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Chester Bennington chases angels and demons in Dead By Sunrise (© Kabik/Retna Ltd./Corbis)

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Of all the songs on the album, I was struck by two of them in particular, Give Me Your Name and Into The Darkness. You really write about human relationships in a raw, naked manner on these.

"Thank you. Yeah, well, that was the idea. [laughs] Those songs were experiments. Into The Darkness was more up my alley in that it was kind of a love song but it was dark and twisted at the same time.

"I don't know if anybody else finds it romantic, but when I sing 'I want to open my skin and pull you in,' I find it sexy, the idea of wanting somebody so badly that you want to become one with them; you want to inhabit their body and vice-versa. It was hard to open myself up in that way because I usually write about doom and gloom and 'poor me' shit. [laughs]

"Give Me Your Name was even further outside the box because it was a song my wife asked me to write for our wedding. She looked at me one day and said, 'You should write a song for our wedding that we can dance to.' As if that's so easy! [laughs] 'Sure, honey, I've got that one right here.'

"Obviously I'm not a love song kind of guy, but I looked inside myself and those words came out. Truthfully, it was never supposed to be for the record; it was only intended for our wedding. But it came out so good that I thought, Hey, I should put this on the record. Maybe other people will use it for their weddings." [laughs]

"I do enjoy drinking - a lot. And I hate it at the same time. I hate that I need it."

You sappy guy you!

"Yeah, I know. I'm a sucker for that shit." [laughs]

On a couple of other songs, Crawl Back In and My Suffering, you write pretty openly about your addictions.

"I do. I'm also a sucker for alcohol. It's an amazing thing…it was baffling to me when I was going through the throes of alcohol addiction because I'm usually a pretty even-keel guy. But when it comes to drinking, I just can't stop. The urge to drink just takes over. It astounds me how different I am when I'm drinking from when I'm not. I become this other person. Probably not a very good person, but that's what alcohol can do to some people."

Where do you think this self-destructive tendency comes from?

"You got me. But I know I'm not alone. It doesn't matter how rich you are, how successful - it can happen to anybody."

Are you currently sober?

"I am. But I'll tell you, I've had vertigo the past two weeks that I haven't been drinking. It's a hard thing to deal with. I do enjoy drinking - a lot. And I hate it at the same time. I hate that I need it. It's a huge temptation for me. It just takes over. But life is so much easier when I'm not drinking. Hey, I guess that's what we have support groups for, right?"