{"id":38491,"date":"2019-09-26T07:00:02","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T21:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=38491"},"modified":"2019-09-24T13:00:06","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T03:00:06","slug":"chad-gray-of-hellyeah-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2019\/09\/chad-gray-of-hellyeah-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Chad Gray of HELLYEAH"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201c\u2026doing this for Vinnie is our way to give back to all of our fallen heroes and stuff and to help embrace the metal community and be like come on you lean on me I\u2019ll lean back on you and we\u2019ll get through this shit together.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Release: HELLYEAH\u00a0was formed in 2006 by\u00a0Pantera\u00a0founder\/drummer\u00a0Vinnie Paul, singer\u00a0Chad Gray\u00a0(Mudvayne), and guitarist Tom Maxwell (Nothingface) with bassist Kyle Sanders (Bloodsimple) and guitarist Christian Brady, who joined in 2014. The band has released five albums, culminating in the #2 Hard Rock album release\u00a0UNDEN!ABLE<\/em>\u00a0in June 2016.\u00a0Their final album with\u00a0Vinnie Paul,\u00a0Welcome Home<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 a truly stunning album that does both Vinnie’s memory and groundbreaking legacy proud \u2013\u00a0is slated for release on\u00a0Friday, September 27,\u00a0through Eleven Seven Music.\u00a0<\/strong>The eagerly anticipated new album, featuring the late\u00a0Vinnie Paul’s final recordings, will unleash 11 tracks,\u00a0driven by their love, loyalty, reverence and respect for their fallen brother.<\/p>\n

Just on the way out of Home Depot I got to ask Chad Gray one question\u2026<\/p>\n

Now it has been seven years since we last chatted so let\u2019s catch up, and obviously aside from Vinnie\u2019s passing which I do want to send my condolences to because the man was a fucking legend, how have the last seven years been for you?<\/strong>
\nThank you. It\u2019s been good, man. Just fuckin\u2019 plugging along, the last say six *laughs* or five and a half of those seven were pretty great but last year has been pretty fucked up obviously since Vinnie\u2019s passing it\u2019s been pretty crazy but we\u2019re getting through it. I\u2019ve kind of cleared the hurdle of my mourning and grieving phase and I\u2019m onto being more along the lines of what Vinnie would want me to be and that is to celebrate his life and to make people smile and to give \u2018til it hurts you know what I mean? Do all the things Vinnie would want me to do, smile, so I\u2019m back to smiling which is a good thing. Our family, our fans have helped us so much it\u2019s been so cathartic for us to take this thing on the road, the Celebration of Life tour which we will feel is going to continue to every continent, you know everywhere we go we\u2019re gonna keep this theme going of reminding people to celebrate his life and his legacy, and his brother\u2019s life and legacy and shit like that you, put the tissues away you know what I mean? Vinnie would even be over it by now you know what I mean? So he wasn\u2019t like that, basically when his birthday was coming up I did this thing for Instagram and this post was like \u201ctomorrow everybody do me a favour, do Vinnie a favour and don\u2019t mourn or grieve, let\u2019s celebrate his birthday\u201d so I put that up the night before and then I woke up the next day and my girl asked me and said \u201cwhat are you gonna do today?\u201d and I\u2019m like \u201cI don\u2019t know, maybe make a bloody Mary?\u201d *laughs* like let\u2019s have a drink kind of thing and it\u2019s 10 O\u2019clock in the morning or something and \u201cthat\u2019s what Vinnie would want me to do, right?\u201d and I hadn\u2019t been drinking, I hadn\u2019t drank for two months and I wasn\u2019t planning to want a drink, I was getting right, staying fit and in that head space and she\u2019s like \u201cwell do you wanna do it?\u201d and I\u2019m like \u201cI don\u2019t know, I really don\u2019t want a drink\u201d and she\u2019s like \u201cYou know what? I\u2019m not telling you not to, I don\u2019t care, it\u2019s been awesome you haven\u2019t had a drink in two months and you\u2019re really focused, so why don\u2019t you do what you do every day, go to the gym, work out, come home and if you want to have a drink we\u2019ll have a drink\u201d I\u2019m like \u201cthat\u2019s a great idea\u201d.<\/p>\n

