HELLYEAH's VINNIE PAUL 'Started Crying' The First Time He Heard 'Moth'

December 29, 2014

HELLYEAH reached the Top 10 at rock radio earlier this month with "Moth", the latest single from the band's fourth album, "Blood For Blood". Drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott told The Pulse Of Radio that "Moth" was one of the first songs the band came up with for the disc, and one of the most powerful. "It was the first song that Chad [Gray, HELLYEAH singer] gravitated to, to write lyrics to," he said. "I remember the first time I heard the first version of it, I got chills up and down my arms and I actually started crying. I've never heard his voice sound better. And it's basically about, you know, how people a lot of times know in their lives that there's something wrong about what they're about to do, but something really pulls 'em towards it, you know. It's like a moth that sees that flame but it wants to fly into it for some reason."

In an interview with Loudwire this past fall, Chad Gray said that "Moth" was about people with addictive or compulsive behaviors, adding, "You can get burned up, but you’re attracted, you have to do it, it’s your animal instinct."

"Blood For Blood" was released last June and was HELLYEAH's first album since parting ways with guitarist Greg Tribbett and bassist Bob "Zilla" Kahaha in February 2014.

Gray and HELLYEAH guitarist Tom Maxwell revealed that the band came close to breaking up before it finally parted ways with guitarist Greg Tribbett and bassist Bob "Zilla" 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 "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."

The new members of HELLYEAH are bassist Kyle Sanders and touring guitarist Christian Brady.

"Blood For Blood" sold around 17,000 copies in its first week of release to land at No. 18 on the Billboard chart.

HELLYEAH will hit the road on a headlining North American tour in 2015 with support from DEVOUR THE DAY and LIKE A STORM, beginning on February 6 in Las Vegas.

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