Rob Bourdon

Robert Gregory Bourdon (born January 20, 1979) is the drummer and youngest member of the rock band Linkin Park. Bourdon was born in Calabasas, California and now lives in Los Angeles. He grew up in the same town as the members of Incubus and Hoobastank. Bourdon started to play drums after watching an Aerosmith concert. His mother, Patty, is friends with Joey Kramer, Aerosmith's drummer. They also dated when the were much younger. This friendship meant they were able to go backstage and see the entire production. Kramer also gave Bourdon 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. 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.

Personal life

Bourdon once dated actress Shiri Appleby. He dated actress Vanessa Lee Evigan, starting in 2001 but has been single since at least early 2008. His birthday was featured on an episode ofiTunes' 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 Bourdon's twentieth. Bourdon's favorite songs to play are "In the End", "Tinfoil" and "The Little Things Give You Away". His hobbies include playing the piano (although he has never done so for a Linkin Park recording) and surfing.

Bourdon wears racing shoes to get a better feel for the drum pedals; he says it gives him better control of the pedals. He also said that the song "Easier to Run" was the most difficult to play because he had to approach the drums very differently.

Drum equipment

Drums (Gretsch USA Custom) 14X6.5 Snare Drum

• {C 22X18 Bass Drum
• {C 18X16 Floor Tom
• {C 16X16 Floor Tom
• {C 10X8 High-Tom
• {C 12X10 Mid-Tom

In Linkin Park's third studio album, Minutes to Midnight, Bourdon used standard wooden drums, in addition to triggers which were used in his previous albums. Photos of the drum machines to be used for the record have surfaced via Joe Hahn's personal SlamXHype blog.

In live performances of Bleed It Out Bourdon regularly plays a 'Jungle' complex drum solo.

Cymbals

Bourdon uses Zildjian cymbals. 14" A-New Beat hi-hats or 14" A-Custom Mastersound hi-hats [for studio and live, respectively]

• {C 18" A-Custom Projection Crash
• 10" A-Custom Splash
• {C 19" A-Custom Projection Crash
• 21" A-Custom Projection Ride
• {C 20" oriental trash china