HELLYEAH's CHAD GRAY On New Lineup: 'The Energy On And Off The Stage Is F**king Amazing'

On September 14, Capital Chaos TV conducted an interview with HELLYEAH vocalist Chad Gray and bassist Kyle Sanders at the Aftershock festival in in Sacramento, California. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about what it's like playing in a band with former PANTERA drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, Gray said: "He's a great dude. He's one of the warmest dudes you'll ever meet, one of the most generous people you'll ever meet. He believes in this fucking band so much. I believe in this band so much. Kyle believes in this band so much, [Christian] Brady [guitar] and Tom [Maxwell, guitar]… It's our whole life. I mean, [Vinnie] really embraces it. If it wasn't for him… He makes a lot of things possible for us. 'Cause, you know, supergroup, all that shit, whatever, man, people can say whatever they want. We didn't say it. Somebody else said it. I believe Revolver [magazine] said it, and we've had to live up to that tag since then. But we're starting over; we really are. And we're fucking four records in, and we're starting over. And with the lineup change [referring to recent departures of bassist Bob 'Zilla' Kakaha and guitarist Greg Tribbett], even more so. But we love where we're at. The energy on and off the stage is fucking amazing."

HELLYEAH's fourth album, "Blood For Blood", sold around 17,000 copies in its first week of release to land at No. 18 on the Billboard chart. The band's previous effort, 2011's "Band Of Brothers", opened with 19,000 copies back in July 2012 to debut at No. 19.

Gray and Maxwell revealed in a separate interview with Loudwire that the band came close to breaking up before it finally parted ways with Tribbett and Kahaha. Maxwell explained, "They just pretty much had a lot of other stuff going on in their life that just took the focus of the band away, and for us to continue, we had to part ways with them. It was a toxic situation that almost broke the band up. They just couldn't get it together and it was a very painful time for us, it was very emotional, but I think, you know, with the love we have for each other and the band, we needed to kind of do the worst case scenario and part ways with them."

Maxwell told The Pulse Of Radio that both Kahaha and Tribbett had their own specific issue that were hurting the group. "I don't think Bob ever really was as passionate about this band," he said. "He never became a full member or anything like that. It just didn't gel, so it was just time just to part ways, you know. And with Greg, I think he had just a lot of stuff that happened to him in his life in recent years that really affected him and became distracting for us and we just couldn't go forward."

Gray said that the recording sessions for the band's new album, "Blood For Blood", were emotionally volatile, saying, "This is such a heavy record on so many levels — it's not just the anger, the frustration, the angst, but its also the helplessness that we felt."

HELLYEAH is currently touring North America as guests of FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH and VOLBEAT.

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