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12/30/07
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Staind-free material from Aaron Lewis
At the other end of Aaron Lewis' sprawling homestead in Massachusetts, the other members of Staind are practicing drum
riffs before getting back in the studio to record their first CD in more than a year.
Lewis can hardly hear them.
But before day is done, he'll pop in on the other members of Staind - Mike Mushok, Jon Wysocki and Johnny April -to see
what they've come up with. Then, he'll pack his acoustic guitar and head for Connecticut to continue his solo tour
tonight through Sunday and Jan. 3-6 in the Mohegan Sun Cabaret - with a New Year's Eve special tomorrow night.
The solo thing started somewhat as a lark a year ago because Lewis wanted to "experiment" with some things. It
just kept on going and going.
The man behind 1999's "Dysfunction" CD had discovered something totally
functional in an acoustic format that surprised a lot of people. Lewis alone on stage is as far removed from Staind as Britney
Spears is from child rearing. But there he was with just his guitar, and people were eating it up.
"I gotta
admit, it's been real cool," says Lewis during a quiet moment at home. "But it really was going back to my roots.
This is how I started the whole thing. This is how I was exposed to music. I started doing this when I was 18, and it's
put a roof over our heads and food in our mouths. It's my comfort zone."
The experience has also awakened
Lewis to how attuned his fans are to his music.
"There are times when they sing along with me and it's
so loud, I could hardly hear myself think," the rocker says, laughing. "I was in El Paso and there were 2,800 people
in the audience. They actually hurt my ears. So I stopped singing and just accompanied them. Maybe I should have stood at
the door afterwards and paid them for turning out to be the real performers."
This time, he is bringing it
down a notch. "When I last played the Mohegan Sun, I did the show in the Arena - which is massive," he explains.
"This time, I'm in the cozier Cabaret and, hopefully, it'll be me one-on-one with the audience. Which is what
I strived for in the first place when I started the solo tour" - a kinder, gentler space, so to speak.
Kind
and gentle, by the way, are not words Lewis uses when describing the last five years, during which he and his wife built their
dream house. "We had to live in the barn," he says. "We had all sorts of problems with the contractor. It [got
legal before] we settled out of court. But the house is finally finished, and now our three kids have an actual home to live
in.
"The barn wasn't too bad," says the 35-year-old native of Rutland, Vt. "The previous owner
of the property was Kevin Eastman, who drew the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He used the barn as his workplace.
There's even a tree behind it with carvings of the Turtles on it but after 15 years the tree has grown in such a way that
the figures are distorted." Still, Lewis says, "it's pretty cool to see. His kids also had a paint ball range
in back, which I also inherited."
After this gig - one of the longest for a single star in Mohegan Sun history
- it's back to work with the group ("there would have never been an Aaron Lewis without Staind").
What
will the new CD sound like?
"I couldn't make that assessment at this time," Lewis shrugs. "There'll
be some heavy songs, bluesy songs, midtempo stuff. It should be out, like, June-ish. We're kicking around a few names."
Sometime in April, Staind will be back on the road. They're also "putting a big package together for the
summer in support of the new album."
"It'll be all new stuff," he adds. "I am doing all
of the lyrical writing, and the rest we play by ear. There was one song which, after we discussed it, became two completely
different songs. We like throwing out ideas and [seeing] what happens. That's how it goes with us."
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12/20/07
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Staind singer Aaron Lewis doesn't care much for the supposed
perks of rock stardom. You'll never see him cavorting on the red carpet at an awards show, mugging for the camera or partying
with whatever celebrity du jour is out getting coked up to forget her legal troubles.
"That's never, ever
been my deal, or the band's deal, at all," Lewis says by phone from western Massachusetts, where he lives with his
wife and children. "It's more about the music, about the ability to be creative."
That's not
to say fans haven't seen a more intimate side of him: A few years ago, the Longmeadow, Mass., native started performing
solo-acoustic shows in small venues, and they proved so popular, they have become an annual rite. This year, he expands to
do 10 shows in the Cabaret Theatre at Mohegan Sun, starting Wednesday.
"They definitely end up seeing a side
of me that they didn't know existed," he says. "I'm quite lighthearted throughout the whole thing. I'm
cracking jokes and cracking on myself and cracking on people in the audience for saying stupid [expletive]."
"Lighthearted" isn't often a term associated with Lewis or Staind. With a shaved head and tattooed arms, he's
an imposing front man, and his band's songs tend to be moody, heavy and, for many, cathartic. His acoustic shows are very
much the opposite. They're spontaneous affairs, full of acoustic versions of Staind songs and a wide-ranging selection
of covers based on whatever Lewis feels like playing.
"I still don't practice and have no clue as to what
I'm going to play when I go out there," he says with a dry chuckle. "I'm winging it. It's real, man;
it's real."
He has plenty of experience doing it. Lewis got his start playing cover tunes in bars in the
Springfield area, and some of Staind's biggest tunes, including "It's Been Awhile" and "Outside,"
took shape on his acoustic guitar.
"I messed around with 'It's Been Awhile' acoustically for a
long time before I brought it to the band," he says.
