Mudvayne

Mudvayne is an American heavy metal band formed in Peoria, Illinois in 1996. It consists of four members, lead vocalist Chad Gray, Greg Tribbett on guitars, Ryan Martinie on bass and Matthew McDonough on drums. Under the Epic Records label, the band has a discography of five studio albums, two compilation albums, and two DVDs. In its beginnings, the band was influenced by progressive metal with jazz and blues rhythms, while retaining an aggressive tone characteristic of heavy metal.

Mudvayne rose to fame in 2000 with his debut album L.D. 50, which peaked at #85 on the Billboard 200, and has since been certified gold by the RIAA. The album's lead single, Dig, won the MTV2 Award at the MTV Video Music Awards, in 2001. Additionally, it was the first time in which the award was given to a metal band. In 2006, Mudvayne was nominated for Best Performance by a Metal Band at the Grammy Awards for their single Determined from the album Lost and Found. Mudvayne is certified four times gold by the RIAA, and has sold approximately three million albums in the United States.

Since 2010, the band has remained inactive, with its members focused on other projects and making guest appearances. Chad Gray is the lead singer of the heavy metal group Hellyeah, which Greg Tribbett also belonged to until 2014. In early 2015, Chad Gray stated that the band's return at the moment seems highly unlikely unless " all the members of the band licked their wounds and got over it. In 2021, after 11 years apart, the band announced their return to the stage, with confirmed dates for their tours.

Biography

Origins (1996-1998)

Mudvayne formed in 1996 with Chad Gray, Greg Tribbet, Matthew McDonough, and Shawn Barclay, releasing their demo Kill, I Oughtta. In 1998, bassist Shawn Barclay was replaced by current member Ryan Martinie.

Their first album was released in 1996, they themselves produced an EP entitled Kill, I Oughtta, which helped them to make themselves known in the musical environment of their area and to get a contract with the record company Epic Records.

L.D.50 (1999-2000)

Their first album, L.D. 50, was produced by Shawn Crahan and Garth Richardson, the first of these Slipknot percussionists, and served as a cover letter, not only for the band's peculiarly elaborate style, but also for their skills as musicians.

Today, Mudvayne is a highly praised band on the international rock scene. Although the fact of having toured with Slipknot as opening act has made it difficult for them to compare their style with them (in fact it was theirs that copied, so to speak, the makeup they use at their concerts), which Matt McDonough denied. In an interview he gave to MTV, he declared that compared to the makeup it is not a copy and that these comments are only based on common sense, the position of the aforementioned drummer is somewhat forceful, since with his response he demolishes any position that is held. generated through this; he stated:

Our makeup style is very different from that of our colleagues, you should note that rock when it began to progress started makeups on the faces of many roqueros, such is the case of the immortal Kiss, also notice that our colleagues wear masks, and we only make up as at the time of the '70s, which is the reason to be our original makeup.

Also, the differences in their music are clearly noticeable. The band members say that makeup is a way to give something more to their concerts, a visual aspect.

The band had been on tour with Slipknot again and accompanied by great groups, System Of A Down, Rammstein, American Head Charge and No One, these six groups were for almost a month and a half all over the US at The Pledge Of Allegiance Tour, unfortunately Mudvayne was the first band to leave the tour at almost the month, Rammstein was the second band to withdraw because they felt somewhat disturbed by the events of 9/11 and they decided to abandon it leaving only four groups to continue the tour until finished.

The Beginning of all Things to End and The End of All Things to Come (2001-2003)

This album was followed by The end of All things to come, where song structures are simplified compared to L.D.50 and Lost and Found . It is a work where they deepen their more aggressive side with a greater compositional maturity, far from the excesses of their first work but maintaining their concept of complexity. During the year 2003, they participated in Projekt Revolution with Linkin Park. As a curious fact, the song "Not falling" was used in the MTV TV series of Ciertopelo (Fur TV in English) and in the movie Ghost ship in the final credits (it starts about twenty seconds before ending).

Lost and Found (2004-2006)

In 2005 the album Lost and Found was released, which went platinum.

