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STAIND frontman Aaron Lewis talks to Sean Plummer about recording
his band’s new album (14 Shades of Grey), his very own record
label (413 Records), and, um, his pet duck.
Aaron Lewis’s pet duck just attacked his toddler. The frontman
for hard rock band Staind excuses himself to check on his year-old daughter
and comes back on the line to report with a laugh that everything’s
okay.
No ruffled feathers, then? Sorry, it had to be said.
So, Aaron, you’ve, um, got a pet duck?
“He is the coolest duck,” Lewis says. “He’ll
follow you on command, he’ll come when you call him. He’s
a hell of a duck.”
Lewis may come across all gloomy and introspective
(Rolling Stone dubbed him “King Of Pain” in one article),
but anyone who owns a pet duck (named P-Ducky) can’t be all that
maudlin. Certainly Lewis and his bandmates (guitarist Mike Mushok,
bassist Johnny April and drummer Jon Wysocki) have a lot
to smile about these days. The Massachusetts-based band’s last
record, 2001’s Break The Cycle, topped Billboard’s
album chart the week of release and went on to sell 7 million copies
worldwide on the back of an increasingly rabid fanbase, high-profile
tours with the likes of Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit (Fred Durst mentored
the band early in its career), and a breakthrough hit in the melancholy
‘It’s Been Awhile’.
Now their fourth album 14 Shades of Grey has
just been released and Lewis’s 413 Records imprint, formed so the
singer could sign LA hard rock band Lo-Pro, is on the cusp of being
finalized. Grey’s first single, ‘Price To Pay’,
is impacting at radio, the Toronto-shot video is in rotation at MuchMusic,
and a world tour is being planned.
ACCESS spoke with Lewis shortly before the album’s
release.
Q: You recently started a record label with Geffen Records president
Jordan Schur, I understand.
I believe that 413 Records is going to go through. It was supposed to
be [named] Seedless and come to find out Seedless Records already exists,
and it’s doing absolutely nothing and the person who owns it won’t
sell it to me so I had to go digging for something else.
Q: So is 413 your area code?
It’s my area code, it’s my birthday, it’s the day the
first record came out.
Q: Why did you set it up in the first place?
So I could sign the band Lo-Pro. Further than that, I want to create
a label that bands don’t complain about; a much more artist friendly
label run by an artist. I know what it’s like to be on the band
end of things. Most CEOs of record companies have no idea. My point
is to try to create something that might add a little bit of good into
this business.
Q: As a musician, do you feel a responsibility to treat bands
better than perhaps you were treated coming up?
Well, yeah! I make money if you make money. I’m not making money
hand over fist and you’re getting jack, and that’s a huge
difference right there. I have something that I’ve got going on
right now that’s making me money. Right now is the time to build
and create something that can better the industry in what little way
that I can help do that.
Q: What kind of a boss are you?
Very picky to begin with, but once I’ve found something that I
like, really, really easygoing.
Q: How was Staind treated coming up?
You know, we really have been lucky from day one. We toured with Kid
Rock, and Devil Without A Cause went gold while we were on tour
with them, and then we did like two weeks with Monster Magnet and then
we did Sevendust. They were great. Then we did Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock
again. So once again killer. Then we did Korn and then we did Family
Values.
Q: This record was produced and mixed by Josh Abraham and Andy
Wallace respectively, the same team responsible for Break The Cycle.
Were there differences in the sessions?
No, they were both about the same. I was completely unprepared for both!
When I went into the studio to do vocals I had nothing. It was my turn,
the whole record was done, all that was left was vocals and I had nothing.
I went into the studio in the middle of November and I left the studio
on December 20 and I was done. I wouldn’t suggest that. I guess
it works for me.
Q: Is it frustrating having the job you have when you want to
spend time with your new family?
It all depends. Most of the time it’s easy, sometimes it’s
a little more difficult. It comes along with what I chose to do. You’ve
got to keep into consideration that, yeah, this is what I chose to do
but I was lucky enough to do it and I don’t take that for granted.
Q: Layne Staley from Alice In Chains died on April 5, 2002, the
same day your daughter Zoe was born, and you’ve written songs for
both of them on this album (‘Layne’ and ‘Zoe’).
What is your greatest memory of that day?
It was the day that my daughter was born. I was standing right there.
My left hand was acting as a stirrup and my right hand was in Vanessa’s
hand counting for her and [being] right there with her. That day, April
5, for me is a day of birth.
Q: What did Alice In Chains’ music mean to you?
It’s pretty safe to say that without them I might not be here right
now.
Q: You’ve been tagged as introspective because of the brooding
quality of some of your lyrics. Do you think of yourself as especially
introspective?
It comes out the way it comes out. Sitting down with a pencil and trying
to craft each song word by word, line by line... You know, I just kind
of let it fly. I just throw a bunch of s**t against the wall and see
what sticks.
Q: Many of your songs deal with taking responsibility for your
actions and the consequences of not doing so. There’s a line from
‘Falling Down’ that reads “Life remembers everything
you do/Your karma has caught up with you.” Have you always believed
in fate?
My parents have always believed in that. It’s hard not to believe
in it. You know that karma’s come around and bit you in
the ass before at one point or another in your life. It happens to everybody.
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