“We’re from another fucking Pl | An | Et!”
On Thanksgiving weekend in 2000, photographer Mick Hutson and I flew out to Atlanta, Georgia to interview Mudvayne for the cover of Metal Hammer. The cover shoot itself was going to be a composite with fellow rising nu metal stars Disturbed. The concept was for Kud (the stage name Mudvayne vocalist Chad Gray was going by at the time) to be electrocuting Disturbed’s frontman, David Draiman.
Both bands were blowing up Stateside and were already starting to resonate with UK metal fans, thanks to heavy rotation on MTV2 and XFM. So it seemed like a no-brainer to pair them up, especially given the wider music press at the time were sceptical about this new brand of heavy music from across the pond. While the sheer spectacle of Slipknot, whose debut album was unleashed the previous summer, could not be ignored, at the time, their peers couldn’t get arrested. Their loss was Metal Hammer’s gain, and so began a relationship that’s lasted 20-odd years.
Mick had already shot David Draiman grimacing in one of the Chicago band’s then stage props a few weeks earlier in Spain. This was in the days pre-digital photography, and before Photoshop was the norm. Mick was going to have to comp the two singers together in his darkroom, and he’d use actual sparklers to make the shots more dynamic.
Mick and I first met the band sans make-up on their modestly sized tour bus. I interviewed them in pairs: Chad and his future Hellyeah bandmate, guitarist Greg Tribbett (AKA Gurrg), were the more grounded half of Mudvayne. Chad could talk for America, and had star quality in spades, while Greg was quieter, more modest, but keenly aware that his band were on the verge of something big.
Ryknow (bassist Ryan Martinie) and drummer and Spag (drummer Matthew McDonough), on the other hand, were a lot more intense. Matt was incredibly passionate about his band’s audio visual art, while Ryan had the chops to back it up; he was classically trained and had studied jazz bass to a high level. Ryan spoke at length how he’d already moved on from the Devil persona he debuted from their breakthrough video, Dig. For them, Mudvayne was about living in the moment, and not a vehicle to market t-shirts and action figures to kids.
I think the concerns we all had at the back of our minds was: did Mudvayne have the substance to go with the style? After talking to them and witnessing their ‘art’ live, absolutely.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Mudvayne are the genuine article, the real deal and the whole nine yards. They are so real that you can reach out and touch them, but don’t be surprised if they turn round and tear off one of
