It’s another cold day in Minneapolis, but as I walk along Hennipen Avenue I notice that music from First Ave is bringing the heat. Tour buses line the streets, lines of people stand in the cold and I get greeted by none other than Chad Gray himself of HELLYEAH. Even though the chill outside, there’s a warmth and acceptance from the guys that most people don’t realize is there with this band. Not only do the members of this band have incredible music histories of their own, they’ve created a family with their fans within HELLYEAH. A new venture was made and the music scene exploded once again with real music, real people and real drive. HELLYEAH has brought back what it means to live and not give a damn about the impossibilities of life.
STILLCODA: 2007 WAS THE DEBUT ALBUM AND “LET THE STAMPEDE BEGIN” IS THE LATEST ALBUM OUT. HOW HAVE YOU GUYS GROWN AS A BAND AND AS INDIVIDUALS BETWEEN THE TWO ALBUMS?
CHAD: I think that when we started HELLYEAH, we didn’t really know each other. I mean, I knew Greg and we had talked for a long time but out of that not enough you know? Nobody had played in a two guitar player band so that was kind of weird at first. When we got together, we didn’t know what we were doing in that sense. We didn’t have the name of HELLYEAH yet, so we didn’t have that HELLYEAH fire yet. With the first record, we looked back and loved it. We toured for awhile and got to know one another which really helped the process. After that, we went back to our other commitments; me with Mudvayne and what not. We came back for the second record and we had already been dubbed “Hellyeah” so we had that kind of HELLYEAH mindset. We knew what we were, better understood what we were, what we were about since the first record. We had something to build off of; the relationships, the name and it went from there to the second record. It’s never easy but everything just kind of flowed together. Like I said, we had a better understanding of who we were so we just took off down that road. This band has been so awesome. I was nervous to go on tour in the first place because I’ve only ever done Mudvayne. So it was like for me to go from that to HELLYEAH which has a completely different vibe was really liberating for me. Mudvayne had toured back to back to back, wrote and recorded the same way and when we knew a break from all of that was coming up, I needed to do something different to keep things fresh ya know? Mudvayne will always be there but as an artist, you need to push yourself in different directions to keep yourself alive. I’m constantly working, I’m never not working. I believe that you can sleep when you’re dead so why not take advantage of everything you can while you can. I’ve been fortunate enough, lucky enough and talented enough to do these things so why not make the best of what’s around you. This band has the opportunity enough to go in several different directions in the future, whether it’s more country western, southern rock, blues, or more hard rock, which ever, there’s always that possibility.
STILLCODA: WHAT DID YOU WANT TO SEE LYRICALLY AND INSTRUMENTALLY HAPPEN WITH THE SECOND ALBUM?
CHAD: I think that lyrically wise, I worked really hard, took it very personally. I write with my life on my sleeve. I write very personal to the point where people are like they can’t believe I’d be sharing that with people. One thing that I’ve always done is look at the song as a whole. I write a lot of the songs in a way that says what things are about. If it’s some fucking heavy rift, I’m not gonna write lyrics that won’t match that feeling ya know? I’ll write on the heavy side of things to fit that. It’s gotta fit that vibe for it to work right. Lyrically and musically, that’s how we’ve approached things. I believe that HELLYEAH is built on that honesty. We don’t question what’s going to come out of it; we don’t sit and say “let’s sound like this.” We sit down and ask each other “what do ya got?” One of the guys will be like, “I’ve got this rift…” Then we kick it out there, start putting beats to it and it evolves from there. We write songs very fast from that honesty. We do the songs but we don’t over think them. I’m not saying we don’t hit snags, but if we do we work through the problem. We work in a way to make the transition work. We approach it song as what it is and let it flow into what it needs to be. There isn’t a premeditated thought or idea about what we’re gonna do, we just go with it. We might have some ideas on what we want to do and write it down. If I come up with a catch, I’ll write it down in my book for later. Like a title or something like that. A cool phrase or words that I find I like how they play off of one another.
STILLCODA: WHAT DID YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT MAKING THIS ALBUM?
CHAD: It was how the whole process happened and what came out of it. We are who we are. We drink, we party, we fucking barbeque, we hang out; we’re friends. The first record, we recorded at Dime’s place then this time around, Vinnie kind of converted his house into a make-shift studio. We recorded in this room that has like 40 foot ceilings that makes for great drum sounds. We hooked up cords and videos to some rooms so we could watch each other record. The essence of this record was pretty much just us being ourselves, living our lives ya know? We’d barbeque, party, hang out, all of it. We didn’t go into this looking at it as a job, we said fuck it. We’re going to do this the only way we know how and go with it. We take ourselves very seriously but not too seriously. When we’re composing music, it’s just like you see, it’s like that all the time. We’re very down to earth people. We don’t walk around with high heads saying we’re better than this person or that person; that we’re the band and you’re the fan; we say fuck that shit. Everybody has a job to do. Without the truckers, how do you get your shit from one place to the next? Without a carpenter, you don’t have a house. Without a metal worker, you don’t have a car. Everybody’s job makes the world go round, some peoples jobs are just more glamorized than others and I think that’s where we kind of understand each other. It keeps us on equal planes with everyone. I think it’s important to appreciate what everyone does.