So I went to the gym, put on Pantera, I played Damage Plan, I played HELLYEAH and I really did smile the whole workout thinking about him, listening to his music, all this wonderful music he was so generous and kind enough to leave behind for us to help us through this grieving and mourning period, and I get home and she\u2019s like \u201cwell how are you feeling?\u201d, \u201cI feel great, I had a good workout, listened to Pantera, Damage Plan, HELLYEAH\u201d she\u2019s like \u201cawesome so where are we at do you want to have a drink?\u201d, \u2018You know what I really don\u2019t think I want to\u201d and she\u2019s like \u201cwell what do you want to do?\u201d I was like \u201cI don\u2019t know what should we do tonight?\u201d and she\u2019s like \u201cwell what would Vinnie do?\u201d, I\u2019m like \u201cwell he\u2019d probably go out for a bad ass dinner\u201d and he\u2019d probably take eight or ten people with him and he\u2019d probably buy the whole goddamn thing *laughs* that\u2019s how he was even on his birthday he\u2019d take people take people out to dinner to some bad ass chop shop you know. So she said \u201cwhere do you think he\u2019d go?\u201d, \u201che\u2019d probably go to Del Frisco\u2019s\u201d she said \u201clet\u2019s go to Del Frisco\u2019s\u201d so we called and I made a reservation and said \u201ccan I get two in for tonight at 8 o\u2019clock or whatever\u201d and she\u2019s like \u201cyeah no probably and said who should we make the reservation for is it a special occasion?\u201d I said \u201cwell that\u2019s kind of weird, kinda and kinda not\u201d she said \u201cwell what do you mean?\u201d I said \u201cwell it\u2019s my friend\u2019s birthday, my brothers birthday but he\u2019s since passed away but he used to frequent your restaurant quite often\u201d she\u2019s like \u201cI\u2019m sorry to hear that but it is his birthday and you\u2019re celebrating it at a place he\u2019d want to, who was it?\u201d I said \u201cVinnie Paul\u201d she said \u201coh my God yeah I\u2019m sorry, condolences Vinnie came in here all the time\u201d I was like \u201cI know\u201d and she\u2019s like \u201cyou know what? Don\u2019t worry about it, I\u2019m gonna get you a nice table 8 o\u2019clock you come in, bring your girlfriend\u201d I\u2019m like \u201cperfect\u201d. So, we had the rest of the day, we didn\u2019t drink, and drinking is still not off the table by the way *laughs*we go in and it\u2019s a really nice table and the waiter comes up and says \u201cdo you guys want anything to drink?\u201d we look at each other and just started smiling and she was waiting for me and I said \u201cyou know what I\u2019ll just grab a water\u201d and she said \u201cme too\u201d and they come up and at the end of it all they\u2019ll bring up maybe three different desserts or whatever and it said \u2018Happy Birthday Vinnie Paul\u2019 and it kind of welled me up I mean how cool, it was such a cool night and so gracious of them to do that and that they would do that for us because Vinnie had that effect on people where they wanted to be kind and generous and that kind of stuff, so for them to do that was great, it was probably $35 for the dessert *laughs* they\u2019d given us. We got out of there, we didn\u2019t drink and woke up the next day and my girl was like \u201chow do you feel today?\u201d and I was like \u201cyou know baby, I feel better today that I think I\u2019ve felt since Vin passed because I could finally stop the mourning and grieving and could celebrate his birthday the way he would want me to celebrate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

