MUDVAYNE USED TO DISGUISE THEMSELVES AS SPACE ALIENS, BUT WITH THE RELEASE OF THEIR THIRD ALBUM, THE BAND HAS CHOSEN TO FACE THE WORLD AS NOTHING MORE THAN VERY TALENTED EARTHLINGS.
Chad Gray is hot and tired. The Mudvayne frontman is taking a breather from the lights of New York ’s Club Avalon, where his band is filming a performance driven clip for its new track “Determined.” Yet his current level of discomfort pales in comparison to what he’s endured in the past. “It’s just so nice to be free to go onstage in what I wake up in,” he says. He’s currently wearing tight wrist-bands and a spiked choker that would turn his neck to Swiss cheese in bed, but his point is clear. Most of Mudvayne’s nine-year career has required almost daily rituals of transformation in which the band members, under bizarre pseudonyms, would apply intricate makeup and don costumes before hitting the stage. Photo shoots were even more involved; during various phases of its development the group dressed up as space aliens, characters from the film The Warriors, and gunshot victims.
Not only did the imagery look cool, it gave Mudvayne something to hide behind, so they could purge their poisons without feeling self-conscious. But with the release of their third full-length, Lost and Found (Epic), the group members have shed their colorful skins and strange stage names and revealed themselves as ambitious and tormented metalheads torn between wanting to succeed and wanting to do things their own way.
Seated at a backstage table at Club Avalon during a break from the“Determined” shoot, Gray, the artist formerly known as Chüd, shrugs and down plays the significance of the shift. “Actually, we did half of our last tour with no makeup,” he says, then cracks a bottled water and takes a deep chug. “There just came a point where it became a nuisance and we needed to liberate ourselves. One day I just thought, I want to be me today. I don’t want to put this fuckin’ shit on.”
“I just think the makeup thing ran its course ,” adds guitarist Greg Tribbett, who used to go by Güüg. “It became more of an attention getter than the music, and all the kids were coming out to the shows in makeup. I’m glad we’re past that. At least maybe people will pay more attention to the songs now.”
Mudvayne’s decision to scrap the shtick could wind up being as much of a curse as a blessing. By changing their image, the band members (who are rounded out by bassist Ryan Martinie, formerly called R-üD, and drummer Matt McDonough, formerly called Spüg) have eliminated the element that made them instantly identifiable. Now all that’s left are the tunes. Making the situation even more difficult for Mudvayne is that, this time around, they’ve altered the core of their sound as much as their look.