STAIND's MIKE MUSHOK: How I Got Away From Playing Guitar Solos In Every Song

STAIND guitarist Mike Mushok was recently interviewed by Darren Paltrowitz, host of the "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz". You can now watch the chat below.

Asked if he had to "hide" the influence of guitar players like Eddie Van Halen from STAIND's music during the early stages of the band, Mike said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "No, I don' think so. It's funny — when we went back to do… We just that pay-per-view thing of 'Break The Cycle', the 20th-year anniversary, that we played this past weekend. And everybody was asking, 'Do you have any footage from back then?' And it got me digging deep into some closets I hadn't been into in a while to find some old VHS tapes of old STAIND stuff. And I came out with some of the very, very early gigs that we did with some of the covers. I used to solo through the entire song. But I kind of got away from that. The music at the time, I had kind of gotten a little bit tired of it — I didn't wanna do it anymore — so I didn't put any solos in our songs. I just really wanted to focus on the music, the song and how great Aaron's [Lewis, STAIND frontman] voice was. So I don't think I hid it. I think it was just more of an evolution for me, a progression for me of where I wanted to go and how I wanted the music to be. So I didn't really feel the need that I had to show that part of what I do. I just really wanted to have great songs that people wanted to listen to."

Two months ago, Lewis told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that he "would certainly love to" have the new STAIND album "recorded and done by the end of this year, to be released next year. All of our plans that were kind of semi on the books and on the table, everything just had a year taken off of it [due to the pandemic]," he said. "We were gonna have a record come out sometime in 2020 or certainly in 2021, and there was a schedule that was on the table that, just like everything else, got burned to the ground as soon as [the lockdown] started."

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", on May 7 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. The series launched with STAIND's "Live: It's Been Awhile (From Foxwoods)" concert, which streamed globally on May 1. The "Live: It's Been Awhile" album and concert were recorded at the band's comeback show at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut in October 2019. The never-before-seen concert celebrated the band's reunion after a five-year hiatus. STAIND also performed its iconic multi-platinum 2001 album "Break The Cycle" in its entirety for a May 8 streaming event, exactly 20 years after the album's release. The "20th Anniversary Of Break The Cycle, Performed In Its Entirety" took place at Mill 1 in Open Square in Holyoke, Massachusetts, bringing the band back to their Western Mass roots.

STAIND played its first full live show in five years in September 2019 at the Louder Than Life music festival in Louisville, Kentucky.

The band was scheduled to support DISTURBED on "The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour" throughout North America last summer. The amphitheater trek has since been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic which is sweeping the globe.

STAIND will support KORN on a U.S. summer tour. Produced by Live Nation, the coast-to-coast 28-city outing will kick off August 5 in West Palm Beach, Florida and make stops in Long Island, Detroit, Irvine, Phoenix, Austin and more, before wrapping up with a performance at Dallas' Dos Equis Pavilion on September 21. Furthermore, both bands will perform at Louisville, Kentucky's Louder Than Life festival on September 23.