Lewis has long since risen above the need to play cover
songs for small crowds. Staind has sold more than 15 million records worldwide, and the band's 2001 album, "Break
the Cycle," debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. So why go back to doing solo-acoustic shows?
"For lack of a better reason, because I could," he says. "I was doing it to put food in my mouth and a roof
over my head then, and now it's actually fun."
He also loves the simplicity of doing acoustic shows.
"There's no distorted guitars and this big wall of sound coming at you to bury the lyrics in," Lewis
says. "It's the rawest, most stripped-down version and form of the song that it could be."
Then again,
Staind has always prized simplicity.
Aside from a bombastic stint on the Family Values tour in 1999, the band's
live shows have never stressed fancy production values like pyrotechnics and props.
"The R&B people and
the rappers and stuff, it's retarded the amount of stuff that they bring out," Lewis says.
"It's
very easy to distract people from what's really going on with all that stuff. I'm not saying they need to distract
people, but I don't see the point in it. Why don't you concentrate on making sure you can play the songs live as well
as you can on the record, and have that be your goal?"
Lewis and his band take pride in their instrumental
abilities, which they're focusing on the band's sixth new studio album, due out sometime next year.
"Right
now, as we speak, in the distance in the barn on my property, I can hear the drums," he says. "I like to make sure
that at the end of writing and recording a record, we've taken it somewhere further, and none of these songs sound like
music we've written before. There's some songs in there that sound kind of bluesy; there's some mid-tempo songs
and some heavier songs."
Lewis also plans at some point to release an album of his solo performances.
"The solo acoustic album is definitely going to happen," he says. "Pretty much all of these shows have been
recorded, and I've got enough footage for some sort of DVD or documentary-style thing."
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12/15/07
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12/01/07
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11/20/07
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Happy Thanksgiving from Staind!
Aaron and Mike wanted to send you and your family good wishes for this Thanksgiving.
Check out the video message below.
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I would like to congratulate
Aaron and Vanessa, on the birth of their new daughter, Indie Shay Lewis, born November 19, 2007 6:44pm EST.
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09/21/07
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Hear Staind music tonight like you've never heard it
before.
Aaron Lewis, lead singer and chief songwriter for the nü-metal group, is scheduled to perform a special
solo gig at 8 p.m. in the Heymann Performing Arts Center.
It's one of the final stops on the Have Guitar Will
Travel tour that began June 28. No agenda. No set list. Just Lewis, an acoustic guitar, a stool and a mic up to six nights
a week in different cities across the United States.
"It's a completely different experience altogether
from Staind live sets," Lewis said. "A majority of the songs have a different rendition."
The solo
format places Lewis in an awkward position he's never been in before. As the only person on stage, he is forced to interact
with and engage the audience.
"Our entire career I just kept my mouth shut and let the music do the talking,"
he said.
The show has its own vibe, like a large group of friends hanging out in a big living room. Lewis is the
guy who brought the guitar.
"It's very loose. Aside from the material in the songs, it's very lighthearted.
No set list. No plans. I go a lot off the crowd. A lot of times somebody yells out a song in the crowd that ends up being
the song I play next."
The father of two, with one on the way, plans to wrap up the solo tour this month.
A one-week break follows during the first week of October; then, preproduction with Staind at his Massachusetts home.
The next Staind record is expected to drop in summer 2008, with a solo record to follow later that fall.
Lewis
has several songs written. Some were written for previous Staind releases but never made it to the final products for one
reason or another. At this point he is not sure which will appear on the next Staind record or his inaugural solo disc.
"They could fall on the mellower side of the spectrum on the Staind record or have different stuff done to them,"
he said. "It all depends on how everything goes."
Lewis also is undecided on the official sound concept
for his solo disc. It could be simple like his live solo set - just a voice and an acoustic guitar. Cool, ambient beats could
be added for texture.
"Starting with the raw songs, there are so many different directions it can take,"
he said.
Staind songs traverse a wide spectrum of themes, including torment, anger, the pain of love gone wrong
and the pang of being homesick. One, Zoe Jane, is an open window to the inner emotions of a father toward his daughter.
New material, Lewis said, follows in the same vein as its predecessors. The themes may not be the same, but the songwriting
method has never changed.
Lewis sits behind his acoustic with a chorus and chord progression. He sings the first
thing that comes to mind. A song flows out.
"I don't write with a pen and paper. That never came into
play," he said. "Sometimes I use them as a memorization tool afterward, once I figure out what I'm going to
sing."
For now, Lewis is focused on the task at hand. His thoughts are consumed with gratitude, humility and
fear.
"It amazes me after all this time there's still people there every night waiting for me to come
out," he said. "The problem arises when there isn't anybody there anymore. I'm still just very happy and
luck y to be here. I'm grounded enough to realize the reason why I'm here still has nothing to do with me."
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09/20/07
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Hey Staind Family, Jon here
I’ve been enjoying a little rest since we got off the Nickelback tour.
But, now it’s about that time to get back to the studio to record a new kick ass CD for you all. We miss you guys,
hope you all had a great summer and we’ll see you in 08 for the Big Ass Staind tour. JW
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Staind's
Lewis playing against his image
He is the brooding symbol of one of the hardest nu-metal bands.
