Hellyeah = Smart Outlaws

Hellyeah is what you get when you place a group of very talented musicians in the same room, and tell them to let their creativity flow without a set agenda. The whole concept behind Hellyeah is to create a musical blend that is aged to perfection just like a fine bottle of Scotch. While they don't necessarily fit into a musical category, their music is honest and serves as the perfect soundtrack to a night of debauchery.

Recently, our European correspondent Tanja Caciur from Music Photocalypse sat down with Hellyeah's Chad Gray and Vinnie Paul for a very intimate interview. Here is what went down!

You guys have been touring non-stop for a while now. What is it like being on tour with Hellyeah?

Chad: It is blurry.

Vinnie: Yeah, blurry. A lot of press, a lot of drinking, never get to soundcheck… I mean, we would like to have one, but being a support band, usually things are not ready in time for us to do that. But we like to do a lot of things. This is the most I’ve ever gotten to see of Europe, from all the times I’ve ever been on tour. Every day I get out and walk somewhere. On every tour I did with Pantera, I never saw anything. It was just stay on the bus, go to the hotel, and go to the gig. That was it. The other day in Milan I walked around the whole damn square, it is really cool to experience that. We have done a lot of this support stuff in the States. We were recently on tour with Avenged Sevenfold and Stone Sour at the Uproar Festival. We were done at 5.30 in the afternoon every day. So we started drinking at 4… (laughter). That is not really a Rock’N’Roll life style when you are done doing your job at 5.30 in the afternoon. If we have a singing to do, we are done at 7. So there is a lot of looning about that goes on from bar to bar, from place to place, to this to that.

Chad: The worst part about tours like Uproar is those ‘sheds’ that are just in the middle of fucking nowhere, there is literally nothing to do. We headline the 2nd stage; we play, like he said, at 5.30. So we start drinking about an hour before we go on and I am getting up at 3. I am only sober literally like a fucking hour a day for the whole summer, it is amazing. That is how we usually are out here [in Europe] too, but it has been awesome.

How would you describe Hellyeah to people who have never heard the band? Give me some kind of a teaser.

Vinnie: It is a fucking Friday night, a full on freight train. It is all about working class people that bust their fucking asses, living in the real world, not the shit you see on MTV (laughs). And you know, you bust your ass and you cannot wait for Friday night, forget about your problems, drink, have a good time and just enjoy yourself. That is the basic vibe that we put out, that’s kinda it in a nutshell.

Chad: I think Hellyeah as a band… it is more of an attitude; a kind of lifestyle…


You speak about the working class people, but I would assume you have not been a part of the working class for quite a while…

Vinnie: I wouldn’t say that. When you have to do what we do every day…
OK, but its not a 9 to 5 kind of job…

Vinnie: No, it is a 24-hour a day job. You cannot take this face off, anywhere you go people will expect something from you. They want an autograph, they want to say hi, they want to shake hands… its part of it, and you don’t get a day off. If I get sick, there is nobody else who’s going to get there to play the drums.
But then you can cancel the show.

Vinnie: No you can’t just cancel the show.

Chad: You’ve got to understand that everything is tied down to a budget. If you take one show out of that budget, you are fucking everything up. And we have got to play. You know, I am not going to say that I am laying bricks…

Vinnie: But back in the day you were.

Chad: Yeah, I have done that.

Vinnie: I worked in McDonald’s back in the day. You start off somewhere.

Chad: I have worked in construction, I’ve worked at factories and so has Vinnie. There are great elements to what we do now, there is party, the drinking and shit like that. But when I leave home... I am gone, I go to work. When I grab my suitcase and go out of the door... I am going to work. I’ve got to work for months sometimes before I can go home to my wife, my dogs, sleep in my own bed. Trust me; we’ve got 6 more days now until the end of the tour. We have been out since April and been going really fucking hard since July.

What is the first thing you are going to do when you get home?

Chad: Sit down. (laughter)

You’re sitting down right now.

Chad: It is a whole different sit down.

