Featuring members from Mudvayne, Nothingface, Danzig and Pantera, Hellyeah is one of those supergroups that is just as likely to get people cringing as it is to get them excited. JOSIE SMITH reports.
Pay no mind to the fact that each of the members of Hellyeah is a celebrated musician in his own circle; the joining of forces appears to be causing some consternation.
Being a distinctly southern-influenced beast all of its own, the project is hardly going to be the second coming of any of the aforementioned bands. But as Hellyeah/Mudvayne frontman Chad Gray explains, he doesn’t see that as reason enough to discount the band or its debut release.
“Hellyeah is just really something to be excited about and I hope people get behind it,” he says. “I think the biggest reason why somebody wouldn’t get behind this is if they’re not open-minded enough because it’s a really diverse little record. There’s some really heavy songs on it, some really mellow songs, some beautiful songs and chaotic, crazy songs and it’s pretty much all over the map.”
Though the public may not have been familiar with Hellyeah for long, Gray says the barely fortnight-old release is the culmination of many years of playing with the idea of a side project.
“We’ve been talking about this for five years, you know. Tom (Maxwell, Nothingface) and I were out on tour back in the day and we got on really good. Drank a lot, partied a lot, talked a lot of shit about starting this super-heavy band. That was years and years ago, and we always kind of just kept it in our heads.
“Then we saw a window of opportunity in Mudvayne because we knew no matter what, we were gonna take a summer off. So rather than taking a break you know, like most normal people watch TV or pet your dog or hug your wife or whatever, I’m like ‘Well, I’m gonna go to Dallas and write a record’. I don’t know why the fuck I did it, but I did it, and I’m really proud of it and it’s been a lot of fun.”
Currently Gray and fellow Mudvayne member Greg Tribbett are in the process not only of promoting Hellyeah, but recording the next Mudvayne album. Gray admits it’s proving to be a challenge.
“I kind of forgot what it was like, you know? Once you start up a record and you do all your prep and then you go on the road and you’re so far away from that initial setup that you don’t remember it. I’m thinking it’s no problem, and then I’m working on the Mudayne stuff and someone comes to me and tells me I got promo stuff all day tomorrow for Hellyeah.
“But it’s worked out pretty good. They understand that we’re working on Mudvayne, so everyone’s been really cool to help lighten the load off of us. Most people just wanna talk to Vinnie (Paul Abbott, ex-Pantera) anyway,” he says with a laugh.
But an almost boyishly enthusiastic Gray insists that the pleasure of having a second outlet far outweighs any associated pain.
“Hellyeah fills a hole somewhere inside of me that I had, and some kind of a gap in my life, something I was missing out on from writing. Hellyeah is not a better thing or a worse thing, it’s just different. The Hellyeah record is cool because I was just writing what was on my mind, and I don’t know where that would have been able to fit in into a Mudvayne record.
“That’s where I’m thankful to have that Hellyeah outlet. It’s really another side of my psyche and my headspace and what I’m about. I think it’s important for people to kind of sever themselves and look at the other side of yourself or whatever, if you have time to do it.”
Hellyeah’s distinctly southern flavour might have fans of the various members’ other projects feeling ever so slightly confused. Gray says that the twangy rebel attitude wasn’t deliberate and not really a surprise to anyone involved, but a natural result of the band’s backgrounds and influences.
“I dunno man, I think where we come from, we’re not 22 years old. Our first band that we started listening to wasn’t Korn. We were into old Metallica and Megadeth and Obituary. And even further back, Ozzy and Sabbath, The Steve Miller Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd. I think that’s probably where it comes from you know, you start laying down grooves and that’s what you got.”
To Gray at least, although the band has found its detractors in loyal fans of the line-up’s original bands, Hellyeah are finding plenty of fans of their own. The heavy music veteran seems refreshed by the idea of starting over with something new.
“It’s pretty cool because you know, you think everybody knows about something, but there are so many people out there that don’t know about Hellyeah yet. You can be so into something that you think the whole world knows about it, but they really don’t. With how we are and how just getting started this is, I know there’s a lot of people out there that don’t know anything about it. I know what we’re gonna have to do is just blow it up live. That’s the bottom line, I’ve told everybody in the band that.”
And yes, says Gray, the plan is to bring the band to Australia sooner rather than later.
“Australia, with Mudvayne, has really welcomed us down there, and we feel more comfortable there than anywhere else in the world. I’d like to start laying the foundations for making this a worldwide band rather than just beating the shit out of the US all the time, which can be pretty typical. If I had to come out and say a time, I would say it would happen in June.”
It seems Gray can’t wait to show the world his new pet project. Audibly beaming with pride, it’s clear the man is being sincere when he says the trials of being in two successful bands are worth it.
“You know, it took us four fucking years, but we did it. It’s been forever since we started talking about this, and then we actually saw it to fruition so it’s been pretty exciting from our end of things, because it shows the amount of passion that we have for each other and playing for each other and wanting to get this done and do it right. It had felt like it was going to be impossible, but we saw it through.”
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