Aaron
Lewis and Staind have captivated and brutalized its mosh pit disciples. Anyone who has seen the band at its memorable Sunken
Garden Theater or Verizon Wireless Amphitheater concerts can attest to that.
"San Antonio has always been
amazing to us," Lewis said. Staind is famous for its hits "It's Been Awhile," "So Far Away,"
"Outside," "Falling" and "For You."
Saturday, Lewis will deliver that sonic boom
alone and on acoustic guitar at the Majestic Theatre.
His latest outing — the tour is dubbed "Have Guitar,
Will Travel" — conjures an iconic TV cowboy that his generation could never have known the first time around, Paladin
of the '60s Western TV series "Have Gun — Will Travel."
Going solo is not a completely new
experience for the affable, articulate singer.
"I've been playing these solo shows since I was 17 at all
the little bars and coffee shops that I could get my under-age ass into," he said.
It's a different vibe,
Lewis acknowledged. He will sing Staind songs and obscure covers.
"It's like hanging out in somebody's
living room, and I'm the guy that happened to bring the guitar. It's really intimate and totally kick back and chill,"
he explained. "I tend to talk a lot, which is something that I've never done with the band. More than ever in my
career, you get to see who I am (rather than) what I've been depicted as."
He said he digs the fun setting.
Lewis works off-the-cuff, without a set list. "It's just organic," Lewis explained. And he warns: "I
don't quietly sing."
That means he's not just emulating Richard Boone's iconoclastic, gunfighter
character Paladin, but (in his own way) Tony Bennett, too.
"I'm not just a Timberlake-style singer that's
very quite and very controlled. I'm basically yelling. I'm belting at the top of my lungs," Lewis said. It's
no slam on Justin Timberlake. In fact, Lewis insisted that he's a Timberlake fan.
"And if it's the
right room, that's something that I do at the end of the night: I come out for a last song and sit on the monitor with
a guitar that not plugged in and no microphone and do one more song."
So if Saturday's concert is a freeing
experience, what are some of the misconceptions that it will clear up? "That I'm this miserable, down-in-the-mouth,
always complaining dude," he said.
"The fact of the matter is that I'm not comfortable being the
center of attention. I'm relatively insecure, and I've always kind of hidden behind silence. I never embraced the
machine, and because of that I was painted as this miserable little bastard. I'm like No. 4 most mysterious rock star
for Hit Parade."
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09/19/07
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Q &
A with Aaron Lewis
Staind has spent the better part of a decade performing
alongside other nu-rock, nu-metal, nu-whatever acts across the country. Their single, Outside, which was performed alongside
Fred "I'm really feeling those lighters" Durst, proved to radio audiences that the group had a soft side. Frontman
Aaron Lewis aims to further that notion with his solo acoustic tour, which visits at the Heymann Performing Arts Center Friday.
Paint a picture of your life right now.
Aaron Lewis: For the last three months I've been out on tour
-- been out since June 28. I'll do five or six nights a week. It's been pretty much nonstop. Got to pop home to see
the wife and kids a couple of times.
What does a solo tour enable for you as an artist that
touring with a band like Staind does not?
It's a lot more hassle-free. There's no production. There's
a stool, a microphone, me and the guitar. It really allows me a situation for the lyrics that I've written over the years
to be the highlights of the songs. I've stripped the songs down to their simplest form. It's really an opportunity
for people to hear the lyrics unfettered.
You're quite open in your lyrics. Is there
a certain chapter of your life you call to when writing?
It's really kind of changed over the years.
The first record we wrote as Staind (self-released Tormented, 1996) was very angry. The second record, our first real one
(Dysfunction, 1999), was just as angry and just as inquisitive as to what it is that we're doing here. "Why am I
here?" and the questions that, at that angry point in your life, you're constantly asking yourself. I had my whole
life to write the first record. As we got deeper into records, I wasn't as angry anymore.
Because
of success? Family?
My wife. Then one daughter. Now two daughters, with my wife seven months pregnant with
my third daughter. I'm not angry anymore. We've been doing this for 10 years. The songs, I guess, graphed my growth
as a person.
So what's your approach to actual writing?
I don't
really put all that much thought into lyrics. I don't sit with a pen and paper and try to figure out the perfect words.
The music is done first. Then I just start ad-libbing and just singing different melody lines. It just comes. There's
a song that I just wrote a few weeks ago. I was sitting in a parking lot in Sioux Falls, S.D., on the bus. I just felt something.
I just started playing this chord progression I never played before and started singing this melody and words that I had never
sang before. In five minutes, a song was finished. Three verses later and I was like, "Holy s**t," and the entire
song was done. We all got goosebumps. The song Outside, I had a chorus and a chord progression. I hadn't come up with
the verses yet. There's other versions on the Internet -- it's the same song, but not. What you heard on that first
recording with Fred (Durst) singing along was me making it up on stage in front of 14,000 people.
Is
it mostly hard-core Staind fans who come out to your solo shows?
It's a dichotomy in itself. The mellower
side of Staind over the years is the record label and management and everybody else wanting to release songs to the radio
because they had the most potential to cross over to other formats. It's kind of painted a false picture of what we are
as a band. I think a lot of people walk into a Staind concert going by what they heard on a radio. They might walk away from
it a little shell-shocked. If you go back and look at all the records, the majority of our regular songs are much harder.
