MUDVAYNE vocalist Chad Gray is stepping out on his own for the first time with a run of solo shows called "30 Years Of Madness," launching April 24 at the Fremont Country Club in Las Vegas. The dates come during a year in which MUDVAYNE has no scheduled touring.
Rehearsing the material has proven emotionally charged, particularly the HELLYEAH songs. "It's been really weird. I'm obviously rehearsing all that stuff now," Gray admitted. "There's a lot of remembering playing them with Vince. It's kind of a big fucking ball of emotions."
HELLYEAH drummer Vinnie Paul passed away in 2018, and the band has been inactive since their 2020 tour was cancelled due to COVID-19. The project carried tremendous personal weight for Gray, and revisiting those recordings without Paul behind the kit clearly hits differently.
On why he couldn't simply take the year off, Gray was characteristically blunt: "I'm 54 fucking years old. I'm not taking a year off. That's like me putting my happiness in a cage. I wanna work. I'm a worker bee."
Gray's solo run will be backed by HELLYEAH guitarist Christian Brady and MUDVAYNE touring guitarist Marcus Raffety. Across his career — 12 albums total, six each with MUDVAYNE and HELLYEAH — Gray has been performing since 1996. MUDVAYNE reunited in 2021 after a 12-year hiatus.