STAIND's MIKE MUSHOK Says AARON LEWIS Has 'The Right' To Voice His Political Opinions

In a new interview with the Loaded Radio podcast, STAIND guitarist Mike Mushok was asked how he feels about his bandmate, STAIND frontman Aaron Lewis, being so vocal about his political views. He responded: "Listen, [Aaron is] a very opinionated person. He feels he needs to go out there and say what his opinion is. And listen, he's got the right to do that, right?"

At some of his recent solo concerts, Aaron has been playing a new song called "Let's Go Fishin'" whose lyrics find the 50-year-old — an outspoken conservative rocker who reinvented himself as a solo country artist in the last decade — singing about "making America great again", "turning off CNN" and using the "Let's Go, Brandon!" catchphrase, which was coined by American conservatives to criticize President Joe Biden.

In November 2021, Lewis claimed that he beat COVID-19 by taking ivermectin, a drug with no evidence of being a safe or effective treatment for the novel coronavirus. He said he also used Z-Pak, an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections by inhibiting the growth of bacteria in the body.

Lewis made headlines in September 2021 when he urged his fans to chant "Fuck Joe Biden" during a STAIND concert in Pennsylvania.

This past March, Lewis told the Los Angeles Times that he doesn't blindly listen to information that is delivered by the mainstream media.

"I'm not uneducated; I'm actually really smart, and I look for myself. I seek other options of information," he said. "I refuse to believe that a huge, gigantic corporation has our best interest in mind."

Asked where he gets his news, Lewis said: "I have news feeds and people that I follow on Telegram. Dan Ball. Andrew Wilkow. Mark Levin. If I'm gonna watch any sort of news source on television, it's Tucker Carlson."

Pressed about whether Fox News is an exception to his mistrust of corporations, Aaron said: "I think that if Tucker didn't have the following he has, he'd be gone. He's pretty much anchoring the network at this point."

At some of his recent solo concerts, Lewis has been taking the stage while wearing a black hat with white mesh and white lettering on the front clearly stating "FUJOE," an expletive directed toward Biden.

During a March 2022 solo concert in Ohio, Lewis, who has frequently targeted Democratic politicians and touted his anti-COVID vaccination position, weighed in on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, urging his fans to "question everything" and loudly wondering if "we should listen to what Vladimir Putin is saying." Lewis also promoted discredited social media videos that purported to show actors pretending to be dead in the midst of the war and Ukrainian soldiers holding wooden guns.

During the aforementioned Loaded Radio chat, Mushok confirmed that STAIND is completing a new studio LP for a 2023 release. As for the musical direction of the band's new material, he said: "It's a little bit more modernized, I think. I think that was something we kind of wanted to do. There's a little bit more of an electronic element on there, which is something new for us, but I feel like everybody is kind of doing that. But I think it's cool. It's not overused. I think the songs are really good. I'm really happy with it. I can't wait for people to hear it."

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