Staind guitarist Mike Mushok recently gave an interview where he talked about if he was ever concerned by Aaron Lewis’ decision to build himself a solo country career. Mike explained the situation between them and mentioned another musician helped them reunite and allowed them to play again:
“Throughout the whole thing, we would always talk and I always thought we’d get back together and do something. There were never really any plans for that to happen. And then, honestly, there’s a gentleman that kind of really helped pull the whole thing together. And it was Ben Kitterman, who used to play with Aaron. He came out and saw me and he said, ‘Hey, I think you guys should really work again. Aaron’s ready to do it.’ And I was, like, ‘Count me in.'”
Mushok told how their first reunion went down and got interrupted by COVID-19:
“So we did those [first reunion] shows in 2019. We had a whole plan for 2020. We had signed a record deal to do a record. And then that pandemic hit and really obviously changed the course for everybody, their path and what they were doing and how things were gonna go down.”
The guitarist also mentioned their first album since 2011, and his feelings about working together again:
“We did that tour with KORN in ’21, and a lot of what’s on the [upcoming Staind] record [‘Confessions Of The Fallen’] really came together on that tour. And it was an opportunity to get into a room with Aaron and play. I had a lot of music written, and [I had a chance to] play it for him and kind of get an idea of what he liked and take some suggestions and some direction. And I went back and kind of redid a bunch of those demos. We got a producer and, yeah, just started working.”
Aaron Lewis started his solo country music career in 2010, and released three albums since then, with the fourth on the way. Staind announced they would reform in 2019, and they would go on tour in April 2022. They’re still on tour, which will end in October 2023. You can click here for the tickets. Below, you can listen to their single ‘Cycle of Hurting,’ which is a part of their album ‘Confessions of The Fallen,’ which will release on September 15, 2023.