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Interview: Staind
Interview: Staind
- Genre : More Music
- Type: News
- Author : Super Admin
- Date : Thu, 17 Jul 2008
It's cool you're playing leads now too.
It's just something that I haven't done in awhile. If you saw Staind when we first started and we were playing covers, I used to solo through the whole song. That was my thing, but I just got really bored with it. A lot of the songs I was listening to at the time didn't have solos, so I was like, “I don't want to solo anymore.” It's fun for me again though. On some of these songs, there's a place for it. I hope that they're not just solos for the sake of soloing though. I hope they're musical and memorable. I haven't soloed in a long time. I used to do a lot 10 or 15 years ago, so that was definitely a challenge for me to come up with things that musically fit the song and weren't just noodling.
You guys came out with KoRn and Godsmack, and you were a big part of hard rock's resurgence. However, you had real special connection with the fans.
I hope so. I think all of those other bands did also. That's why everyone's gotten to have longevity. If that connection wasn't there, we wouldn't be able to do this or have any kind of longevity. In that sense, we’re very fortunate. We're also very fortunate in the sense that the stuff we've written, even though it comes from a selfish place in trying to please ourselves, has translated into people wanting to hear what we do. We're lucky for that.
It's got to be great to look back on the last 10 years and still have people coming
out. It is. In that sense, we try to figure out what we can do to keep things fresh and to keep people wanting to come back. We did all of those webisodes of the whole making of the record and took pictures through the whole time. It was about trying to give something more back to the fans and the people that have been there. It goes down to the set list we try to play at headlining shows too. We went out and learned some songs we've never played live and stuff we haven't played a lot. We try to mix it up a little bit and make it more interesting for everybody, including us.
A lot of great hard rock bands have come out of Massachusetts over the last decade. What is it about the area that's inspired that?
It's true. I don't even know. Shadows Fall practices down the hall from us. In fact, they let us use their Pro Tools rig when I was doing my guitars. Godsmack and Killswitch Engage are also from the area. I don't know what it is. There have been a lot of great bands that have come out of Mass.
It's a release though, because it can be a pretty dark state, especially in terms of the weather.
The weather is part of it. You get a few months out of the year where it's so cold you can't go outside. It can be so hot, humid and gross that you don't even want to be outside. You get the beautiful spring and autumn, which are the best, and then you're off into the winter again where it's dark at four in the afternoon. I don't know. It could be a factor. That's what comes to mind for me. I'm just glad that we can be a part of it. I do know that. That's what part of what I like about it. It's just always different.
What's the next evolution for Staind?
I don't know. If you asked me that even before we started, I probably would've said the same thing. It's really about sitting down and writing, seeing what comes out and seeing what everyone likes. Going into this, I just had a bunch of riffs and pieces of music. Hearing what came out, I'm just real proud of it. For the next one, I don't know. One goal we do have is to not repeat what we've done. Hopefully at the end of the day, we feel like we've grown as a band. I know I felt that way when we finished this one. We just have to feel that way again when we finish the next one.
It's just something that I haven't done in awhile. If you saw Staind when we first started and we were playing covers, I used to solo through the whole song. That was my thing, but I just got really bored with it. A lot of the songs I was listening to at the time didn't have solos, so I was like, “I don't want to solo anymore.” It's fun for me again though. On some of these songs, there's a place for it. I hope that they're not just solos for the sake of soloing though. I hope they're musical and memorable. I haven't soloed in a long time. I used to do a lot 10 or 15 years ago, so that was definitely a challenge for me to come up with things that musically fit the song and weren't just noodling.
You guys came out with KoRn and Godsmack, and you were a big part of hard rock's resurgence. However, you had real special connection with the fans.
I hope so. I think all of those other bands did also. That's why everyone's gotten to have longevity. If that connection wasn't there, we wouldn't be able to do this or have any kind of longevity. In that sense, we’re very fortunate. We're also very fortunate in the sense that the stuff we've written, even though it comes from a selfish place in trying to please ourselves, has translated into people wanting to hear what we do. We're lucky for that.
It's got to be great to look back on the last 10 years and still have people coming
out. It is. In that sense, we try to figure out what we can do to keep things fresh and to keep people wanting to come back. We did all of those webisodes of the whole making of the record and took pictures through the whole time. It was about trying to give something more back to the fans and the people that have been there. It goes down to the set list we try to play at headlining shows too. We went out and learned some songs we've never played live and stuff we haven't played a lot. We try to mix it up a little bit and make it more interesting for everybody, including us.
A lot of great hard rock bands have come out of Massachusetts over the last decade. What is it about the area that's inspired that?
It's true. I don't even know. Shadows Fall practices down the hall from us. In fact, they let us use their Pro Tools rig when I was doing my guitars. Godsmack and Killswitch Engage are also from the area. I don't know what it is. There have been a lot of great bands that have come out of Mass.
It's a release though, because it can be a pretty dark state, especially in terms of the weather.
The weather is part of it. You get a few months out of the year where it's so cold you can't go outside. It can be so hot, humid and gross that you don't even want to be outside. You get the beautiful spring and autumn, which are the best, and then you're off into the winter again where it's dark at four in the afternoon. I don't know. It could be a factor. That's what comes to mind for me. I'm just glad that we can be a part of it. I do know that. That's what part of what I like about it. It's just always different.
“Hopefully at the end of the day, we feel like we've grown as a band.”
What's the next evolution for Staind?
I don't know. If you asked me that even before we started, I probably would've said the same thing. It's really about sitting down and writing, seeing what comes out and seeing what everyone likes. Going into this, I just had a bunch of riffs and pieces of music. Hearing what came out, I'm just real proud of it. For the next one, I don't know. One goal we do have is to not repeat what we've done. Hopefully at the end of the day, we feel like we've grown as a band. I know I felt that way when we finished this one. We just have to feel that way again when we finish the next one.
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