Mike Shinoda shares first photo with deceased bandmate Chester

BACKGROUND PHOTO: Mike Shinoda on Facebook (mikeshinoda)

It has been five days since Chester Bennington, the frontman of rock band Linkin Park, died of suicide but it still feels unreal that he is not with us.

On Monday night, Mike Shinoda – Bennington's bandmate and friend – shared what he says is the first photo they ever took together as a band in "1997 or 1998".

1997 or 1998...I think this was the first photo we ever took together. We had just told Chester that we wanted him to...

Posted by Mike Shinoda on Monday, 24 July 2017

They "had just told Chester that we wanted him to join the band," Shinoda wrote. According to him, Bennington – who hailed from Arizona, Phoenix – had said he intended to move out to Los Angeles to go ahead with the idea of the band, which was called Xero at that time.

The group, Shinoda narrates, then "went to a pizza place near UCLA to hang out and talk about what to do next", and that's how Linkin Park was born.

"We probably had less than a half a dozen songs. No flame tattoos yet, no red hair yet, most of us were still in college," he continued in his post nostalgically, reminiscing old times when things were simpler and happier and the band members were young, aspiring to take on the world – which they did with their music.

Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington, 41, dead in apparent suicide

The singer allegedly hanged himself at a residence in L.A. County

Shinoda was the first person to announce Bennington's death via Twitter on July 20, 2017.

Bennington was found dead on July 20 at his southern California home in an apparent suicide, the Los Angeles County Coroner's office said. The 41-year-old reportedly struggled with drugs and alcohol for years, celebrity and entertainment news portal TMZ said, adding that in the past, he had considered committing suicide as he was abused by an older male as a child.

The musician spoke openly about his personal battle to overcome his demons when Linkin Park first found success in 2000 with Hybrid Theory. However, in 2011, he said he had been sober for six years.

Linkin Park singer died on friend Chris Cornell's birthday

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Hybrid Theory – LP's debut album – included hits such as "In the End," "One Step Closer," and "Crawling," which won a Grammy award in 2002 for best hard rock performance.

Their latest studio album One More Light was released in May earlier this year and the band embarked on a world tour. Bennington's death came a week before the band was due to kick off the US leg of its tour on July 27 in Mansfield, Massachusetts – which, consequently, was cancelled.

To date, Linkin Park has sold more than 70 million albums worldwide.