AARON LEWIS On Upcoming STAIND Album 'The Space Between The Darkness And The Light': 'This Record Fits Perfectly Right Where It Sits'

In a new interview with Kevin Kellam of Minnesota's 93X radio station, STAIND frontman Aaron Lewis spoke about the band's upcoming album, "The Space Between The Darkness And The Light", and the LP's recently released first single, "Ghosts". Aaron said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think that this record fits perfectly right where it sits, in the succession of records, in the common thread that has gone through all of the STAIND records, which is, lyrically, my struggles and where I'm at in that moment. And I think this record falls right into place. And the song is — for whatever reason, this is the song [that was chosen as the first single]. I'm very proud of all of the songs, and so when it comes time to pick a single, it's usually not me. [Laughs]"

Aaron continued: "If I wasn't proud of the song and I didn't think that it belonged on the record, it wouldn't be there in the first place. So I already put my best foot forward with those songs, so whichever song they decide to pick as the first song that they wanna run with, God bless. I'm glad you picked one. You could've told me there wasn't one, and then we would've been back at square one."

Regarding how "Ghosts" came together, Aaron said: "That's asking me to recall more details than I even allow myself to take in, really. It's a flow. I'm not a songwriter in the sense that I'm formulaic and I come up with these perfect... I just spit what I spit, and it just comes out the way it comes out, and it happens the way that it happens. And one phrase that pops out of my mouth out of nowhere will end up writing an entire song, that one little phrase. I can't give you an answer to your question."

Lewis added: "I do a lot of, like, consonants and vowels. There's words there, but there's not words there. The punctuation is there. The consonant is there. The vowel is there, but it's not a word at all. And then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, words will come out, and I'm, like, 'Where the hell did those just come from?' And sometimes the words that manifest out of gibberish and it's more of a way of holding the sentence, if you were, where...

"The way that I tend to write is I need to know what the musical landscape is before I start trying to come up with melody and trying to position words where they need to be positioned," Aaron explained. "So, a lot of times, it's the melody with nonsensical gibberish to hold the place with iambic pentameter for the words that are inevitably gonna be there. And that's how I usually build the melody. And then the last thing that I do is fit what I'm trying to say into the rhythmic and punctuated, if you will, filler line of melody that now I just need to make what I'm trying to say fit that. And as I started, before my over-explanation, it's a flow. It's a flow, man. It's a flow."

"Ghosts" came out last week via Alchemy Recordings/BMG.

"Ghosts" marks STAIND's first new music drop since 2023's chart-topping "Confessions Of The Fallen" album. Once again, the quartet — Aaron Lewis (vocals, guitar),Mike Mushok (lead guitar),Johnny April (bass, backing vocals) and Sal Giancarelli (drums) — teamed up with producer Erik Ron (GODSMACK, BAD OMENS, PAPA ROACH) in the studio.

"Ghosts" opens with a chugging detuned riff punctuated by Mushok's signature harmonics. This deluge slips into the undertow of a stark verse pinned to April's ominous bass line and a head-nodding beat courtesy of Giancarelli. The groove quakes beneath Lewis's instantly recognizable vocals.

Distortion boosts an unshakable refrain, and the frontman laments, "Fading and failing…Ghosts that I've never found." Veering from one extreme to the next, the track alternates between a beautiful bridge and a bludgeoning last gasp powered by his guttural scream.

You could say "Ghosts" conjures the past, present, and future eras of STAIND all into one concentrated and cathartic burst of emotion and energy.

"We went down to Nashville for a writing trip with Erik," recalled Mushok. "We had gotten together, and I came up with the riff on the spot. From there, Erik and I put the track together in just one day and finished it up. Aaron listened to it a little later and did this really great vocal over it. 'Ghosts' ended up being a very dynamic song."

"It seemed like everybody had gravitated towards 'Ghosts'," adds Lewis. "It's a little different, and it surprised all of us. It's got some heavy elements, but it's certainly melodic too. It's definitely STAIND."

After selling out nearly every date of the first leg of the North American "Break The Cycle" 25th-anniversary tour, STAIND will return to the road for round two in 2027. Of course, they're celebrating 25 years of their breakout 2001 opus "Break The Cycle", which just picked up a seven-times-platinum certification, logged three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the summer of its release, and spawned generational hits like "It's Been A While" and "Warm Safe Place". Thanks to a groundswell of fan support, the latter exploded on TikTok as 2026's most unexpected viral phenomenon, bringing the quartet's streams past the one-billion mark this year.

STAIND has also sold out most of the vinyl variations of its live record, "Break The Cycle (25th Anniversary Live)".

Produced by Live Nation, the 27-city date trek will feature special guests SEETHER and HOOBASTANK, joined by HINDER on all dates except Cleveland. The tour kicks off on March 6 at SNHU Arena in Manchester making stops in Pittsburgh, Dallas, Seattle and more before wrapping up in Cleveland at Rocket Arena on April 16.