In the past you've made it clear you don't particularly care for the current mainstream
musical landscape. How do you feel when your music is played alongside Fall Out Boy or a New Found Glory?
(Laughs) I've heard some strange threesomes, I'll tell you that. Christina Aguilera going into us then Justin Timberlake.
That's what happens when you cross over to different radio formats. That's so huge for a band that can do that. All
of a sudden, you're exposing yourself to people that would normally be listening to Justin Timberlake.
What's in store for the future?
I'm definitely going to be busy. As soon as the
tour is finished, I go home and we're immediately going to start working on the next Staind record. One thing that is
a plus for everybody is that we're doing it at my house (in the Berkshires of Massachusetts) this time around. Everybody
can go home at the end of the day and be with their families.
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“It
was quite the morning,” he sighed. “The bus broke down, we had to go rent a car, we had to drive the rest of the
way, and we just got here.”
Thus began a quick Q&A with
the 35-year-old rock singer and father of two young daughters (ages 2 and 5) with a third on the way.
Q: So why did the bus break down?
A:
I guess the injector went or something, I don’t really know.
Q:
I’ve read about you being a human jukebox on this solo acoustic tour, playing all kinds of covers - Alice in Chains,
Zeppelin, Pink Floyd?
A: I’ve realized that there’s enough
original material that I can play in an evening to not really have to play anybody else’s stuff. … I don’t
want to become the cover king, you know.
Q: How different does this
feel from touring with a full rock band?
A:
To be honest with you, I was doin’ this before I was doin’ the band, 17 years ago. I kind of approach it the same
way, with no real plan, no expectations, and go out and do it. I know what song I’m gonna start with and I know what
three songs I’m gonna finish with.
Q: How have your songs changed
in this stripped-down, acoustic format?
A: They’re all kind
of being done in a different way because I can’t play the guitar as well as Mike (Mushok of Staind) can.
Q: You gonna get a live album out of this tour?
A:
Oh, I don’t know, we’ll see what happens. I’ve recorded some stuff, and I’ve got a guy out here with
a camera and stuff.
Q: You’re a big outdoorsman, too?
A: I’ve been talking … about doing a hunting show on ESPN on Saturday
mornings or on the Outdoor Life Network or something like that.
Q:
What have you been doing during downtime on this tour?
A: This tour,
there’s not much downtime. If I can go fishin’ I’ll go fishin’. Or we’ll pull the bus into a
campground and hang out, kind of hang out for the day, cook ourselves into a food coma.
Q:
So what’s your lasting impression of these solo shows?
A: For
me it’s the moment that the lyrics have to shine. It’s certainly not about the guitar playing, I can promise you
that. It allows the lyrics that come from somewhere - I don’t even really know where they come from - to be able to
shine and be heard without distraction.
Q: Do you espouse your political
beliefs, support candidates?
A: I’m definitely not a liberal.
I usually don’t get into much of that … because, you know, the way - the way celebrity is, it’s f-ed up,
they put too much weight on one person’s opinion. I’m just one person and my opinion shouldn’t be highlighted
over somebody else’s.
Q: What would you be doing if not a rock
singer?
A: I’m a goldsmith by
trade.
Q: What have you been watching on the road?
A: A lot of ‘Seinfeld.
One last thing from Lewis: A new Staind album is due by
mid-2008.
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Staind singer shares
He talks about his
solo tour, band's future, his family
Aaron Lewis is one of those rock singers you probably couldn't pick
out of a police lineup.
The band he fronts, Staind, has racked up more than 13 million in record sales on the strength
of early'00s radio mainstays "It's Been Awhile," "Outside" and "So Far Away."
But while Lewis' passionate bellow is distinctive, Staind's songs - for better or worse - always seemed to assimilate
into the rest of rock radio at the time. The band's sound was familiar, even when the songs were new.
As Lewis
said in a phone interview last week, he never believed Staind was ever considered cool or hip, and he's fine with that
perception. The band's success speaks for itself, regardless of those who consider its music little more than faceless
and generic alterna-post-grunge-rock.
This year, Lewis hit the road for a run of solo dates. The response was convincing
enough that a second leg launched in July. He stops at the Landmark Theater on Thursday.
Lewis says he will maintain
the same unadorned setup: He'll play Staind songs solo acoustic, take requests from the audience and maybe tackle some
covers.
While calling from outside the Nokia Theater in New York last week, Lewis also talked about life on the
road without his bandmates, the future of Staind and his expanding family.
(Q)
How weird is it for you to be on the road without the rest of the guys?
(A)
Sometimes it's a little odd just not having them around. But I've been doing this since I was 17, long before I even
met the band, so it's not as awkward as it could be.
(Q) Does
it ever freak you out that you're up there alone, with no backup?
(A)
That's what's so fun and cool about it - that there is no one there to back me up. If I [mess] up, I [mess] up.
(Q) This sounds like a pretty low-key affair - it's just you and
a guitar?
(A) It's like we're all just hanging out in someone's
living room. I prefer to keep everything simple and easy to follow; that's always been the way that I write and tend to
perform things. What I'm doing here really lends itself to that format.
