HELLYEAH Frontman: 'I Don't Want To Be On Stage When I'm 60'

Charlie Steffens of KNAC.com recently conducted an interview with HELLYEAH/MUDVAYNE frontman Chad Gray. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

KNAC.COM: You hear people say all the time that if it had not been for their art they would be crazy or would have gone on to live a miserable life. Would you say that music saved your ass?

Gray: Oh, absolutely. It was a great release. It almost killed me. I mean, writing the stuff I did for [MUDVAYNE's] "L.D. 50", you know, when I was writing I wanted to be honest. It's very important to me to be honest and not sugarcoat shit. I've always wanted to be honest with fans and honest within myself and let people know that they're not alone at the same time. When I wrote "L.D. 50" and I realized I had to sing it every day, so I had to revisit that headspace. And it fucked me up, really bad. Especially touring for 22 months. On your first record ever? And this is the first time you go out on the road and start touring and you tour for 22 months? For a green, fresh mind, it was too much. It really got the best of me. I still wrote the same way, but I learned not to let it penetrate so much. I don't have to relive that moment that I'm writing about. If I'm writing about some bad youth experience or whatever I went through. I can climb into that headspace because I need to do that to write it the right way. So on later records that's what I did. On "The End of All Things to Come", that was probably a way to get away from that. The ideas on that were based on tree of life and balance. I think I might have went that direction to repair myself from what I already had done to myself on "L.D. 50". I wanted to write about something thematic that was going to give me some sort of balance.

KNAC.COM: It's odd and, at the same time, refreshing, to see you up on the HELLYEAH stage smiling and interacting with your audience in a way we don't see when you're wearing your MUDVAYNE hat. I used to watch you and think, "Now, this is one angry motherfucker."

Gray: I'm negative. I travel in this negative kind of bubble. The song "Negative One" — it's kind of known. Here's the negative one. Here's comes the negative one. (laughs) We've had a rough career and stuff I can't even get into. We've really, really taken some lumps and we've really carried a lot of bricks for a lot of different things. You see how this business is and you see a lot of people who you make a lot of money for and you're at the end of the trough going, "Really? You guys are cool with doing this?," knowing I'm not going to make anything. People are getting paid. And it's weird. It's like a really, really weird business. I came to terms a couple months ago — just kind of riffing in an interview, like we're talking right now — there's a difference between what I am and what people think I am. People want to say "rock star." No, I'm not a rock star. A rock star has a Ferrari in a garage at his mansion. I'm a touring musician. I have a pickup truck, I have a ranch house. I work my ass off. I play in two bands. I'm on the road most of the time. Greg and I produce stuff on the side. People that have millions from doing something don't do as much stuff as we do. I mean, at the end of the day I think we're just hustlers. (laughs) How many things can we get our hands in? How much time do I have and what can I do in that amount of time? I love writing music and I love playing music and I love being involved in music. But there's a sense of me that's definitely a hustler. I'm just trying to put my eggs in as many baskets as I can. I'm just of the mindset to say "sleep when you're dead." I'm young enough to do it right now. Nobody wants to see some 65-year old guy jumping around on stage singing "Dig" or "Hellyeah", for that matter. (laughs) You can hide out in the studio when you're 60, but I don't want to be on stage when I'm 60. I'm not doing that shit. I might pull the throttle back and, you know, still play or do something. I want to embrace every moment I have now. That's kind of where I'm at in my life, you know?

KNAC.COM: Seeing you in MUDVAYNE, with or without the makeup, and then to watch you in kind of a party, cowboy mode with Vinnie Paul took a lot of us by surprise.

Gray: There's a difference, though. With the cowboy hats and all that kind of shit, our image isn't to be cowboys. I'm not out mending fences and riding the range and roping cattle. It's more of an outlaw, "fuck-everyone" look. I'm from Illinois. I get it. But this band's from Dallas, Texas, and I've always had a kinship with Dallas. I've always had a kinship with Texas, for some reason, since I first started going there with MUDVAYNE. There was something about that state that I loved and there's something about the South I loved. Going down there and writing the records and spending time down there I realize what it is about that state I love. Everybody is just like the people from where I come from. Everybody's down home. Everybody's got their feet on the ground. You'd kill for your fuckin' friends, you'd kill for your fuckin' family, and it's just solidarity, one hundred percent. And that's where I come from. Peoria, Illinois is the home office of Caterpillar. That's union, dude. That's united autoworkers, bro (laughs). There's a level of solidarity you have in the Midwest, man. In Decatur, Illinois, it was all industry. The whole town was industrially driven. It all that union kind of vibe. I know the South doesn't necessarily have that, but the South believes in family and friends and solidarity.

KNAC.COM: What are your plans following this outing with HELLYEAH?

Gray: Music is art. And I have to paint with my brush. I'm not trying to be conceited or anything. It's my music. I have to do it for me first. It's for everybody, but I have to enjoy what I'm doing. I love MUDVAYNE. I always have. It brought me to where I am and it's been an amazing run. I have no idea of what will happen. I'd like to think we'll do something in the future. I'd like to think we'll tour the new record, the self-titled record, that we didn't tour. I'd like to think we'll write another record. But if I gave any of my soul to HELLYEAH when I was in MUDVAYNE — when I had my MUDVAYNE hat on — it wouldn't be fair to MUDVAYNE. I've got my HELLYEAH hat on right now, and if I give any attention to MUDVAYNE, it's not fair to HELLYEAH. They don't coexist. The only thing that they have in common is that there are dudes that play in this band that play in that band. That's it.

Read the entire interview from KNAC.com.