MIKE MUSHOK On STAIND's Long Hiatus: 'I Always Thought We'd Get Back Together And Do Something'

In a new interview with Springfield, Missouri's rock station Q102, STAIND guitarist Mike Mushok was asked if he was ever concerned that the band was over, especially in light of the fact that frontman Aaron Lewis has reinvented himself as a solo country artist in the last decade. Mike responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I don't know. Through the whole thing, we would always talk and I always thought we'd get back together and do something. There was never really any plans for that to happen. And then, honestly, there's a gentleman that kind of really helped pull the whole thing together. And it was Ben Kitterman, who used to play with Aaron. He came out and saw me and he said, 'Hey, I think you guys should really work again. Aaron's ready to do it.' And I was, like, 'Count me in.' So we did those [first reunion] shows in 2019. We had a whole plan for 2020. We had signed a record deal to do a record. And then that pandemic hit and really obviously changed the course for everybody, their path and what they were doing and how things were gonna go down. But we did that tour with KORN in '21, and a lot of what's on the [upcoming STAIND] record ['Confessions Of The Fallen'] really came together on that tour. And it was an opportunity to get into a room with Aaron and play. I had a lot of music written, and [I had a chance to] play it for him and kind of get an idea of what he liked and take some suggestions and some direction. And I went back and kind of redid a bunch of those demos. We got a producer and, yeah, just started working."

Asked if he was worried that the audience might not "show back up" once STAIND started touring again due to the fact that it had been so long since the band was last active, Mike said: "I knew some people would show up. It's to what level will they show up. You know what I mean? That's really, you know — to what level is this gonna be able to work? And we're still figuring that out, I think. We're still out there. We're finally back out playing again. This tour is good. We have some more shows when the tour ends. And next year's shaping up to have a handful of shows or a couple of tours to help support the record. So, we're just gonna keep working and continue to see where it ends up."

Last month, STAIND landed a No. 1 active rock single with "Lowest In Me", the first single from "Confessions Of The Fallen". The veteran rock group's first full-length album of original material since 2011 is scheduled for release on September 15 via Alchemy Recordings/BMG.

Alchemy Recordings is a record label created in partnership between Dino Paredes, former American Recordings vice president of A&R, and Danny Wimmer, the founder of Danny Wimmer Presents, the premier production company for rock music festivals in the United States.

STAIND performed "Lowest In Me" live for the first time at the trio of Florida shows the band played in early July leading up to STAIND's U.S. tour with GODSMACK.

"Confessions Of The Fallen" was produced by Erik Ron (GODSMACK, PANIC! AT THE DISCO, BLACK VEIL BRIDES).

STAIND recently released the DJay Brawner-directed music video for "Lowest In Me".

In an interview with Billboard, Lewis said that it took him "a long time to be ready to do another STAIND record. I got really burnt out on digging into the dark corners of my psyche every night to deliver those very deep, dark songs in a manner that was believable and authentic," he explained. "I needed to step away from it for awhile and do something different. It just came back together naturally."

Regarding the lyrical inspiration for "Lowest In Me", Aaron told Billboard: "Everybody has got people in their lives that don't bring out the good in somebody. Just with what's going on in the world right now, there's so many things, so many people that are like, 'You bring out the lowest in me.' There's a lot of factors out there that could fall under the 'you' category."

When "Confessions Of The Fallen" was announced in April, Lewis stated about the LP's musical direction: "I did want to modernize the sound and bring us up to date. You can certainly recognize the band but at the same time you can hear that we've been paying attention and understand what kind of sounds and approaches we can use that maybe weren't around the last time we did this."

STAIND has released seven albums since 1995, the latest being 2011's self-titled effort. The band has had a number of hit songs during its first two decades, including the Top 10 smash "It's Been Awhile" from the No. 1 album "Break The Cycle". Follow-up LPs "14 Shades Of Grey" and "Chapter V" also topped the Billboard chart.

STAIND released its first album in nine years, "Live: It's Been Awhile", in May 2021 via Yap'em/Alchemy Recordings. The "Live: It's Been Awhile" album was accompanied by "The Return Of Staind", a two-part global streaming series in partnership with Danny Wimmer Presents.

STAIND and GODSMACK's 25-city co-headlining 2023 tour, produced by Live Nation, kicked off on July 18 at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in St. Louis, Missouri, with stops across the U.S. before wrapping up in Austin, Texas at Germania Insurance Amphitheatre on August 31.