MUDVAYNE Interview

The Gauntlet: The new Mudvayne album, Lost And Found, seems it is a bit of further growth and progression in terms of songwriting for the group. How did that come about? Was it a conscious decision to change your sound or do you feel that it was a natural progression?

Chad Gray: I think it was, you know, I think you get back into writing mode and you don't know what to expect, things just start coming out, you know, you can like chase it away or you can just go for it. That's what we did on this. I think we felt comfortable with the direction of the writing and stuff so I think it's a maturation of ourselves for sure.

The Gauntlet: So why did you guys decide to ditch the suits and makeup? You seem to have gotten rid of the personas you had created for yourselves. Now you're going with a more stripped down look and style. Is it a matter of the band taking themselves more seriously? Was this a conscious decision on your part?

Chad Gray: I think that it's just-it came down to the fact that there was so much emphasis being placed on what we were doing visually than what we were doing musically. Whatever, it was just always supposed to be an additive to enhance the music in a live performance. Not that we hated it by any means, I mean I loved doing things like that and I still will, I consider myself a visual artist as well as a sonic artist, so, I don't think that we'll stop doing things all together, it's just that we kinda wanted to do it on our own terms and not just have it be the expectation.

The Gauntlet: Right, so it's a move away from the focus being the image with the goal of putting the music out front.

Chad Gray: Sure.

The Gauntlet: Well, I remember the first time I saw the band in concert it was the image that really caught my attention. It was really the first time I had been exposed to the group and you certainly caught my attention as being a group that were doing something different but in the same sense when you hear the new record, the music is so striking that it stands on its own, do you feel that the new material is getting a positive response from the long time fans who caught onto the band during the L.D. 50 era?

Chad Gray: I don't know, I haven't really heard that much response. I know that you know, the thing that we did with Determined or whatever, putting it out there, that was just like, that was a freebie, we wanted to give people something to start getting excited about because we had been gone for so long, um, actually you have no choice but to deal with it when you write records, so that's the single and we just wanted to put it out there. But, you know, I would think that you know, I would say that eighty percent of the response being that that's the probably only thing that anybody has heard, is positive and you know there's still very much, I mean we haven't strayed too far away from where we were going, where we started going on the last record, it's still Mudvayne and there's still just as much craziness, you know, um, time signature work and things like that, it's a matter of refining, you know. To be a pro you always need to refine yourself.

The Gauntlet: Right on, well I remember when I first seen the new video, I didn't catch the beginning of it and I watched the video thinking, wow this is pretty cool! Then at the end I was like, wow, this is Mudvayne?

Chad Gray: (laughing)

The Gauntlet: So you guys have been hard at work getting the record together and next you have some very special tour dates coming up, tell us about the first leg of the tour.

Chad Gray: Well, we're gonna do this kinda preliminary little run or whatever. It's like major market type stuff, places where we know we can do, we can do like Chicago, we sold out two nights in a row, San Antonio, Texas, we sold like 7500 tickets at Sunset Station, and um we're playing larger markets, but in smaller venues, kind of just digging back into our roots or whatever, because of the chaos of like, just being under time constraints of writing records and like touring all the time, you know touring like Summer Sanitarium type tours of the world, you know, and doing festivals and things like that or whatever and sometimes you find yourself just getting further away from where you're really at, whatever and like the core of what your true self is or whatever and you need to, I think you need to decide about revisiting those moments with these venues. Two of the venues we played like two years before we were even signed, you know and so it's like we are revisiting, like small little venues, you know. It's like a hunt for that intimacy, you know, that you had when you first start playing or whatever but-it's like it's getting further and further away to the point where people are like "Oh, I'll never see them in that place again" or whatever and it's like we are wrenching that whole idea. So you know, here we are. And it suck that like forty-five hundred, six thousand people or whatever that won't be able to get in and see the show. But you know the five or six hundred that do get in to those venues are gonna remember it. It's nice to share something on that intimate of a level with our friends, you know? We consider our fans as very much our friends and our family and so they support us as we support them, you know? And we want to give them back some of that support.

The Gauntlet: So from a songwriting perspective this record seems somewhat internal at times, as opposed to external as far as the weight of the influence on the material appears. What drove you to create this type of music at this time? I know that you're really pulling a lot of stuff from within yourselves.

Chad Gray: You know, I think that everything around a being or whatever, it just flows with the way that that carries himself and that would mean that on this, you know, I don't think that it's a political record at all, but it's just an underlying theme of honesty and integrity and, uh, just you know, you have to have remorse for things, you know? You have to look back on your life and ask yourself, you know, if you're sorry for anything you've done, is there anything that you would have done differently and, um, you know, just really, I think it's all about self-reflection and stuff, you know and I think that the way that I've carried myself in my life, whatever, I wish not to put myself up on some big, high pedestal or something like that, but I think I've carried myself very well, I consider myself an honest person. I had to hold on tight to my integrity, you know, I'm not willing to just let things like that go or whatever and it's just some of the people-because I, I do have a public you know, persona or whatever and those are the kinds of things I wanna put out there rather than being so negative, or you know, like being looked at as like a liar or a fake. I think that people can see through that and I'm like, very disappointed in, you know, like just the leaders in every level of government and business and it's kind of depressing, you know? You see all this, everything that's goin' on with the war and stuff and you just, you look at things like Enron, you know, and it's ridiculous that people who have so much just keep taking and take from people who have so much less than them, it's just ridiculous.

