MUDVAYNE guitarist Greg Tribbett has confirmed via Twitter that the band is currently on hiatus while he and singer Chad Gray "are concentrating on HELLYEAH," their band with drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott (PANTERA, DAMAGEPLAN), guitarist Tom Maxwell (NOTHINGFACE) and bassist Bob "Zilla" Kakaha (DAMAGEPLAN). According to Greg, HELLYEAH will be on the road for "the next two years" in support of its forthcoming third album, which is due in early 2012.

It's been almost two years since MUDVAYNE released its self-titled fifth album and little has been heard about the band since then. But in a late 2010 interview with the music blog Warwick, bassist Ryan Martinie discussed the group almost entirely in the past tense. When asked about the quartet's musical evolution, Martinie said, "I think that what we did is valuable. It's become a cog in the wheel of music in some sort of way. We are a piece of musical history now . . . We were always just responding to our environment. I always saw the band to be important as an aspect of my life, as something that was supposed to take us places that are positive, and in that sense everything that happened with the band has happened for a reason."

Martinie also hinted that he was working on his own musical project, but said, "Nothing is really solidified in terms of who I'm working with. But yes, of course, I will share it with the world when the time comes and it's something relevant that I'm happy with."

MUDVAYNE did not tour behind its fifth album, which was barely promoted and sold weakly upon release.

Back in February 2010, The Pulse Of Radio asked MUDVAYNE drummer Matt McDonough about the band's future. "I think with any artist it's important to have moments to decompress, to kind of self-reflect," he said. "We're kind of reacting to this whirlwind of activity that we've done for years, and now we're kind of letting the dust settle on the rubble and just giving ourselves time to breathe, and to kind of come back after reflecting and deciding what we're gonna do."