STAIND Frontman: 'We've Never Gotten Sucked Into The Overexposure Machine'

Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio recently conducted an interview with STAIND frontman Aaron Lewis. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Audio Ink Radio: There have been comparisons between this release and STAIND's second album in 1999, "Dysfunction". Would you agree with that?

Lewis: Only on one level. I would agree in the sense that during the recoding process of "Dysfunction", there was a nervous, anticipating, excited fear of the unknown. The energy in the studio while we were recording was tangible and captured on tape. On this record, it was the frustration and the unknowing and all in a negative way that was also captured on tape.

Audio Ink Radio: You just premiered the documentary of the making of the album, "The Making Of Staind", and you've stated before it was hard to watch. What got you guys through it, when times got tough?

Lewis: The fact that we weren't together and were doing things separately. [Laughs] That we weren't actually spending time in the same room together. Then we didn't talk to each other until after things had calmed down and everybody was able to take a step back from what it was we were so involved in doing to see that everything was okay.

Audio Ink Radio: Why do you think STAIND have managed to survive and thrive after the post-grunge, rock bubble of the late '90s and early 2000s when so many bands have fallen away?

Lewis: I don't know. Maybe because we have amazing fans. I don't really know what we might have done differently over the years. We've always tried as hard as we could to not let anybody else's visions or interpretations be allowed to be applied to us in any way, and we've always stayed very true to ourselves, and we've never gotten sucked into the overexposure machine. I can count on one hand the amount of award shows I've been to and red carpets I've walked down, and we've just really never cared about that stuff. Maybe it's the fact we've quietly sold 15 million records. Maybe that's the reason why we're still here, because we did it quietly.

Audio Ink Radio: STAIND just announced they'll be playing a show in New York City to benefit the families of 9/11 on September 15. Why did you guys feel moved to do this?

Lewis: Because of the coincidence with everything the fact this is our release week, and the fact that when they started talking about doing a show for release week in New York City, the release date and 9/11 fall in the same week. I thought that instead of doing your usual release week show somewhere, we should have it mean something. I certainly haven't forgotten.

Read the entire interview at Audio Ink Radio.