Mudvayne formed in 1996 in Peoria, Illinois. The band consisted of three people: Sean Barclay (bass guitarist), Greg Tribbett (guitarist) and Matthew McDonough (drummers).
A little later, Chad Gray joined the guys. Prior to that, he worked in one of the factories in the United States (in a low-paid position). After quitting, Chad decided to connect his life with music and became the vocalist of the group.
In 1997, the band began to finance and record their debut EP, Kill, I Oughtta, in earnest.
Album LD 50 (1998-2000)
The following year, Mudvayne met Steve Soderstrom. He was a local promoter and had a significant amount of connections. It was Steve who introduced the musicians to Chuck Toler.
He, in turn, helped the guys get a lucrative contract with Epic Records, where the band recorded their first full-length album. The work was published in 2002 under the title LD 50.
It was then that, thanks to experiments with sound, the group found its canonical sound. It consisted in "torn" guitar riffs, dissonant with the rest of the instruments. The album was produced by Garth Richardson and Sean Crahan.
The latter became famous as a percussionist and producer of the band Slipknot. Not surprisingly, this collaboration has yielded excellent results. The album peaked at number 1 on the Billse Top Heatseekers and at number 200 on the Billboard 85.
Two singles from the album, Dig and Death Blooms, charted on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. Despite such positive results, the group never received the fame it deserved.
The guys went on tour Tattoo the Earth. To promote their album, the guys did not play alone, but with such famous bands as Nothingface, Slayer, Slipknot and Sevendust.
Chad Gray (frontman and vocalist of Mudvayne) even considered forming a new band with Tom Maxwell (guitarist for Nothingface). A year later, the two bands again went on a joint tour, but plans to unite the two bands had to be postponed due to inconsistencies in the musicians' schedules.
However, the idea was the same - Maxwell and Gray came up with several names for the future group. At the same time, Greg Tribbett (the band's guitarist) himself invited Maxwell to become a musician in their band.
But even in the group Nothingface everything was not very smooth. Their drummer Tommy Sickles recorded several demos, but had to find a replacement.
Album The End of All Things to Come
In 2002, the band released the album The End of All Things to Come. The band considered the album to be one of their darkest works. The inspiration for the group came in isolation from everyone.
Also interesting is the story that happened during the mixing of the album. Gray and McDonough overheard a strange conversation. It said that someone "needs to cut out his own eye."
McDonough was surprised at this and asked Gray if he had just heard these words. But Gray answered in the negative. Only after some time did the musicians realize that the strange words were probably part of the script that the actors were rehearsing.
In general, the new album has expanded the sound of LD 50. Here you can hear a significant variety of guitar riffs. In addition, the vocals have also become more varied and interesting, and the mood of the songs has changed slightly compared to the previous work.
Due to the expanded and updated sound, the American magazine Entertainment Weekly called the album "more listenable" than the previous LD 50. The End of All Things to Come became one of the most popular heavy metal albums of 2002.
The images of the musicians went through a number of changes. In the video clip for the single Not Falling, the band tried on the image of strange creatures with white eyes.
Album Lost and Found
In 2003, Mudvayne went on tour under the direction of Metallica. In the autumn of the same year, vocalist Chad Gray took part in the recording of the debut album Mind Cul-De-Sac by V Shape.
The following year, 2004, the band began recording their third album. Produced by Dave Fortman. The band wrote the songs a few months before they started working in the studio.
A year later, Gray founded his label Bully Goat Records. Soon the band's first album Bloodsimple A Cruel World was released, where Gray appeared as a guest vocalist.
In April, the album Lost and Found was released, the first single of which was called "Happy?" highly praised for the complex guitar playing. Gray also wrote the track Choices as an opus.
The rest of the band's musicians were also involved in other projects. Sean Barclay (former bass player) released the debut album of his new band Sprung.
Then there were rumors that Gray's label would record the song We Pay Our Debt Sometimes, which would become a tribute album for the band Alice in Chains.
Referring to these rumors, Gray himself and Cold, Breaking Benjamin, Static-X were supposed to take part in the album.