(Q)
But is it only you onstage throughout the entire show?
(A) There
are three or four songs a buddy comes out and plays on, but other than that it's just me.
(Q)
Are you still taking requests from the audience?
(A) Yeah, I am.
That part of the show came about because people were yelling requests, and I figured it would be easier to embrace it than
fight it. There's much more opportunity for things to happen when it stays loose like that.
(Q)
What prompted you to go on a solo tour rather than put out a solo album?
(A)
I wanted to make sure there was some interest before I did a record.
(Q)
And?
(A) I think there will be a solo
record after the next Staind album.
(Q) So what is the status of
the band?
(A) I get done with this tour in October, and then we write
a new Staind record for next summer and go back out on tour. This [solo tour] is really a continuation of the Staind machine.
All it's doing is greasing the gears and keeping everything going.
(Q)
You told MTV News last year that you didn't think people cared about Staind anymore because they weren't the hip thing
of the month. Do you still feel that way?
(A) The misconception on
that comment was that I was talking about our fans. I'm talking about record labels, radio, that type of stuff, so in
that context, yeah, I don't think we're the cool thing anymore. But I don't think we ever were.
(Q) You've been a pretty outspoken critic of the record industry. How will that affect
the way you approach this next album? Have you more or less adopted a we're-doing-whatever-we-want attitude?
(A) That's all we've ever done, and that's always kind of been
the attitude. It's our music and our career, so we'll fight you tooth and nail. We'll see what happens; we're
going to go into the studio and do the best we can.
(Q) Has anyone
started writing yet?
(A) [Guitarist and main songwriter] Mike [Mushok]
has been busy at home putting together a montage of ideas.
(Q) Anything
new with the reality show you were working on? [Lewis has been creating "The Crew," a documentary-style show about
roadies.]
(A) It's been put on the back burner. I've got
some more important things to focus on, like getting this [Staind] record squared away. Maybe next year. It just depends how
much I can hold on my plate.
(Q) You and the band got pretty tight
with Howard Stern a couple of years ago. Have you been on the show since his move to Sirius?
(A)
We have, yeah. He's always been very good to us. I would much rather him say good things about us than some of the things
he says about other people.
(Q) I know you've done some stuff
with Jimmie's Chicken Shack, which is pretty popular around here. How did you become friends with those guys?
(A) Life on the road, really. Way back in our career we did shows with them
here and there, and Jimi [Haha] is without a doubt one of the coolest people I've met on the road yet. We've been
friends for a long time.
(Q) Any chance you'll get Jimi to contribute
to the new Staind record?
(A) The thought and the concept has always
been there, so you never know.
(Q) Where are you based?
(A) Massachusetts.
(Q)
Does your family come out on the road with you?
(A) Not very often.
I've got two little girls, 5 and 2, and my wife is seven months' pregnant with another little girl, who comes at the
end of November.
(Q) I saw that Hit Parader once ranked you as one
of the 10 most mysterious metal stars.
(A) [Chuckles] Yeah, I'm
soooo mysterious.
(Q) But even though you have this image as an intense
guy, you're also a family man with what will be three little girls. Do you think a lot of people have a misguided perception
of you, or is that persona intentional?
(A) The simple fact is I'm
just a person like everybody else, that has a whole other life besides what I do. |
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Solo Staind
Aaron Lewis tones down his band's hard-rock sound for solo-acoustic
tour
Aaron Lewis of Staind is doing something few rock stars would dare attempt.
The bald and bulky
singer is conducting an interview on his cell phone while standing outside of The Nokia Theatre smack in the middle of Times
Square in New York.
....No one has recognized me yet,'' says Lewis, 35. ....I'm usually on the DL.''
The fact that Lewis is anywhere near the ....down low'' is astounding, considering Staind is one of the most
popular hard-rock bands of the last decade. Fueled by hit songs like ....Outside,'' ....So Far Away'' and
....It's Been Awhile,'' Staind has sold more than 15 million albums, with its last three releases debuting at
No. 1 on Billboard's album chart.
At least Lewis has been getting some major face-time with fans of late, having
spent much of this year on a solo-acoustic tour that rolls into the Paramount Theatre in downtown Cedar Rapids this weekend.
With nothing more than himself and his acoustic guitar, Lewis' solo shows consist of Staind songs, cover songs
and requests from the audience.
....I don't really like these solo shows any more or less than I do shows with
the band,'' Lewis says. ....But having the opportunity to share these songs in an intimate setting definitely is a
treasured opportunity.''
....Intimate'' is the key word for Lewis' solo show, so don't
expect it to have much in common with Staind's concert last year at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, since moshing
and body surfing generally don't mix with one man strumming an acoustic guitar in a theater.
Although Lewis'
solo-acoustic shows are new to many of Staind's fans, Lewis says he's actually been doing them for about four years.
The solo shows began at casinos near Staind's home base of Springfield, Mass.
....The solo show worked so well
in casinos that it was sort of like I had to take it on the road,'' Lewis says.