The Gauntlet: What is it that you think can be done to change these types of things?

Chad Gray: I think that people need to start taking a look inside themselves and ask are they happy with themselves. I think people should be ashamed of themselves

The Gauntlet: Do you think that those types of people that have the money and have the power, do you think that they care?

Chad Gray: I think there comes a point when you have to care.

The Gauntlet: Or do you think that if they refuse, then it is a situation where the rest of the people need to hold them accountable in some way?

Chad Gray: Yeah, I think that, I mean, I think that people absolutely need to start voicing it themselves and questioning the authority that's pushed upon them or whatever. Um, you know it makes no difference if it's a boss, or a boyfriend or girlfriend, or any situation where you feel like you're being taken advantage of. I think it's unfortunate. You know, I'm not saying this record's gonna cure the world by any means, but, it's just, you know, I think you've gotta put your own best foot forward and that's what I was doing, like I said, I was doing a lot of just self-reflection, um, influenced by things going on around us. You know, it's humanity, not just, you know, Americans or whatever, it's humanity, looking at the things we've done in the past and how we've been humane to others.

The Gauntlet: So, this attitude seems like kind of a turnaround in the direction of the message for me, because, you know I remember when L.D. 50 first came out and you guys had the Mudvayne logo that kinda looked like a pentagram. Obviously we both know that the people from where that imagery originates, they're the ones in control of things, financially and otherwise. It seems like those are the people that you're talking about, that you are now speaking against.

Chad Gray: I think playing, playing, you know we've put a lot of things out there because like, to believe in the Devil, you know, you have to believe in God. And I'm not sure that anybody in this band you know certainly doesn't believe in religion. I mean, I don't. Personally, I don't believe in religion. I believe in some level of spirituality. I think that there is a main force that gives everyone a talent. I think that everyone has a talent and some are more high profile than others, but that doesn't make people any less special, know what I mean? I think we've done a lot of things kind of mocking, like stuff that's influenced us.

The Gauntlet: Let's speak for a moment about where this album ventures musically. Obviously you have progressed a great deal and it is such a matured sound. It really seems as if you guys have reached the point where you are very proficient at writing a song that is truly memorable.

Chad Gray: Yeah, well it's a lot of practice. You know we're like four records in, that is if you wanna consider the first demo thing that they re-released, I mean I feel like they were poor songs, but they were songs nonetheless. Our first stab at, you know, writing together. L.D. 50 was kind of like a pretentious wack-off session I think, a lot of individuality on that record. We started like after playing those songs over and over again, that's when we first started touring was that record. I think we grew up a lot. I think we spent a lot more time with each other, I think we learned to care about each other a little more and we learned to share with each other more and give everybody their own space to shine or whatever, there was just a lot of individual shining on the first record, whatever, everybody seemed like they were competing with the other guy, but I think as far as really good songs, really good content, that started with The End Of All Things To Come, and I mean this is just an extension of that, it's just, it really doesn't get any easier, it's just that we know each other better, we know that, what you throw out there, whether it's gonna just be laughed at or accepted, know what I mean.

The Gauntlet: So, you feel that as opposed to the earlier material that now Mudvayne is a bit more cohesive?

Chad Gray: I'm not saying that we weren't completely, but there was a lot of outshining and overshadowing in some of the mixes and stuff or whatever and a lot of us didn't agree with, the label, you know and just production things and how we wanted to be perceived when we first came out stuff. And a lot of it was just how things came out and we were very green and kind of allowed things to happen and I obviously don't wanna point my finger back at the label, but it's just we were very, very controlled in our early days and now, I think that we would have done things a little differently, it would have been different for sure. I think that we felt really good about those songs, listening to L.D. 50, today, on my drive up to San Jose and I had that record in and I was listening to it in rehearsals and stuff, so I just wanted to throw that record in and kinda listen to it and stuff and I just walk into rehearsal and I'm like "My God", this record is so insane, it's just awesome to listen to, you know, I haven't heard it in so long and obviously I have played those songs many, many times and it's so rad to listen to that record.

The Gauntlet: You have been talking a bit about the mixes on L.D. 50, how did it feel to work with Dave Fortman on this new album, he is such a hot producer right now. Was it a good working relationship?