Vinnie: I will probably go straight to shop for Thanksgiving; we get home the day before probably one of the biggest holidays in the United States. And there are always a lot of people coming over, so there is a lot of work to be done when I get home. Now, with that being said, it is a job that we love and we are lucky. A lot of people go to work and they hate doing their job. This is a job that you love, the music… that is why you are there in the first place... and you find out you can pay your bills sometimes and then you do it. To me it is like being a professional athlete of some sort. It is something you love to do, but it’s not easy. And very few people are lucky enough to get to live their dream and do that kind of thing. So we appreciate it.

How does each of you contribute to writing music in Hellyeah? I know Chad writes the lyrics, right?

Vinnie: He is an amazing lyricist and really great coming up with melodies and stuff, and Greg works with him quite a bit on some of that. And for me, I’ve always wanted to be more than a drummer. I cannot sing for shit, so I don’t try (laughs). I leave that up to Chad. But I do find myself involved in the production process, help arrange the music, sometimes I will come in and work with Chad on some stuff. We all trust each other from the start, we all work together. So I guess everybody truly puts everything they have into the band musically. When I watch Greg and Tom sit down and start riffing, it is the two of them. Somebody’s going to change something along the way and they work it together. Anyways, it all comes together as Hellyeah in the end.

Chad: Mudvayne was coming up on a break when we first started Hellyeah. And I told Greg: “I would really like for you to do this with me”. Because I knew we were going to take a break, we had to take a fucking break. We had been working non-stop for years. And I was like: “You can either go home and sit down on your ass and watch TV or we can go do something else.” Kind of explore the different sides of ourselves. This was before Vinnie actually came in. Greg thought about it and was like: ‘Yeah OK, cool’. And then we got Vince. We went to Dallas and we all got together and I did not even know Vinnie. Then we went to dinner, got drunk and got up the next day and went into the studio. And we wrote a song that night, we wrote 7 songs in the first 7 days. It is weird, because it’s like Damageplan… one guitar-player band, Nothingface… one guitar-player band, Mudvayne… one guitar-player band. I was blown away by 3 different guys from one guitar-player bands who can get together and work amazingly. And we just went like boom! Song, next day… boom! Song, next day… boom! We had no idea what the hell we were even doing. We just started writing music and it became what it is. It is a very honest band. We are not trying to be like anybody. If anything, in the future we will probably try not to be like people who are trying to be like us.

Chad, what is the difference for you between fronting Hellyeah and fronting Mudvayne?

Chad: It is like night and day. Mudvayne is pretty calculated and there is always a deep theme that runs through the fabric of the entire record as a whole. So you have to get the ideas around and then kind of adhere to something. In Hellyeah we just write about whatever, it does not matter what it is. It has been really liberating for me to do this, all I knew for so long was Mudvayne. So with Hellyeah I am be able to just write whatever I want to write about, write whatever kind of songs I want to write. We don’t stick to one theme and I think that has been really awesome. You know, Damageplan, Nothingface, Mudvayne they have to write these types of songs. You can’t really go too far out of that box before everyone will go “What the fuck are you doing?” Hellyeah started that way, so now we can just go wherever. We can write any kind of fucking song. We wrote a country song called “Alcohaulin’ Ass”, which is as country as it gets, and then we can write a rock song like “Pole Rider” about strippers. I have never written a song like that. I never had a reason to, but they started playing the song and that is what came into my head. It is kind of a part of this band’s lifestyle: just partying and barbequing, drinking, we do a lot of this shit.

What would you say “Stampede” is about?

Chad: It is like the dictionary definition of it: a herd of wild animals that are unstoppable. It’s not about one thing; it is the most diverse record I have ever written. There are songs like “Stampede”, there are songs like “Better Man” or “Stand Or Walk Away”, and then there are songs like “Pole Rider”. So many different vibes all the way through the record… every song is different from the previous one. It is just how we write. It’s really hard to put in a box… like what is “Stampede”? Fuck, I don’t know.

Are you planning to sustain this kind of ‘badass cowboy’ style on the upcoming albums?

Chad: Tom and I have been wearing fucking cowboy hats since like 2000; we’ve been wearing cowboy hats since we met. It is not like we are out roping cows or mending fences. People look at us and go like: “What is up with the cowboys thing?” We are not trying to look like cowboys; we’re trying to look like fucking outlaws. It has a Southern vibe to it, of course, but the way we look at it, it is more about being real people. You know, like that is how people really look. We just walk on stage in what we wear.