Lewis writes Staind's
songs on his acoustic guitar, so he says it's not difficult to strip the songs back from their album versions. Although
Staind performed as an acoustic band back in 2001 on ....MTV Unplugged,'' Lewis says it's not something that happens
very often. However, he's not ruling out the possibility of a future acoustic Staind tour.
....Who knows?''
Lewis says. ....Like Tom Petty said, ..The future is wide open.'‚''
As a prelude to Lewis'
solo-acoustic tour this year, last year Staind released a greatest-hits album, ....The Singles: 1996 to 2006,'' which
included three acoustic covers as bonus tracks: Tool's ....Sober,'' Alice in Chains' ....Nutshell''
and Pink Floyd's ....Comfortably Numb.''
Lewis says he selected the songs because they were very important
to Staind's members over the years. Even though Lewis' acoustic set usually consists of at least a couple of those
covers, Lewis says he hasn't received any feedback from the original performers as to whether or not they like his versions
of the songs.
....I'd be nervous to hear any feedback from them,'' Lewis says. ....I play those songs
out of the utmost respect to those performers.''
Lewis doesn't necessarily shy away from requests for
other cover songs during his acoustic shows, but he tries to keep the proceedings Staind-oriented. He says one of his favorite
aspects of the acoustic shows is that he can dig deep into Staind's catalog and play lesser-known songs like ....Reply,''
....Intro'' and ....Fill Me Up.''
No need to worry that Lewis would ignore Staind's hits, though.
....I still play the hits, I just save them for the big grand finale,'' Lewis says.
Speaking of
hits, Lewis says he feels proud that Stand has had enough big songs to make a greatest-hits album a reality.
....We
wanted to make a statement to say that, hey, we've been putting songs out on the radio now for 10 years,'' Lewis
says.
....We wanted people to realize that all these songs are ours; we wanted to re-establish what we've done.''
Now that Staind has released ....The Singles: 1996 to 2006,'' Lewis says there's a possibility that the
group could be entering a new artistic era. He's just not quite sure yet, since he has yet to write any songs for Staind's
upcoming sixth album, tentatively scheduled to be released sometime in 2008.
With Lewis doing so much solo-acoustic
touring, it would make sense if Staind's next album is even more acoustic-based than the band's previous work. However,
Lewis says that won't be the case, since he's planning to release a separate solo album shortly after Staind's
next record.
....The solo record will be heavily acoustic, so I don't want to over do the acoustic influence
for the next Staind album,'' Lewis says.
Of course, the big question surrounding Staind's next release
is if it will do the nearly unthinkable and become the group's fourth-straight No. 1 debut.
....I'm not
going to jinx myself by saying that it's going to happen,'' Lewis says. ....But the last three did it, so we'll
see what happens.''
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08/27/07
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Staind Getting Ready To Hit The Studio
Aaron
Lewis, lead vocalist for Staind, has revealed the band has plans to get back into the studio to record an album of all new
material, which will be the bands follow up to their last album 'Chapter V' which was released back in 2005. Lewis,
who is currently on a North American solo acoustic tour mentioned he has a few new songs for Staind and he has recorded rough
demos on his tour bus, which also houses his traveling recording studio.
We caught up with Aaron during his solo tour
to discuss Staind's plans for a new album and his plans to find a home for his new songs.
"When I'm done with this tour we go straight into preproduction and touring. There's like 5 or 6 (songs) that
are kicking around that like I said, don't have a home."
Aaron Lewis' solo tour dates will extend until October 3rd in California. Look for Staind to get back into the studio
to begin pre production later this year on their new album. Although no official release date has been set, look for the new
record to be released in late 2008. Staind also recently released 'The Singles 1996-2006' and the album clearly demonstrated
Staind's impact as a band on mainstream radio as they have sold over 15 million albums worldwide.
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08/24/07
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Though Aaron Lewis has spent most of the last 10 years fronting
a buzz-saw of a rock band, he's perfectly comfortable performing quietly on acoustic guitar.
The heavily tattooed
Lewis, the angst-ridden face of Staind, got his start doing the singer-songwriter thing in Springfield, Mass.
Lewis
is currently in the middle of an acoustic tour that returns him to those roots.
"It was what I did before
the band," Lewis said from a motel room in San Diego. "It's how I learned how to write songs. My love affair
with music has always been with an acoustic guitar and a voice. That's where it started and it's just kind of come
back around to that."
Lewis will perform today at the Sovereign Performing Arts Center in Reading and Saturday
at the Hershey Theatre in Hershey.
The singer, who writes sensitive, emotion-laden songs that have helped set Staind
apart from the the rest of the nu-metal pack, said he doesn't draw up a set list before taking the stage for the acoustic
shows.
"I'm completely winging it out there," he said.
He does, however, play a lot of
Staind songs.
"What I've done is taken songs that some people have been hearing a certain way for a long
time and completely stripped them down to the guts of the song," Lewis said. "One way's not better than the
other. One's not more satisfying than the other. It's just a cool, different way to present what we've written
over the years."
He supplements those tunes with original songs the band never recorded and also performs
a bunch of covers, happily playing requests if he knows them.
Lewis, who also did an acoustic tour last spring,
said fans sometimes demonstrate a decided lack of imagination when they shout out requests.
