MUDVAYNE Guitarist Talks About Making Of New Album

Steven Rosen of Ultimate-Guitar.com recently conducted an interview with MUDVAYNE guitarist Greg Tribbett. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: When we last spoke, you were recording "The New Game" album. At that time you said you already had another record in the can. Is this the record you were talking about?

Greg Tribbett: This is the record [laughs.]

Ultimate-Guitar.com: How does that happen where you record two albums virtually back-to-back? Do you need to think differently as a musician so you're not just recording what might have become part two of "The New Game" record?

Greg Tribbett: Uhh, well, first of all, it's a lot of work. Second of all, it was coming back off of when I went and did HELLYEAH with me and Chad [Gray, vocals]. When we got off touring, we came off that and I went directly into writing the next MUDVAYNE record, so that's how it all came about. It was having that break that I think I was able to do that and put those two together.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: So you finished "The New Game" album, went out and toured with HELLYEAH, and came back and wrote the record that would become this new one?

Greg Tribbett: Yeah. We wrote this new record while "The New Game" was being prepared for release. You know what I'm saying? The new record was ready and packaged to go and after I got off tour with HELLYEAH, we ended up with more material for this newest record while "The New Game" was getting prepared to be released last November.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Was there a reason you wanted to get back into the studio so quickly?

Greg Tribbett: I think I was itching to get back in and write some more MUDVAYNE stuff after the HELLYEAH stuff and I was ready and prepared and I just had a lot of riffs goin' on. So I was ready to go and I got the band together and we all got together and we did it.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: I'm still trying to understand how you were able to separate yourself from "The New Game" material in order to write material for a new album. Especially since the period between those two records was [not] that long a time. Did you have to think differently as a songwriter? Did you dial up different types of guitar tones to get inspired?

Greg Tribbett: Yeah, I know what you mean. You know, I think I was just in a different headspace. I wanted heavier songs; I wanted to write heavier. I don't want any of our records to sound like the last record. I kind of focus myself away from anything we've ever done before.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: After going through different styles on previous albums, how would you describe where MUDVAYNE is on this newest record?

Greg Tribbett: I guess you'll find out on this record; I think that is MUDVAYNE, man, what's going on on this record. There are some time signatures going on and a lot of individual shit that just came together to make what MUDVAYNE is and that's this record. And that's the only way I can put it.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Are the songs more fully fleshed out than earlier songs you might have written? Do the songs on the new album come out sounding closer to what the initial ideas were?

Greg Tribbett: Yeah; I think it's from years of being together, man. We know how to write together now and it comes out on this record. It's easier to write together; songs come quicker; the formula comes quicker. We have a formula and it's realized on this record.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Members of the band and even fans have looked at MUDVAYNE's second album, "The End of All Things to Come", as one of the best you've ever done. David Bottrill produced that one but then on the following album, "Lost and Found", and the one after that, "The New Game", you switched to Dave Fortman. Why make a change if "The End of All Things to Come" came out so cool?

Greg Tribbett: I don't think there was ever a thought about it. I think we were still trying to find the right producer that gelled with us and I think that was Dave Fortman. I don't think we ever thought about going back to any other producers basically because we didn't want to create the same sound and the same record. But with Dave Fortman he's more like a bro to us now and he's a very talented dude. Once he got inside our head and kind of figured out the music and his ideas and stuff, we just kinda of stuck it out. And that's why we've been using him.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: But you used Jeremy Parker on the new record.

Greg Tribbett: Yes. Jeremy's gonna be a great producer in years to come. He was Dave's right-hand man; Dave was in and out of the studio for this record but Jeremy was there for all of it. He had a lot to do with it and he's a great dude and a great engineer/producer.

Read the entire interview from Ultimate-Guitar.com.

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