Chad Gray: Well it's, like, weird, the thing most that turned me personally to Dave Fortman, was Superjoint Ritual. Because I love the rawness, the reality of that band, they're just fucking amazing, you know? I loooove that band. They just bring it and I love it. Then I saw he produced that record, and of course, I learned about the Evanescence record and I'm like, oh he did that too? And that really kinda, you know, turned on a light in my head, 'cause I've always wanted to, kind of, just split the difference between L.D. 50, production aspects of L.D. 50 against production aspects of End Of All Things To Come. End Of All Things To Come was a bit more polished and L.D. 50 was a bit more raw, whatever, so I wanted to just , you know, split the difference in there somewhere, just go for, like, great raw tones and I knew that he could do that because , like, obviously for both bands, Evanescence and Superjoint or whatever, but just really bypass a lot of the bells and whistles that people are using now, and I like told him, I was just like, I want really, pretty dry vocal production, I mean, not completely dry, there's a little bit of candy here and there, but for the most part it's just straight up. It's like, you know, I didn't want a lot of bells and whistles on it and stuff, you know? I got exactly what I wanted out of this record as far as sounds go man, it just sounds phenomenal, and I think that the raw tones that are there-it's just fucking phenomenal.


The Gauntlet: So as a producer was he more involved with the technical, engineering side of it, or was he more of a coach, really driving the guys in the band for performance?

Chad Gray: He's, he's like diplomatic Dave, man. He just does, he is like a true producer because, he will just like draw, because each individual person is an individual person that makes up this collective whole that is Mudvayne or whatever, but he can draw, he knew how to play on different people's weaknesses and make them feel more comfortable and more confident within themselves. Uh, he really embraced performance, he is really into it and , like, you know, you know he really pushed me, not only to sing better, to write better, to revisit things, to step back and take a longer look, and pick it apart, question it. "Is this the best you can do", kind of thing, and you know, when you write a record in four months, I'm sure that early on, parts that he heard weren't the best that I can do. You always feel like you're kind of under the gun, so you just wanna get things done. You want to get things, done, you wanna get them demoed then you'll, deal with any changes that you have to make in the recording. He did that, but he did that in like, such an eloquent way, I mean like you know, he just knew how to draw the energy outta me. You know, he would work differently with me than he would work with Matt or work with Brian, you know? I remember one night I went in there and I was like singing the song and it was just hideous, I mean hideous, and it was like, just one of those days, you know, when you're just havin' a bad day. My instrument's within and that's all I can do, you know what I mean? That was the best that I could do for that day, and it was just really bad and we were sitting there listening to it or whatever and I'm like, "Dude, I'm outta here, I'm leavin', if you wanna listen to this you can and go through and listen to different takes, but I'm out". And, like three minutes later, he came walkin' out behind me and said, "let's just call this a day, we'll do it again tomorrow'. It's just funny how he would do things like that. And it was like he almost embarrassed me, kind of embarrassed me a little bit by him walkin' out after me like that it sucked that bad, you know? But when I came in the next day, you better know that I was on, it's like I was ready to deliver FOR HIM. Over-deliver for that song. But it's like, he's a great person. The first time that I met him it was like I had known him my whole life, he's just one of those guys. He's from Louisiana and it's like, he's a bro, man. I mean, we're both from the Midwest; we have the same kind of attitude. We all have our chemistry sets and all that, but at the end of the day, we're just a bunch of beer drinkin', you know, booger eatin' kind of guys, you know?

The Gauntlet: Well, while we are on the lighter side of things, what is the craziest experience you have had since you have been in Mudvayne? Like an instance where you say to yourself, "I just can't believe that this kind of thing could happen"?

Chad Gray: Like I can't believe like something like that could happen? Oh, I don't know, man. You know I think that if you put yourself in front of like four, five thousand people and you really fudge something pretty bad, those are your pinnacle moments. I mean, like we were playing Now Forever at a place, we sold this place out, the Norva, Norfolk, Virginia. Awesome place. Great crowd, great fans down there man, like just unbelievable playing Now Forever, just this crazy, you know this many, many part opus song off of L.D. 50 and I think that Matt just spun out, man, he just lost it. Everybody's playing a different part, nobody knows what's going on, you know, I wanted to melt right there. Cause, I just stopped singing. And if I stop singing, then everybody knows. But if I would have just kept going, I mean that's where it would have ended up. But, those kinds of moments are always the worst. You as far as just like saying things, other things, there's been like road stories of being, like just ridiculously drunk or something, I mean, not a whole lot to tell. We're pretty, we're pretty chilled, and we're pretty kicked back guys. We don't, we don't dislike other people by any means, we're just like, we're like kind of to ourselves and sometimes it just comes off like, weird, sometimes with other bands. They really think that we're trying to be assholes or full of ourselves or something like that but it's just, I think it's just in out nature. It's who we are or whatever. But we, we pretty much just chill a lot man. Just tour around and get up and do our thing and that's about it, you know? Hopefully we do it the best we can for that day.

The Gauntlet: So exactly what would you like to let all of the Mudvayne fans know about that which is to come in the near future?

Chad Gray: We're back, you know, and we're bringin' it as hard as we ever did. I'm lookin' so forward to seein' all of our fans again, you know? We duck out of the whole limelight, so to speak, every couple years to do this stuff, you know? We've never been a band that wants to feed the cattle, you know? We want real fans and real people and genuine people to be at our shows and we just look forward to seeing them�


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Tags:  Mudvayne  , Chad Gray, interviews

EF    January 14, 2005