"If I played the
covers people yell out constantly on a night-to-night basis, they'd be the same," he said. "They tend to yell
out for songs they already heard me do."
No one should be surprised to learn that Lewis has performed "Comfortably
Numb" and "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd, "Black" by Pearl Jam and "Nutshell" by Alice
in Chains.
Some might be taken aback to learn that Lewis also has performed "The Rainbow Connection,"
which was sung by Kermit the Frog in "The Muppet Movie."
Lewis said Staind plans to return to the studio
in November to record a follow-up to "Chapter V," which came out in 2005.
Staind, which played at Hersheypark
Stadium earlier this summer on a bill that included Nickelback and Daughtry, broke into the mainstream in 2001 when it released
"Break the Cycle," which yielded the hits "Fade," "For You" and "Epiphany."
As well as giving him a chance to play in intimate settings, Lewis said the solo tours keep Staind from fading away completely
when there's no new album and no tour.
"In this business, you've got a small window of opportunity
and it's constantly closing on you and getting even smaller," he said. "Opportunities can't be left on the
table, and I'm just trying to survive.
"I thinks it's all grease for the machine. These shows are
something that the fans have always asked for over the years, so it's giving back to our fans who wanted to see it, and
it's not allowing us to disappear from people's radars between records. I think the two can co-exist."
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08/23/07
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At 18, Aaron Lewis was homeless living on Hampton Beach,
crashing on the sand and at friends' cottages, and eating whatever he could find.
"I know all the trash
cans with the best pizza," said Lewis, now 35 and the lead singer of the rock band, Staind.
Next week, Lewis
is returning to the beach under far more favorable circumstances, for an acoustic performance at the Hampton Beach Casino
Ballroom as part of his "Have Guitar, Will Travel" tour.
In the years between living on the beach and
performing at the beach, the frontman and his band have sold more than 15 million albums and toured near and far.
"What I am doing now on tour I have done since I was 17," Lewis said of his acoustic act.
His father
taught him to play the acoustic when he was 7, and Lewis never picked up an electric until Staind recorded "14 Shades
of Grey" in 2003.
"For over half my life, I have been playing out acoustically," he said."That
was my first love affair."
Today he's moved onto new loves. Lewis lives in western Massachusetts with
his wife and kids, along with the trophy he won at Hampton Beach's Talent Show back when he was 18. It sits in a box in
his basement, next to some of his gold records.
Gold records aren't a big deal, he says.
What is
a big deal is his collection of more than 60 electric and acoustic guitars - many still in their original cases - in a humidity
controlled room. They're all investments, Lewis said of his collection of mostly Gibsons and Les Pauls.
"There
is one I bought four years ago that I paid 17 grand for, and now it's worth 60 or 70 grand," he said. "You tell
me what kind of stock has that turn around in a few years."
For this tour, he uses two 1950s acoustic Gibsons.
"I like old guitars," Lewis said. "The old wood just sounds better, resonates better, feels better
when you play."
He doesn't consider himself a great guitar player, but also doesn't worry a lot about
his technical performance.
"I probably should have taken some lessons over the years," Lewis said. "I
would be a better guitar player. I am certainly not going to impress anyone with my guitar playing. It's more of trainwreck
waiting to happen. It adds to the wild, organic mess of it all."
Part
of that mess comes from a lack of planning, he says.
On this tour, while he plays Staind hits like "It's
Been Awhile," "Outside" and "Epiphany," he never has a set list. Rather, he lets the audience help
him decide what to play, making each show unique.
"I really don't have much of a plan," he said.
"I really go out there and see where it goes."
Despite the evolving nature of each concert, Lewis notices
a common thread: Fans are actively listening.
"You could hear a pin drop when I'm playing - that whole
scene means a lot to me," Lewis said. "It's pretty huge for me. I still go through life thinking nobody really
cares what I have say about anything."
About Aaron Lewis and Staind
Singer/songwriter Aaron Lewis'
first platinum success came in the late '90s with the release of "Dysfunction," propelled by such songs as "Just
Go," "Mudshovel" and "Home.
The Grammy-nominated musician caught a break in 1998 when Limp
Bizkit frontman Fred Durst signed Staind through Flip Records.
"It's Been Awhile" established Staind
as certifiable superstars. The track spent 16 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Modern Rock Chart.
Staind has sold
more than 15 million records worldwide, with its last three albums entering the Billboard 200 in the No. 1 spot.
"Chapter V," released in 2005, has been certified platinum and features the single "Right Here," which
marks the group's fourth No. 1 rock radio track.
Flip/Atlantic Records just released Staind's first hits
collection, "The Singles: 1996-2006," along with the simultaneous separate release of a companion DVD, "Staind:
The Videos."
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08/23/07
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A musician, not a celebrity
Aaron Lewis is
determined not to be what you expect.
The frontman of the band Staind is a bass fishing, camouflage wearing, pickup
truck driving, country music and talk radio fan.
And, as Lewis has often said, he's a "musician, not an
entertainer."
So, it should come as no surprise that he is the rare rock star (our words, not his) who frequently
does solo acoustic tours, formulating set lists on the fly that have included covers of "Rainbow Connection" by
Kermit the Frog, "Puff the Magic Dragon" and "On and On" by Stephen Bishop.