STILLCODA: WE SAW YOU THIS SUMMER ON THE UPROAR TOUR AND SAW THE MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF PEOPLE THAT SHOWED UP TO THOSE SHOWS. BETWEEN THE SMALLER VENUES AND LARGER ONES, WHICH DO YOU PREFER MORE TO PLAY?
CHAD: It is what it is, places like this (First Ave) are fucking awesome as everything’s more intimate. We can see the last person in the building. I think that gives us a stronger connection but you have to appreciate the larger venues too as there’s more people. Personally, I like the more intimate settings. It makes me feel closer to the people that make us who we are vs Joe Smith that’s way out in the fucking nosebleeds.
STILLCODA: WHEN YOU’RE OUT ON THE ROAD PLAYING WITH ALL THESE DIFFERENT BANDS, WHAT ARE SOME THINGS THAT YOU SEE THAT GRAB YOUR ATTENTION?
CHAD: The list goes on and on (both laugh). Pretty much everyone that we play with, you find something special that you like. I’ve dubbed myself the “Ultimate Negative One” (both laugh) so I’m always looking for the positive things around. There are tons of things you see that makes bands great. There are different genres and things that make them stand out. I think it also comes from what we are too. I was fortunate enough from a young age to have a younger mother. She had me when she was pretty young so she wasn’t done being a teenager but we had a really close relationship. I grew up with Sabbath, Zepplin and the list goes on and on and on. It started with music at a very young age. I think for Vinnie too, the southern rock; Greg, the early 80’s bands, etc. A lot of the bands Vinnie listened too, I listened too as well. Van Halen, Kiss, Black Sabbath, I kind of come from those roots and along the road from there.
STILLCODA: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS YOU TAKE AWAY FROM WHAT THE FANS?
CHAD: Like I said, I wear my life on my sleeve so there are people that connect with that. There are people out there that had a turbulent childhood like I did, people will come up to me and share their stories. I know where they’re at. The positive to that is that I’m talking to them, they didn’t commit suicide or are in prison. They’re standing in front of me and that’s enough. The other side to that is like young fathers and stuff that come up to me and say that they really heard the song. That it really affected them and they don’t want to be that guy. It may have helped shape them into being a different person listening to that song. We’re a product of our environment for the most part. If people are raised in an abusive environment, become abusive parents. I think those are the most positive things when people change and tell you that your song helped that change. The other side to all of this is that when it’s warm, unlike today (both laugh), we throw barbeques all the time. We invite everyone from people working backstage to the people hanging out. We front the bill for that shit. Sometimes Uproar would give us money to do it, other times we’d front the bill for it ourselves. To us it’s all about community. The other bands, the people working, the fans, radio winners etc really appreciate the memories that can come from everyone being together. It’s not like we hire people to do the cooking, Vinnie and I will be behind the grills cooking shit up for everyone ya know? (laughs). Everyone in the band is prepping and cooking, it takes all night to look around and watch people eat, drink and have a good time is what it’s all about. We get a lot of thanks for that, for being who we are.
STILLCODA: WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST AND LEAST ABOUT BEING ON TOUR?
CHAD: People look at the buses and think it’s all shiny and amazing while there are 9 dudes who don’t get any privacy in it (both laugh). You get just your bunk and that’s it. You can take advantage of your bunk though. I’ve put up my PS3 in there so when I want to get away, I can go there and chill by myself. The power of technology is amazing! (both laugh); the whole Netflix thing, IPhone and all of it. That’s probably the one thing I really do hate is the lack of privacy. Plus the constant grind of being on tour, my voice getting screamed out, being in a lot of pain from that ya know? I miss my wife, my dogs. The things I love: the feedback, the reaction from people. It’s all I know anymore. I’ve done a lot of shit in my life but this is one thing I feel that I’m really good at. I enjoy touring, always have. It’s like comparing it to being on heroin, not that I ever have but the idea that when you’re on it you can’t think of anything but being off of it but when you’re not on it, you think of nothing but being on it ya know? It’s this weird mix of love and hate in a way at times. It’s like sitting and waiting for 23 hours and 15 minutes to go live ya know? I’m living right now but to actually feel alive is to be onstage for those 45 minutes. There’s a difference between living and being alive.
STILLCODA: THERE IS DEFINETLY A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIVING AND BEING ALIVE AND THIS BAND PERSONIFIES THAT DIFFERENCE. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME OUT TO SPEAK WITH US TODAY! WE CAN’T WAIT TO SEE WHAT’S COMING UP FOR HELLYEAH!
CHAD: Thank you! There’s a lot coming up so keep your eyes open for it! See you on the road!
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Check out HELLYEAH's new video for "Better Man"
http://www.metalinjection.net/tv/view/6398/hellyeah-better-man-video
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www.hellyeahband.com/
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