MUDVAYNE Singer: 'HELLYEAH Fills A Hole Somewhere Inside Of Me That I Had'

Australia's X-Press Online recently conducted an interview with HELLYEAH/MUDVAYNE frontman Chad Gray. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On HELLYEAH:

"HELLYEAH is just really something to be excited about and I hope people get behind it. I think the biggest reason why somebody wouldn't get behind this is if they're not open-minded enough because it's a really diverse little record. There's some really heavy songs on it, some really mellow songs, some beautiful songs and chaotic, crazy songs and it's pretty much all over the map."

"We've been talking about this for five years, you know. Tom (Maxwell, NOTHINGFACE) and I were out on tour back in the day and we got on really good. Drank a lot, partied a lot, talked a lot of shit about starting this super-heavy band. That was years and years ago, and we always kind of just kept it in our heads. Then we saw a window of opportunity in MUDVAYNE because we knew no matter what, we were gonna take a summer off. So rather than taking a break you know, like most normal people watch TV or pet your dog or hug your wife or whatever, I'm like, 'Well, I'm gonna go to Dallas and write a record.' I don't know why the fuck I did it, but I did it, and I'm really proud of it and it's been a lot of fun."

"HELLYEAH fills a hole somewhere inside of me that I had, and some kind of a gap in my life, something I was missing out on from writing. HELLYEAH is not a better thing or a worse thing, it's just different. The HELLYEAH record is cool because I was just writing what was on my mind, and I don't know where that would have been able to fit in into a MUDVAYNE record. That's where I'm thankful to have that HELLYEAH outlet. It's really another side of my psyche and my headspace and what I'm about. I think it's important for people to kind of sever themselves and look at the other side of yourself or whatever, if you have time to do it."

On HELLYEAH's distinctly southern flavor:

“I dunno man, I think where we come from, we're not 22 years old. Our first band that we started listening to wasn't KORN. We were into old METALLICA and MEGADETH and OBITUARY. And even further back, Ozzy and SABBATH, THE STEVE MILLER BAND, LYNYRD SKYNYRD. I think that's probably where it comes from you know, you start laying down grooves and that's what you got."

Read the entire interview at www.xpressmag.com.au.