Jim Louvau is a name that has become more widely known in the Linkin Park fanbase over the course of this year, in large part due to the photo exhibition, Celebrating the Life of Chester Bennington, a Photo Exhibit by Jim Louvau that was held this year to commemorate what would have been the singer's 43rd birthday, with an additional showcase added in July.
It seems fitting that on Louvau's birthday, we should give thanks to all he's done and show our gratitude and appreciation for his work.
In June's issue of The Entertainer, Louvau spoke on how he and Bennington met. Louvau's band, Victims in Ecstacy, was supposed to perform the Mason Jar when their manager asked them to swap places with the opening act, Linkin Park. At time, Linkin Park were about to release their debut album, Hybrid Theory, and the label had put them on the road with hopes of garnering a fans from audiences of similar bands. There was something special about Louvau and Bennington’s relationship from the beginning.
“He said one of the guys was from Phoenix and his family couldn’t make it out early. He asked if we would mind going on earlier. I said it was fine because it was the middle of the week and I could get out of there sooner.” Louvau recalls,"We had an issue where we broke the snare drum, so I was on stage trying to entertain people and trying to figure out how we were going to do this. Then there’s Chester coming to the rescue, grabbing their snare drum and we finished the show that way. That was the beginning of our friendship.”
Months on, Louvau and Bennington coincidentally ran into each other at a radio show.
“I was backstage, and I get a tap on my shoulder. It was Chester and he was telling me how much he loved my band and loved the show. When I met him, his band wasn’t massive. We were just two guys in bands. It was nothing more than two peers. We did the same thing. He just happened to be really successful with it.”
Eventually, Louvau decided to focus on photography rather than music, saying that it was “the second coolest thing in the world that I could think of to capture my favorite artists.”
Bennington, over the course of his illustrious career, allowed Louvau to help him develop his skills and grew closer over the course of their relationship.
“I have almost a decade’s worth of photos of him—performing on stage with Linkin Park, Stone Temple Pilots or walking down the hallways of Cardon Children’s Hospital. I watched him talk to sick kids and families,” Louvau says. “The vibe was often very melancholy, but Chester's smile when he walked through the door was infectious, and he made others feel at ease."
Similarly, in a June addition of Phoenix new Times, Louvau talks about how he viewed the friendship he had with Bennington. "His success never changed our friendship or how we treated each other. If anything, I was more protective of our relationship and didn't talk about it much, because it seemed like everyone in Phoenix claimed they knew him at one point or another and always wanted tickets to his shows."
One particular conversation Louvau details was one that was had on the fifteenth anniversary of Hybrid Theory, asking about his legacy and life after music, "Look, I enjoy being in Linkin Park, I enjoy the fact that people love coming out to the shows, they love watching us perform, and they love our music. There are lots of perks to being in Linkin Park that I enjoy. People are generally pretty nice to me, so that's a nice benefit. But outside of that, all I want to do is be a dad and just do good things for my community and for people that I can help out. I don't want to die a multimillionaire, just growing money. If I'm not doing Linkin Park, then I should just be at home. Just remember the Linkin Park stuff - that's the only reason anyone's paying attention anyways."
The photo exhibitions that Louvau has crafted is Louvau’s way of mourning the singer and thanking him. “I do these exhibits to honor and thank him because he was a really big part of my story in the beginning. Now, he’s a really big part of my story again. He opened doors for me in the beginning and he’s opening doors for me every day still. It’s unfortunate, the circumstances. I look at it like this: I take the gifts my mother and Chester left me and I’m doing my best to make the best of terrible situations.”
"I have all these different characteristics of Chester through photos. I never thought they would mean so much. I was just taking photos of a friend.” Louvau succinctly wraps up, "He might not have been concerned about preserving his legacy, but those who were close to him are. I share the art that we made together as a tribute and a thank you to Chester. He was a part of my story in the beginning, and now he is cemented in my story for life."
To see more of Jim's work, visit his website and read the full interview with The Entertainer. If you have been affected by any of the issues raised, help and resources can be found at Buddy Project.org.