For a brief, shining moment in January, we all thought Mudvayne might possible be teasing some kind of reunion. Granted it was one Facebook status that was neither preceded nor followed up with anything, but we all wanted it to be real so damn bad.
Now vocalist Chad Gray, who currently fronts Hellyeah, has stated in an interview with Billboard that the band broke up due to its failing relationships between its members.
“Mudvayne [at that time] was basically breaking. I still love and talk to those guys, but it’s like being in a relationship and all the sudden things just start to fall apart. Mudvayne was just dissolving. It became too much for all of us. It was no one person in particular’s fault. We all have faults. It was crumbling beneath us. I chose to be an artist and continue to play in HELLYEAH.”
Not sure what Gray means he "chose to be an artist" in this scenario, though. All the other dudes went on to do other stuff – guitarist Greg Tribbett (who was also in Hellyeah for a bit) and drummer Matthew McDonough have Audiotopsy, and Ryan Martinie has a funky new project as well. So everyone chose to be "an artist," right?
Gray then sort of alludes to the idea that Mudvayne is completely and totally over, though he never explicitly states it like some of the other headlines I've been seeing. He does lay it on pretty heavy that there isn't going to be new Mudvayne, but he's been saying that for years without ever saying "Mudvayne is absolutely, without a doubt over."
“People want what they want—sometimes you can’t have what you want. That’s been the frustration—they want Mudvayne, but we can’t give it to ’em. I tell people all of the time, ‘Dude, if you want to hear it, buy it and listen to it. There are CDs, and I am hugely proud of what we did.’
If you want to do a reunion tour, you need all the members. Nobody’s hurt by that fact more than Vinnie Paul. A reunion tour is only a reunion if everyone is involved. All we are trying to do is create music together that is viable, that is from our hearts and souls. We don’t care about what music is doing or what anybody else is doing. We just love playing music together.”
So is Mudvayne over? I don't think so. It sounds like if everyone got on the same page, maybe it could happen. Obviously it might piss the guys off in Hellyeah off, and it sounds like Gray likes doing Hellyeah a lot more, but I wouldn't say "oh, Mudvayne is absolutely dead."