Q:
The last time you were in Hershey, Staind opened for Nickelback in front of 30,000 people. Is it difficult making the transition
to these acoustic shows?
A: I've been doing this since I was
17. I went straight from the Nickelback tour to playing acoustic shows, and I was doing them before that. In this business
you're not supposed to leave opportunity on the table.
Q: These
acoustic shows are another example of your not following the standard rock star plan.
A:
I've always fought that plan as hard as I could. I got into this to play music, not be a celebrity. It's harder to
fall into that hole than stay out of it.
Q: Fans seem to have such
strong connections to your songs. That must be gratifying.
A: It's
definitely fulfilling. I've spent most of my life thinking people didn't care what I had to say. It's therapeutic
to me in some ways.
Q: Have success and fame changed how you view
music?
A: I'm still trying to keep the same attitude. When I
stop enjoying the musical part of it, that's when I'll quit. ... Later this year we'll start on a new Staind record
and keep moving forward until our fans tell us to stop moving forward.
Q:
You're known as somewhat of a guitar connoisseur. How many are in your collection?
A:
I do definitely have a lot of them. I call it a "usable collection." It's about 50 to 75 guitars. I bring a
couple of older guitars out with me [for the acoustic shows]. The rest are in a humidity-controlled room at home.
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08/17/07
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Aaron Lewis Of Staind Talks About
His Solo Acoustic Tour
Aaron Lewis, the powerful vocals of Staind, brings his solo acoustic tour on the road while the band takes
some time away from touring and recording. On this solo tour which hits North American cities from coast to coast, Aaron brings
his talent for improvisational song writing along with the voice that has helped Staind sell over 15 million albums. During
the show, Lewis takes requests from his fans and has at times ventured into his catalog of cover songs ranging from Tool to
Alice in Chains to Pearl Jam, always with a few surprised fit
in.
We caught up with Aaron just before his show at the Wiltern Theater to talk about finding comfort in discomfort
on stage, mostly when improvising in front of an audience.
"I don't know. I don't ever know what to
expect. I don't go out there with any plan or any set list. I just kind of wing it. I guess I get a little bit of comfort
from the discomfort. It tends to be a fun evening because there's no structure to it whatsoever."
We also talked with Aaron about not just performing songs onstage, but actually
improvisational songwriting on stage, which was how he wrote one of Staind biggest hits 'Outside.'
"They kind of just came out. I wrote 'em on stage while I was playing them and then kept playing them. I
do that type of stuff. I've always done that. 'Outside' was done that way in front of 14,000 people in the Mississippi
Coast Coliseum in Biloxi. I had a chord progression and I had a chorus, and the rest of it I was just making it up as I went."
So with a few shows under his belt and many more dates around the U.S. to follow, is there plans for Aaron Lewis to
record a solo album before getting back in the studio with Staind?
"Uh, it's the second actual tour, but
I've been doing the shows for four or five years now. I was doing it before I was ever in the band. Inevitably I would
think that there would be something coming out. Anything's possible. There's definitely some songs I've been playing
that don't have a home."
Aaron Lewis welcomed former Limp Bizkit vocalist Fred Durst on stage recently in Los Angeles. It was Durst
that brought Lewis and Staind to the attention of record label bigwigs. Lewis brings his solo acoustic tour on the road with
dates extending until October 3rd in Leemore, California.
There is also a short video to go with this article see
link below.
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08/16/07
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Aaron Lewis unplugged is loose, free-spirited,
honest
Aaron Lewis wants you to know that he's really not a sad guy.
Lewis, the frontman of Staind,
has spent the last decade as the poster boy for a generation of angry young men, with his emotion-filled voice and lyrics
about isolation, pain and loss.
But that's just one side of his personality, and in a telephone interview Monday
from Los Angeles, where he's taking a few days off from his tour before heading to San Diego and then El Paso's Plaza
Theatre, he showed that he's funny, well-adjusted, upbeat and — dare we say it? — happy.
Lewis
chatted with Pulse about beating the odds as a band, his easygoing concert style and his refusal to play any Neil Sedaka.
(Q) Where did the idea come from
for this more intimate concert experience?
(A) Well,
it's what I used to do before I ever met the guys in Staind. It's kind of coming back around full-circle for me. My
love affair with music started with an acoustic guitar.
(Q) What
is your favorite non-Staind song to perform?
(A) Oh, I don't
know if I have a favorite. There's so many different songs that I can choose from that I try to do something different
nightly. I guess I don't really have a favorite. I love music.
(Q)
So you don't really go at it with a set list, or anything?
(A)
No, there is no plan whatsoever. It is as loose of a structure as I could possible put together. It's basically a train
wreck just waiting to happen. That's the way I go into it.
(Q)
You take requests from the audience during the show, right?
(A) I
tend to. It was a choice between embracing what was going on naturally or trying to fight it, so I kind of figured, it was
easier and even maybe a little bit beneficial to the whole lack of structure in the show.
(Q)
What's the most surprising audience request you've had?
(A)
I think one time someone yelled out, like, Neil Sedaka, or something.
(Q)
And were you able to accommodate them?
(A) NO. Somebody yelled out,
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