourdon`s style was simplistic, mostly trying to fit the drumming into the nu metal sound of the band, with only "Easier to Run" from Meteora sounding very complex as Rob had to approach his drum playing style differently. In the latest Linkin Park album Minutes to Midnight Rob`s drums had wooden bodies to sound more traditional, most notably a complex 3/4 drum pattern in "The Little Things Give You Away". In live shows, playing with the song "Bleed It Out", the song is extended with Rob playing a long solo. A note about Rob`s style is that he will always play the drums wearing FIA spec motorsport shoes made by Puma. He has said that it gives him better feel and control of the pedals.


Personal life

He once dated actress Shiri Appleby in 1992. He also dated actress Vanessa Lee Evigan from 2001 to 2007. He is now reportedly single as said in recent interviews.

His 25th birthday was featured on an episode of iTunes` LPTV. On January 20, 2004, Linkin Park played a show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the band can be seen joking around backstage and saying that it is Rob`s twentieth birthday. This caused some confusion among viewers. In late 2006, Chester Bennington of Linkin Park said on Tattoo Stories that his band mates Rob and main guitarist Brad Delson didn`t have any tattoos for religious reasons. Both are actively of the Jewish faith. He now lives in Los Angeles.

In late 2007, he sported a new hairstyle contrast to his trademark crew-cut hair during the earlier days.


Equipment


Drums (Projekt Revolution kit)

Gretsch USA Custom
(Diameter x Depth)
14X5 Snare Drum
10X8 High-Tom
12X9 Mid-Tom
16X13 Floor Tom
18X16 Floor Tom
22X16 Bass Drum


Cymbals (Zildjian)

14" A-New Beat hi-hats
14" A-Custom Mastersound hi-hats [Changes between hi hats live]
18" A-Custom Projection Crash
10" A-Custom Splash
19" A-Custom Projection Crash
21" A-Custom Projection Ride
20" Oriental China "Trash"
14" ZXT Trashformer


Others
Heads: Various Remo Heads
Sticks: Vater Power House (Hickory with wood tip) and Splashstick
DW 5000 kick pedals
Hardware: Gibraltar Rack System
Freestanding Electric Drum Pads (Pintech)
Triggers on snare (DDrum)
KD-7 Bass Drum Trigger Unit (Roland)
DM5 Drum Module (Alesis)
Footwear: Puma racing shoes
Recording Software: Pro Tools
MultiDirector DI (Whirlwind)
Headphone Mixer MH4 (Rane)
Crossover SAC22 (Rane)
Bass Shaker (Aura)
S6000 Sampler (Akai)
MPC2000XL Sampler (Akai)
M-1400I Power Amp (Mackie)
PL Plus Power Conditioner (Furman)