AARON LEWIS: 'I've Been Lucky Enough To Travel All Over The World And I Always Kiss The Ground When I Get Home'

In a new interview with One America News Network's "Real America With Dan Ball", STAIND frontman Aaron Lewis — who will release his new solo album, "Give My Country Back", on July 17 via Big Machine Label Group — was asked why he chose to insert his political opinions into some of his recent solo music. He replied (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Because it's my responsibility at my age to now be the steward of this country, just like everybody else my age. If you're in your 50s, guess what? It's now our responsibility to step up and make sure that this country is handed to our children and our grandchildren in a condition that's better than the way that we found it. And that's how I was raised. That's how I was brought up. You always leave things better than you find them. And this is our responsibility as citizens of the United States of America. We have the most amazing country because the scales are tipped in our favor and not in the government's favor. And I've been lucky enough to travel all over the world and see what it's like everywhere else, and I always kiss the ground when I get home."

Aaron went on to touch upon corruption in America, saying: "I've been alive to see how much destruction has taken place in 30 years, just slow enough so that we don't quite pick up on it. Through 30 to 40 years of slow indoctrination of our children, where we send them off to school and they come back a different person than we sent them off to. And we entrust these people to instill the same moral values and the same ethic into our children that we're trying to instill in them ourselves.

"It's just so unbelievably blatant at this point," he continued. "If you can't see it, you're not looking. And how much destruction has taken place literally in the last 30 or 40 years compared to the 250 years of this country, or the history of man in general, how close we are to destroying everything. And not just the United States — the civilization, the world."

Asked about the lyrical inspiration for the "Give My Country Back" title track, Aaron said:  "I mean, just as an example of one of the lines in the song, the audacity of someone to come to this country and burn our flag in the streets while they wave their flag from the country that they left to come here. Like, what? And we, as a country, not all of us, obviously, but we tolerate it. I know. And tolerance is a man with no convictions. If you're gonna sit there and look at something so wrong and turn a blind eye to it, then where are your convictions? Where are your beliefs? What have you built your whole life and self upon? I mean, it's just logical."

Lewis co-wrote five songs on "Give My Country Back" alongside longtime collaborators including Jeffrey Steele and Bobby Pinson, with additional contributions from Casey Bethard, Travis Meadows and others.

Since launching his solo country career, Lewis has earned two No. 1 Billboard Country Album debuts with "Town Line" and "Sinner", released the platinum-certified collaboration "Country Boy" featuring George Jones and Charlie Daniels, and scored a gold-certified No. 1 hit with 2021's "Am I The Only One". His catalog has now surpassed 5.7 billion career streams worldwide.

At 54 years old, Lewis said "Give My Country Back" reflects a season of change and renewed focus in his life, both personally and creatively.

"This is the perfect record for where I'm at right now," Lewis explained. "As you get older, you start realizing your time is coming to a close. I wasn't living as cleanly as possible, so I quit drinking. I quit smoking cigarettes. I've done some kickboxing. I'm on a healthier routine, and I want to get better before I can't. The realization that life is more than half over will get you to change, if you allow it. That's where I'm at."

Lewis is currently on the road on his "2026 American Tour", featuring his band THE STATELINERS.

In 2024, Lewis was awarded Pandora's Billionaires Plaque, recognizing over one billion streams on the platform.

Lewis made headlines in September 2021 when he urged his fans to chant "Fuck Joe Biden" during a STAIND concert in Pennsylvania.

In March 2022, Lewis told the Los Angeles Times that he doesn't blindly listen to information that is delivered by the mainstream media.

"I'm not uneducated; I'm actually really smart, and I look for myself. I seek other options of information," he said. "I refuse to believe that a huge, gigantic corporation has our best interest in mind."

Asked where he gets his news, Lewis said: "I have news feeds and people that I follow on Telegram. Dan Ball. Andrew Wilkow. Mark Levin. If I'm gonna watch any sort of news source on television, it's Tucker Carlson."

At some of his solo concerts during the Biden administration, Lewis took the stage while wearing a black hat with white mesh and white lettering on the front clearly stating "FUJOE," an expletive directed toward Biden.