Mudvayne frontman Chad Gray has put the new generation of rock and metal bands on blast.
Talking to media outlet The Underground Australia in order to promote Mudvayne's joint headline tour with Coal Chamber in February, Gray went off on younger acts for all "sounding the fucking same".
As transcribed by Metal Injection, "Dude, maybe I shouldn't say this, but I don't give a fuck. Because I'm me and I've got stuff to say, and I'm gonna say it. Music now to me, God bless them, new bands, but they sound the same. All new music reminds me of the same fucking thing. There's nothing separating it, one band from another. It's, like, one band kinda does something, a hundred bands follow that band, then another band does something, then a hundred bands follow that band and sound just like that fucking band."
Gray expanded upon the point comparing today's scene unfavourably with the one both Mudvayne and Coal Chamber came to prominence in.
"I was on Ozzfest 2001. So you had Slipknot, Manson, Papa Roach, Disturbed, Mudvayne, Drowning Pool… Every fucking band, every band I just named, none of them sound the same. None of them. And I think that's why it was such a special time in music, because everybody was bringing what they were bringing to the table. You had System Of A Down and shit-tons of bands, man. And all very original and all doing their own thing. We were part of that. We were more progressive than a lot of our counterparts from that era."
Gray's comments are in stark contrast to the comments made by his tourmate, Dez Fafara who is unapologetically hyped by the current batch of band's and fans leading the nu-metal renaissance, bringing band's like his back into the spotlight. Speaking to Maniacs last year, Fafara said he felt "blessed by it".
“There is a definite revival man. We saw it on tour this summer when we were doing meet-and-greets. I’m looking at a 22-year-old kid with face piercings and JNKCO pants on, and I’m like, ‘You could easily be from 1993, and you're 20 years old! You weren't even born when we broke up, like, what the fuck is going on?’ You know, so it's incredible to see. Some of those bands from that scene are some of the best bands on the fucking planet when it comes to delivering a live show doing something different, injecting something different. It's, it's fantastic to see. And I feel blessed by it, man.”
As for what Dez and his bandmates will be playing when the tour hits next month, Fafara confirms it'll be all the songs you want them to, including signature hit Loco.
"I enjoy playing it all, but when we hit the first note of Loco, there's a 23 or 24-year-old kid inside me that fucking ignites! I love playing Rowboat, coz it’s so far away from what I do with DevilDriver. If you see us playing it live, it's because we've all said we want to play it live, which is basically saying we want the emotion of playing it live, right? So I think the setlist is going to be great. Coming down with Mudvayne is going to be a fantastic thing, you should get your fucking tickets before they're gone, the shows are 100% going to be sold out, and many of them are close to it now. Later on down the line, we're going to be launching meet and greets as well. We've got to find a significant charity in Australia to partner with. So when we find that out, we'll launch the meet and greets.”
Loco appears on Coal Chamber's self-titled debut which was released in 1997 by Roadrunner Records.
Kicking off on February 14 in Brisbane at the Fortitude Music Hall before heading for dates at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion, Melbourne's Festival Hall, Adelaide's Hindley Street Music Hall and Perth's Metro City, the Mudvayne and Coal Chamber tour will bring two powerhouses of '00s metal down under.
Listen to Coal Chamber
