Joining us today for an Audacy Check In is Staind guitarist Mike Mushok talking with host Jason Bailey about the band's brand new single "Lowest In Me," as well as their summer tour plans with Godsmack, and more.
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Staind have officially arrived with their first brand new music since 2011 from their forthcoming studio album, Confessions of the Fallen, the first of which, "Lowest In Me," is being offered up as the lead single.
Since their break over a decade ago, while singer Aaron Lewis pursued his solo Country career, Mushok had gone on to perform with former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted, as well as in the band Saint Asonia. "There was a time [Aaron] felt, 'if I do Staind it would interfere with the progress of what that is," Mike says about their 12-year hiatus. "Ultimately, I think it got to the point -- this did start a bunch of years ago. The start of the pandemic kind of threw a monkey wrench in our progress and what we were gonna do, like I think it did for a lot of people -- but listen, it all worked out and here we are today."
Looking back to the most recent time the band had been on the same stage together, 2017's Aaron Lewis' charity benefit concert, Mike remembers being on stage and playing with Aaron again, admitting, "I don't know if I'd forgotten or I took for granted how good of a singer he is. But I remember walking off stage that day and saying to my wife, 'Oh my God, he's so good!' I feel fortunate, I play with Adam Gontier who I think also is, those are two of my favorite singers... but that 2017 thing kind of did open my eyes, like, 'Wow,' and it was great to be playing that again."
As fans would expect, there is a deep personal connection to the songs on the upcoming record. "Aaron's lyrics on some of these songs," Mike laughs, "I don't know if there's enough therapy in the world to dig into some of this. It's still there!"
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Staind will be hitting the road this summer on a joint headlining tour with Godsmack, kicking off on July 18 (tickets available now). In regards to singer Aaron Lewis' well-known political leanings taking center stage during their upcoming shows, Mushok says although there has never been a specific conversation with the band either way, Lewis has stated that his Country career is where he deals with that.
"Staind, not so much," he adds. But, he acknowledges, "people in the audience know who Aaron is, and what he says. So, sometimes that comes up," he laughs. "Certain chants will happen from time to time."
WATCH NOW: Audacy Check in with Staind
Back to his solo work, Mike says his Saint Asonia project came about after Staind went on hiatus and he found himself sitting on a ton of music. With talented friends surrounding him, he began to reach out to a number of singers with the idea of putting together something similar to what Slash of Guns N' Roses had done after their split. Former Three Days Grace frontman Adam Gontier was one of those singers he contacted. "It just turned out that that turned into more," he says. "We had demoed a few songs, his label at the time, Capitol, had heard it, and they wanted to make a band out of it."
Some of the singers he had in mind for the original iteration of the project, Mike says, were -- and get ready for an epic fantasy football team of Rock here -- among others: "Shaun [Morgan] from Seether; [Linkin Park's] Chester [Bennington], rest in peace, was somebody I wanted to do something with; Ivan [Moody] from Five Finger Death Punch I met with; Dave [Draiman] from Disturbed; there's a lot of different people that I just love and admire what they do, and think they're super-talented. I would have loved to have done something with Chino [Moreno]. Deftones are one of my favorite bands. Just a lot of super-talented people that we've been with over the years."
Check out our full Audacy Check In with Staind's Mike Mushok above, pick up the new single "Lowest In Me" now, and stay tuned for even more conversations with your favorite artists on Audacy.com/Live.
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