I felt like I properly celebrated his birthday and that was the first day and like you know what? I\u2019m over it, I think I\u2019m done. Like I had the best day since before he passed yesterday and that was a turning point for me to just have one day where I really did truly celebrate his life and his birthday, and that for me was a turning point and I kinda never looked back it was awesome, it was an amazing milestone to me to get over and now we\u2019ve been together, we did the Vegas show that was the \u2018Celebration of Life\u2019 show, we had the one and then we sold out the House of Blues in Vegas and we had so much fun, it was just a fuckin\u2019 blast, I mean we had puke buckets around the stage *laughs* it was so goddamn emotional. We were all super emotional going into it, walking on stage for the first time without Vinnie, fuck, we got out there and we started playing and Roy is just a beast and did such a fucking great job, leading up to it we only had three days of rehearsal and we hadn\u2019t played the set in fuck, eighteen months *laughs* and we were playing eighteen songs that night I believe, so we had three days of rehearsal with Roy and just crushed every day and Roy just played his ass off in the rehearsals and we were laughing in rehearsals and having fun but it wasn\u2019t show day yet and then on show day we had a 250 person meet and greet I mean fucking insane it took us like an hour and a half to go down the line, I always make sure I give people time because they paid for that shit you know what I mean? So I always make sure I talk to people and I give them time and I\u2019m gracious because I love my family, my fans are not fans they\u2019re fuckin\u2019 family and they\u2019re worldwide and it\u2019s a beautiful thing and I embrace it so much.<\/p>\n

So we did this giant meet and greet and went warmed up, put all my gear on, fuckin\u2019 got ready and walked in there like dry heaving *laughs* getting ready to walk out there and not only is it the first time walking out there without Vinnie, I\u2019m walking out there for the first time in almost two years being in front of a crowd, so I always have butterflies and I always tell myself the day I don\u2019t have butterflies is day I may as well fucking retire because clearly something is missing, so I always have natural butterflies no matter what, but they were extra flappy wings that night *laughs*. We got out there and once it started going, man, Roy did such a good job and if I didn\u2019t look back there I wouldn\u2019t have known that Vinnie wasn\u2019t back there, fuckin\u2019 Roy did a great job doing his diligences as a player he was practicing and playing his drums for like six hours a day for like forty days nonstop, every single day playing six hours a day learning this material and he just nailed it, he fuckin\u2019 nailed it. We got done with that show and we were just high on life, we know we did Vinnie proud by doing this, by basically doing it in his honour and showing the love and respect for him and giving the fans an opportunity to come to a show and pay their respects by listening to his music he was a part of even though he wasn\u2019t there he was still very much a part of that music. So like I said it was very cathartic, it was therapeutic for us to do that, we got done and I was high on life and I was like \u201cyou know what we\u2019ve gotta take this motherfucker on the road, we need to take this everywhere\u201d. People walked out of here I think able to smile tonight if they hadn\u2019t been able to at that moment maybe they hadn\u2019t had that birthday reckoning that I had you \u00a0know and maybe that night was that for them and maybe they walked out of there feeling a little lighter and their heart felt a little better or fuller and things like that, so we really need to take around this to our family, to our extended family, across the country and around the world like wherever we play we should just keep this going to let everybody feel this cathartic aspect of what music really does because music is really powerful at so many levels and especially metal, I mean metal saved my fuckin\u2019 life I don\u2019t know how many times, and it\u2019s gotten me through some really rough shit and this is just one more example of it how powerful hard rock and metal music is.<\/p>\n

