Aaron Lewis on Staind’s Status: ‘We Haven’t Broken Up’
Though Staind were one of the top radio rock bands of the early 2000s, the second decade of the 21st century has seen the band going on hiatus twice. With Aaron Lewis thriving as a solo artist in the country scene and guitarist Mike Mushok already working on his second album with Saint Asonia, is there a future for Staind?
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Lewis reiterates that the band is on a hiatus rather than having moved on permanently. "We haven't broken up," says the singer. "I have no interest or creative need to go there right now. I'm pretty focused on [country music] and I'm not going anywhere. This is what feels right at this point in my life."
However, Staind fans should not be discouraged, as he continued, "Do I think there's room somewhere down the road for Staind to play shows in the summertime, radio festivals and stuff like that? Sure. Do I think I have another one of those [Staind] records in me? Of course I do. All I have to do is live."
Lewis' current album is titled Sinner and is hailed as a return to a classic country sound, but the singer credits another rocker for helping him forge that path. When asked about reacquainting himself with the music of his youth, he credited Kid Rock. "I was spending many nights without sleep on his tour bus and we were listening to all this classic country. And every song that would come on had a memory from my childhood attached to it. Once that happened, I really couldn't escape the inevitable, which is where we are now."
After seven studio albums, Staind went on hiatus in 2012. The band took nearly two years off before returning to the stage for shows in the spring of 2014. But by the end of the year, the band announced a second hiatus.
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