| Mudvayne | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Peoria, Illinois, United States |
| Genres | Heavy metal, nu metal, progressive metal |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Labels | Sony BMG, Epic |
| Associated acts | Hellyeah |
| Website | www.Mudvayne.com |
| Members | |
| Chad Gray Ryan Martinie Greg Tribbett Matthew McDonough |
|
| Past members | |
| Shawn Barclay | |
Mudvayne is an American heavy metal band formed in Peoria, Illinois in 1996. Members are lead singer Chad Gray, guitarist Greg Tribbett, bassist Ryan Martinie and drummer Matthew McDonough. Signed onto Epic Records, Mudvayne has released five studio albums, two compilations albums, and two DVDs.
Mudvayne rose to fame in 2000 with their debut album L.D. 50, which peaked at number 85 on the Billboard 200, and has since been certified gold by the RIAA. The lead single from the album, "Dig", won the MTV2 Award at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2001. This was the first time the award was presented to a metal band. In 2006 Mudvayne was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the Grammy Awards for the single "Determined" from the band's 2005 studio album Lost and Found. Mudvayne has four gold certifications by the RIAA, and has sold nearly 3,000,000 records in the United States, and over 6,000,000 records worldwide.
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Mudvayne formed in 1996 in Peoria, Illinois.[1] The band's members met through the local music circuit, and often played in bands together, as well as in each other's bands; McDonough's band Brainsaw featured Mudvayne vocalist Chad Gray.
In 1997, after a year of performing on the local circuit, Mudvayne released its debut EP, Kill, I Oughtta, which featured three studio tracks the band had originally recorded for a demo, and four live tracks.[1] The EP helped get the band a contract with No-Name/Epic Records.[1][2] L.D. 50 was produced by Garth "GGGarth" Richardson[3] and executive produced by Slipknot member Shawn Crahan.[2][4]
The band first was featured on the second stage of the Tattoo the Earth Art and Music Festival Tour. They scored their first hit single with the song "Dig" from their debut album L.D. 50. For this song, the band won the first ever MTV2 Award at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2001.
In 2001, they released an extended version of the Kill, I Oughtta EP titled as The Beginning of All Things to End and continued their frequent touring.
During the L.D. 50 era, the band was famous for wearing extravagant make-up, seen in both their music videos and live concerts, and using unusual stage names such as Kud, Gurrg, RyKnow, and sPaG.[5] With their second album, 2002's The End of All Things to Come, the band changed make-up styles from multicolored face paint to dressing up as aliens and changing the stage names, now they were Chüd, Güüg, Rü-D, and Spüg.[6] Mudvayne's reason for wearing such extravagant make-up was, according to the band, to add a visual aspect to their music and to set them apart from other run-of-the-mill metal bands.[7] Mudvayne participated in the Summer Sanitarium Tour 2003, headlined by Metallica, and with the release of the 2003 single "World So Cold", Mudvayne abandoned their use of make-up entirely.[8]
In 2005, their third album Lost and Found was released with the band members' real names and without any gimmicks.[8] The band has said that future use of make-up is not out of the question.[9]
In mid-2005, Mudvayne played on the main stage of Ozzfest. After this tour Mudvayne started a world tour which included Australia, North America and Europe. During their show in Sydney various Australian TV personalities made an appearance such as Nikolas Crowfoot, Mitch Jones and Craig Welton. These concerts were a great success. Mudvayne originally toured Australia in 2001 as part of the Big Day Out festival.
By the People, For the People is a compilation album released on November 27, 2007 by Epic Records. The album features a track listing chosen entirely by the band's fans, with the band determining which version appears on the record (e.g. live, demo, acoustic), as well as two new songs, "Dull Boy" and a cover of The Police's song "King of Pain" (both produced by Dave Fortman and written by Bradley Bower).
By the People, for the People is presented in a format where each song is introduced through a short interlude generally no longer than 30 seconds long, where Gray debriefs the listener on surrounding facts such as where the song was recorded or performed live, or distinguishing a demo from an album version. The album debuted at number 51 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling about 22,000 copies in its first week.
After the return of Gray and Tribbett from their touring commitments with side project Hellyeah, Mudvayne began the recording process for The New Game with producer Dave Fortman, who produced their previous effort, Lost and Found.[10] Fortman reported to MTV that the album will be followed six months later by a second full-length record.[11] He attested that while the album should please listeners, it will incorporate a distinct rock and roll sound not heard on previous Mudvayne records. "It's heavy and has great hooks," said Fortman, "but it also has some moments that are a little more rock n' roll that are really cool. It's not anything drastic, but every now and then you'll catch a little hint of old-school rock. Also, the tones are a little more earthy sounding and somewhat warmer than Lost and Found. Although Mudvayne was going to follow up The New Game six months later with an album titled The End Game, the plan never came to fruition. Instead a self-titled album was released a year later.
Their sixth full length album, the self-titled Mudvayne, was produced by Dave Fortman's associate Jeremy Parker and is "a little more retro" from a songwriting point of view, according to Gray. "We've been kind of making this natural progression, and I think for this one, we just sort of naturally regressed," he told Noisecreep. "We took the smarter songwriting guys that we've become and mixed it with the not-smart songwriting guys that we were." The album was recorded during Summer 2008 in El Paso, Texas.[12] On October 7, 2009, Mudvayne posted a bulletin on their MySpace saying that they will be releasing a self-titled album on December 22, 2009 followed by a tour. They have two new songs called "Beautiful and Strange" and "Heard it All Before" on their official MySpace page. "Mudvayne" has been described by McDonough as "the best" CD "the band has recorded since our second album,'The End Of All Things to Come'." The effort will be released in three different formats — a standard jewel case edition, a deluxe version packaged with a black light and a super deluxe edition that features a larger black light, a special edition blacklight-reactive poster and more. For those who pre-ordered the super deluxe edition they would receive a full album download two weeks before the album release. Only a 1000 of the super deluxe edition were available.[13]
The artwork for the CD was printed entirely in blacklight-reactive ink, making it only visible under a black light (a source of light whose wavelengths are primarily in the ultraviolet) In the limited edition packaging, a key chain blacklight is included.[13]
Mudvayne was formerly known for its strong visual appearance. During the release of L.D. 50, the band performed in horror film-styled makeup.[2] Epic Records initially chose to promote the band without focusing on its appearance, and early promotional materials featured a logo instead of photographs of the band. The band's appearance and music videos increased recognition of the album.[2] The band appeared under the stage names Kud, Gurrg, RyKnow, and sPaG.[14] With their second album, 2002's The End of All Things to Come, the band changed make-up styles from multicolored face paint to dressing up as aliens and changing the stage names, now they were Chüd, Güüg, Rü-D, and Spüg.[15] Mudvayne's reason for wearing such extravagant make-up was, according to the band, to add a visual aspect to their music and to set them apart from other run-of-the-mill metal bands.[16]
Mudvayne is known for performing a technical style of music which they have called "math metal".[17][18] The band's music often contains what McDonough refers to as "number symbolism", in which certain riffs are used that correspond with thematic elements of the song's lyrics.[1]
Mudvayne was influenced by performers such as Emperor, King Crimson and Porcupine Tree.[18] Mudvayne's musical style incorporates elements of death metal,[1] hardcore punk,[1] jazz fusion,[19] speed metal[1] and progressive rock.[1] Mudvayne's musical style has been described as alternative metal,[20][21] extreme metal,[22] hard rock,[23] heavy metal,[24][25][26] neo-progressive rock,[27] nu metal,[28][29][30][31][32] progressive metal,[33][34][35] and shock rock.[23]
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