The fans are so fuckin\u2019 loyal and beautiful and the outpouring of love and condolences from all of them when Vinnie was passed was just overwhelming and its funny I say it on stage every night I tell the crowd that their condolences and outpouring of love from the day he died was so tremendous and I want you guys to know that within ten minutes of me hearing the news my condolences were going out to all of you because I did lose my drummer of twelve years, yes, I did lose my brother a man that did become my brother because we played in a band together for twelve years, but what I really truly lost was the same thing that everybody in that crowd lost and that was a man that I looked up to as a heavy metal hero of mine since I was seventeen years old, far before he was ever in my band, I lost one of my musical icons, in body not in spirit but in body I lost him. I feel like I gained more of his spirit you know what I mean, I might have lost the vehicle that was his body, and his personal touch like I could put my hand on him like \u201cwhat\u2019s up Vin?\u201d but what I lost there I\u2019ve gained through my love and admiration for him even more and I believe he\u2019s with us, I believe he\u2019s with me every day and when people say God is everywhere and omnipresent and everybody and all the guys in my band that were really close to him you know I\u2019m like I don\u2019t want you guys to forget, Vinnie is omnipresent now, he can be there for each one of us all the time at the same time you know what I mean? He can touch everyone and that includes his fan base around the world that was fuckin\u2019 massive and worldwide , he can be with every single one of them, including me and the people that were closest to him as well.<\/p>\n

He loved his fans and family, he really did, like I said the guy he just naturally gave until it hurt, the fucker that\u2019s what he did, he loved to make people smile, he loved to make people laugh and I mean him and Dime what I learned from them far before Vinnie was my drummer, they shaped me as a human being to be a better human being because I remember watching those old Pantera videos and seeing how humble Dime was, he was full of humility he said so much humility like that dude would fuckin\u2019 talk to anybody, but long before I was a rock star or whatever the fuck I am *laughs* I kind of knew how to carry myself, it doesn\u2019t matter what you do you keep your feet on the ground, nobody is better than anybody else and I\u2019m a better man because of Vinnie and I\u2019m a better man because of Dime, I\u2019m better human being because of those boys and the only thing that\u2019s given me any peace is knowing how much Vinnie loved Dime and that he\u2019s back with his mother and back with his brother and he\u2019s with them right now so they must have needed him pretty bad you know what I mean? *laughs* he must have been needed pretty badly for them to take him but hey like I said, that\u2019s given me a lot of peace knowing that Vinnie and Dime are together again because the way his brother was taken from us is fuckin\u2019 bullshit and brutal and tragic as fuck and I can\u2019t imagine being Vinnie having to see it and witness it right in front of him and he grieved for a long time but HELLYEAH was the band that brought him out of that and I\u2019m so blessed and proud to be a part of that band, be the front man of that band that pulled him out of that funk and allowed him to use this band as a conduit to carry the torch for Dime. I mean Dime was our sixth member and basically this band was mentored on how to carry the torch for someone that had passed by Vinnie, so we know how to do that now because he taught us how to do it for Dime, we were in a band with him for twelve years and we always talked about Dime, in press, together, during writing, during touring, Dime was just revered by him so highly and he really did, he taught us how to do this, he taught us how to do what we\u2019re doing right now and that\u2019s to carry his flame and his torch and he goes across from Vinnie, to Dime, to Jeff Hanneman, to Chris Cornell, to Chester Bennington, to Paul Gray, to Lemmy, to fuckin\u2019 Ronnie James, to all the greats that we lost, we\u2019re doing it for Vinnie but at the end the day we\u2019re really celebrating the life of all of them aren\u2019t we? It\u2019s pretty cool, it\u2019s been a really cool thing to be a part of and I\u2019m such a fan of the metal community because we do lean on each other very hard to get through the tough times and music like I said has saved me more than once, a million times so doing this for Vinnie is our way to give back to all of our fallen heroes and stuff and to help embrace the metal community and be like come on you lean on me I\u2019ll lean back on you and we\u2019ll get through this shit together.<\/p>\n

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Essential Information<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> USA<\/p>\n

Band members: <\/strong>Chad Gray \u2013 Vocals, Tom Maxwell \u2013 Guitar, Christian Brady \u2013 Guitar, Kyle Sanders – Bass<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> \u00a0http:\/\/hellyeahband.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Fortthcoming release: <\/strong>Welcome Home \u2013 (Eleven Seven Music)<\/p>\n

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