We've seen some pretty interesting reunions over the last ten or so years- At the Gates, Faith No More, Extol, Cynic and so many more. Each band had members doing their own things but eventually came back together to tour a little and do a new record (or records). Guess who we won't be seeing on that list anytime soon? Mudvayne. Sure, the group might be lumped in with a lot of nu-metal and bands metal fans dismiss, but Mudvayne was nuts and a reunion would be awesome!
Unfortunately vocalist Chad Gray just doesn't see it happening, or at the very least with the original lineup… which kind of makes the possibility of a Mudvayne reunion less appealing. It would be the first time we hear anything from the group since 2009's self-titled record. Here's what he told Songfacts:
“I don’t know if the full band will. Who knows – they might be putting something else together. We were talking for a while and that whole Greg thing went down [Greg left HELLYEAH in 2014] and everything kind of fell apart. Our relationship, which was the only truly solid relationship in the whole group, although Matt and I are still great, Ryan and I still briefly talk. I mean, the only way I personally would want to do Mudvayne is if everybody licked their wounds and got over it.
There’s a lot of things in that band that tore us apart. Maybe Mudvayne was the martyr for people that stopped supporting music. You sell 159,000 records the first week, and then the next record is like, 'Whatever, fuck it.' Maybe it’s a subliminal message if you don’t support things. Mudvayne‘s probably bigger now than it ever was. So, people want what they can’t have.
I’m a strong believer in supporting these guys. I still support these guys. I still buy records. I still buy things that touch me, and I know the game. I think it’s an important part of the economy, it’s an important part of life, and I think the more people just let it go and forget about it, it’s bad. I married myself to heavy metal music because it saved me and I almost feel like sometimes it’s like, 'Wow, thanks for pulling me out of a burning building. Go fuck yourself.'
You save me or you helped me through a hard time, but I guess it feels like some people – I’m not saying everybody, because I know a lot of people still do support us very much, and we’re very grateful to those people – but it’s not a lighthearted thing. It’s an industry.”
Mudvayne was one of those bands that was the sum of all its parts. Unless it's Chad Gray on vocals, Greg Tribbett on guitar, Ryan Martinie on bass and Matt McDonough on drums, it just won't be the same. I'd love to see the group go back and do something reminiscent of the proggier stuff on L.D. 50 and The End of All Things to Come. As a kid, those two records really blew me away and opened my eyes to some more technical music.
So we'll see. Right now things are looking pretty grim for the future of Mudvayne… not that they haven't been looking grim since the breakup in 2010.