The band's spokesman for Alice in Chains revealed that the band was not aware of any album, and the band's manager, Mudvayne, confirmed that reports of the album were only rumors.
In September, the band met with director Darren Lynn Boseman, whose film Saw II was in production and included Lost and Found's "Forget to Remember" as its soundtrack.
Bausman showed them a scene from his film about a man having to gouge out his own eye. Gray remembered that conversation he heard two years ago and it turned out that those words were just part of the script.
Gray himself made a brief appearance in the film Saw II, and the music video for the song Forgetto Remember contained footage from the film.
Unpleasant Incident
In 2006, a new drummer appeared in the Mudvayne band. The band's newest member is former Pantera and Damageplan drummer Vinnie Paul. Together they formed the new collective Hellyeah.
Also this year there was a very unpleasant incident. When Mudvayne and Korn were playing in Denver, one of the waitresses, Nicole LaScalia, was injured during their performance.
Two years later, the woman filed a lawsuit against two musical groups, as well as against the owner of the Clear Channel Broadcasting radio station.
Album Hellyeah
In the summer of 2006, the band recorded the album Hellyeah. After that, Mudvayne went on tour and decided to release another work in 2007, By the People.
The album was compiled from songs selected by the band's "fans" on the site. The record hit the US Billboard 200 at No. 51. Over 22 copies were sold in its first week.
Following the end of the Hellyeah tour, the band returned to the studio to begin work on The New Game with Dave Fortman. After the band released the album, Fortman announced on MTV that a new full-length album would be released in six months.
The band's fifth self-titled album was recorded in the summer of 2008 in El Paso, Texas. The cover of the album was notable. The name was printed in black ink. Letters can only be seen under dark light or ultraviolet light.
A break in the work of the Mudvain group
In 2010, the band decided to go on sabbatical so Gray and Tribbett could tour separately from the rest of Mudvayne. Due to the tour of Gray and Tribbett, it became clear that the break would drag on until at least 2014.
Tribbett has recorded three albums with his Hellyeah project: Hellyeah, Stampede and Band of Brothers. Gray also took part in the work on the fourth and fifth albums of Blood For Blood and Unden! Able.
Ryan Martini didn't sit still either, he went on tour with Korn in 2012 as a temporary replacement for bassist Reginald Arviz, who had to stay at home due to his wife's pregnancy.
A year later, Martini took part in the recording of the debut EP Kurai Breaking the Broken. A year later, Tribbet left Hellyeah.
In 2015, Gray gave an interview for Songfacts where he said that Mudvayne is unlikely to return to the scene. A little later, former band members Tribbett and McDonough formed a new band called Audiotopsy. They called in Skrape vocalist Billy Keaton and bassist Perry Stern.
Musical style and influence of the band
Mudvayne bassist Ryan Martini is known for his complex playing. The band's music also contains what McDonough called "number symbolism" where certain riffs correspond to lyrical themes.
The band incorporated elements of death metal, jazz, jazz fusion and progressive rock into their repertoire.
The band was inspired by other famous bands: Tool, Pantera, King Crimson, Genesis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Carcass, Deicide, Emperor, Miles Davis, Black Sabbath.
Members of the bands have repeatedly expressed their admiration for Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, which influenced the recording of their LD 50 album.
Appearance and image of Mudvayne
Mudvayne, of course, was famous for their appearance, but Gray prioritized music and sound first, then the visual component. After the release of LD 50, the band performed in make-up inspired by horror films.
However, from the very beginning of their career, Epic Records did not rely on appearance. Advertising posters always featured only the band's logo, not a photo of its members.
Members of Mudvayne were originally known by their stage names Kud, SPaG, Ryknow and Gurrg. At the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards (where they won an MTV2 Award for Dig), the band appeared in white suits with a bloody bullet mark on their foreheads.
After 2002, the band changed their make-up style and their stage names to Chüd, Güüg, Rü-D and Spüg.
According to the band, the extravagant makeup added a visual dimension to their music and set them apart from other metal bands.
From 2003 until their breakup, Mudvayne largely eschewed the use of makeup to avoid being compared to Slipknot.