In mid-2005 Mudvayne performed on the main stage at Ozzfest, during that concert, Chad Gray wore a headless monkey suit. They went through an unfortunate event when they were on tour with American Head Charge, Life Of Agony and Bloodsimple, the death of a member of American Head Charge, guitarist Bryan Ottoson, due to an overdose of medication and they had to cancel the tour. Mudvayne in 2006 toured with Korn and 10 Years on the See You On The Other Side Tour.

By the People, For the People (2007-2008)

By the People, For the People is the compilation album containing live songs and demos from their previous albums, as well as two new recordings, the single "Dull Boy" and "King of Pain". », a cover of the band The Police. The album was named like this because the band wanted to give a certain kind of tribute to their fans as part of their appreciation, but they also had the opportunity to have them participate in choosing the best songs and also in designing the cover art.

In November 2007, a call was held in which fans could participate in the creation of the video for Dull Boy and in which the winner would take home a state-of-the-art digital video camera technology.

In 2007 Chad Gray and Greg Tribbett started the project Hellyeah, a Post-thrash band that includes Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul. Abbott, and members of the band Nothingface.

The New Game (2008)

The band released their album called The New Game on November 18, 2008, from which the singles «Do What You Do» and «Scarlet Letters» stand out, as well as a video clip for the song "A New Game" among the 11 songs is the song "Dull Boy" which had previously been featured on the By the People, For the People album.

Mudvayne (2009)

Their sixth studio album, self-titled Mudvayne, was produced by Dave Fortman in association with Jeremy Parker. The album is "a bit more retro" from a music writer's point of view, according to Gray: "We've been doing this natural progression, and I think for this one, we just sort of sort of a natural comeback." The album was recorded during the summer of 2008 in El Paso Texas. On October 7, 2009, Mudvayne posted an announcement on his MySpace saying that they would be releasing a self-titled album on December 22, followed by a tour. Prior to their album release, they posted two songs called "Beautiful and Strange" and "Heard it All Before" on their official MySpace page. Mudvayne has been described by McDonough as "the best CD the band has recorded since their second album, The End Of All Things To Come".

The album was released in four different formats: a Standard edition in a plastic box, another Deluxe Edition limited to 100,000 copies; contains the light-sensitive disc in Digipack format and an LED to see the cover. An edition Super Deluxe Version, limited edition of 1000 copies, which are only sold through the group's official website. It contains the light-sensitive disc in Digipack format, a led to illuminate the cover of the disc, a sticker and a poster.

Return (2021-present)

On April 18, 2021, the band announces their return to the stage after 11 years of inactivity, on their social networks and YouTube platform they published a teaser announcing their return to music, in addition the group issued the following message: "These symptoms suggest that our evolution, we suppose, from the animal kingdom to the human kingdom were catalyzed or triggered by our encounter with these hallucinogens, and… Yes, we are a monkey in a symbolic relationship with a mushroom, and that it has given us consciousness, language, religion, and the whole spectrum of effects that flow with these things. And one can only wonder how these hallucinogens also affect our future evolution. They have brought us to this point and as we make them aware of our relationship, we may be able to take control of our future evolutionary path." The message is mysterious but he gave signs of his return, they also published dates for their tours.

Dates 2021

• Inkcarceration Festival: September 11, Mansfield, Ohio.
• Louder Than Life: September 26; cancelled show because Chad and several staff members positively gave Covid-19.
• Aftershock Festival: October 9, Sacramento, California. Apart from this show, the band has the participation of a second guitar player as support. His name is Marcus Rafferty, he is guitar technician in Hellyeah and other bands like Lamb Of God and Hatebreed.
• Welcome To Rockville: November 14, Daytona Beach, Florida.

Dates 2022

• Voragos: 16 February, Norwegian Pearl Miami, Florida. Now postponed to 2023.
• Upheaval Festival: July 15th, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
• Rock Fest: July 16, Cadott, Wisconsin.

Setlists

Members

Timeline

Discography

Other albums

Awards

• Winner - 2001 MTV Video Music Awards - MTV2 Award «Dig»
• Nominee - 2006 Grammys - Best Metal Performance «Determined»