The first night Staind guitarist Mike Mushok met vocalist Aaron Lewis, someone put Lewis’ head through a wall after a Christmas party went awry. Before the skirmish, Mushok and Lewis exchanged phone numbers in hopes of starting a band.
Lewis called Mushok about five days later, trying to set something up. Then Mushok didn’t hear from him for about 10 months. When they finally did jam in Springfield, Mass., in November 1994, Mushok says the chemistry was immediate.
“These riffs I came up with, he could come up with something I loved over it, turn them into songs. It was something I’d been looking for forever. He came down and sang and I said, ‘Where have you been for 15 years?’ ”
Staind’s 2008 album “The Illusion of Progress” debuted at number three, continuing the radio rockers’ stunning commercial run, which includes three No. 1 LPs and ten top ten hits, including four number one singles. However, the post-grunge quartet’s latest finds them dumping their trademark anguish. On “All I Want” Lewis’ big voice yearns instead of sounding like he’s simultaneously dialing a suicide hotline, and Mushok’s cascading guitar chords were made for FM success.
“I think everybody was kind of excited about doing stuff that was a little different form us,” Mushok says. “That’s what you end up getting.”
Staind is touring with Creed. What’s the most memorable concert double bill you’ve seen? Probably the best thing I’ve ever seen was U2, and No Doubt opened for them. That was cool.
Your guitar textures on “The Illusion of Progress” are really varied. That’s probably my favorite part of recording: coming up with those little melody lines and things that work off of Aaron’s voice and spice up the song. To me a solo doesn’t have to be, “Look how many notes I can play.” To me it can be something musical you can remember.
What first got you into the baritone guitar? That’s not an instrument you see in a lot of rock bands. When we first started if you wanted to get a gig you had to play covers. We also wrote originals and from the first gig always played some originals. Some of the (cover) songs we were playing at the time were Korn. They used to do the 7-string guitar. So I took one of my guitars and took off the E string and put on a low B string. When we went to record our demo in like ’98, the guitar was having a hard time staying in tune. Someone asked me, “Have you ever tried a baritone guitar?”
What were some of the covers the band played back in the day? Korn, Tool, Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam. Rage Against the Machine, I think we played their whole first album. Pantera. Just heavy stuff he enjoyed playing.
When you first saw the controversial album art for Staind’s first album “Tormented” what did you think about it? I did it. (Laughs.)
Are you serious? Yeah. That was kind of my idea. It was done for shock value to just grab attention, and it did.
Was the cover art a multi-media thing? It was actually set up like a crazy shrine behind my bedroom in this attic against a wall.
Staind played MTV’s “Unplugged” a few years back. I always thought that was a cool show and the channel doesn’t do them very much anymore. It was an honor to be asked to do that. Like you said, there was a time when…That’s the thing: MTV does things and then they stop and maybe they bring it back. Like (VH1’s) “Behind the Music.” I think sometimes they just run out of people to do. The first time we were supposed to do it we were taping the same day as R.E.M. Those guys were going to do it and then we’d switch over. Well, freaking R.E.M. kept redoing everything. Michael Stipe…someone introduced me to him and what an arrogant guy.
What ended up happening with Staind’s “Unplugged”? We went on at 2:30 a.m. and it wasn’t any good. We were shot. The good thing that came out of it was we got to do it again. They gave us a whole day and longer set. So that was cool.
What is your favorite all-time “Unplugged” performance? I loved the Stevie Ray Vaughn one. I think it was just him and a 12-string guitar. Of course Alice In Chains was great, Nirvana was great. And I thought Jay-Z was great. I loved that one.
Staind opens for Creed at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 13 at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson. $25-$75.
For more, visit www.staind.com.