Both of you have been in the music industry for quite a while. What would you say was the most valuable lesson that you have learned along the way?

Vinnie: Probably the most valuable lesson anybody should learn is never piss on the people on your way to the top, because you are going to have to see them on your way down, some day. That is a very valuable lesson. And another lesson is to try to learn to be somewhat business-minded. You know, it is called the music business. We have all gotten into it because we love the music, and a lot of people end up with nothing at the end of the day, after they have done all of this great music… because they never learned any of the business side. So to be able to pick up on some of that is helpful for sure. Don’t just say: “Well I will just let my accountant handle that”. Still to this day, I pay my own fucking bills, they come to my house, they don’t go to some dude in Los Angeles and he does it. I want to look through them; I want to make sure there is no bullshit.

Chad: The first thing he said about not pissing on people on your way up… I have always been the kind of person who has really kept my feet on the ground. I know that he has been that kind of person too. I think that is why the respect level that we have for each other was so high right from the get go. It’s because when we met each other… there was no bullshit, there was no ego. It was like wow, this is fucking amazing, because it is really hard to find that in this business. Hellyeah has been very humble. Mudvayne saw a certain level of success: we have 3 records out in the States. We make money when we go out in the States, we sold almost 6 million records worldwide and that is a big deal. Hellyeah is like starting over in this new world that we live in with downloading and so on. It has been really humble; it has been fucking awesome too. It’s really taking me back to be able to live a life and make a climb for 10 years and then turn around and come back and start all over again. It just makes you really appreciate all of your work, where you kind of end up. It has been really awesome for me. I never saw the level of success he saw. It is a testament to the headspace of Hellyeah and what we are about. I do not know many people that could do what we are doing right now, and how we are living our lives right now. Trust me; this has been the biggest and the nicest dressing room we have seen on this whole tour. All the props in the world to Stone Sour, they have taken such a good care of us, being really respectful and doing the best that they can.

Vinnie, I have read some speculations online regarding the possibility of you ever re-creating Pantera without Dime. I do not know what triggered these speculations, but what do you have to say to these people?

Vinnie: It is ridiculous. Dime was such a huge part of it; it would be just completely asinine to even consider that. I think it’s pretty disrespectful from people to even suggest it. He left an amazing legacy and it is going to be left untouched. It’s beautiful, it’s pristine and I want to leave it that way. I am really proud of what I do with Hellyeah. Of course the history of Pantera speaks for itself. I want him to always be known as ‘the dude’, you know. Period. Forever!

Yeah, but the comments I have read were actually criticizing you as if you have ever said that this was possible.

Vinnie: No no, I have never said this was possible. Not me. It might have been some of the other clowns that used to be in Pantera, but not me. (laughs)


You are quite accomplished musicians today. Is there anything that you still strive for musically, or it is more like just chilling and playing what you like?

Vinnie: With the economy like this, with the music business like it is and everything else, of course we are striving to be successful. If we get to some level like that, then that is going to be a dream for me. My dream when we put this band together was to scpre a gold record with Hellyeah. We are so close to doing that in the States, it is almost there. Gold records these days are like having a double-platinum record, it really is. It is an amazing accomplishment. So for that and to just, you know, be able to stay healthy, enjoy what we do and keep writing great songs. Our chemistry is incredible, everybody works together, it is a respect thing, you know? You never have to worry about anybody stepping on somebody else’s toes; we all fit together pretty well.

There are many young bands these days who act kind of arrogant, thinking that they basically made history in a way, even though they really just make noise. And then there are guys like you two who have actually made history, but you are really down to earth. So what helps you keep your feet on the ground?

Chad: It is probably that statement that Vince made. That is the greatest thing I have ever learned and I learned that from Ozzy from the “Decline Of Western Civilization Part II” documentary. Do not fuck with people on your way up, because you will meet them on your way down. I remember watching that whole documentary and I was like “that’s it!” I was probably 17 when I saw it, way before I have ever done anything, but I always kept that in my head for some reason. It’s all going to go away, it all ends. Here today, gone tomorrow. If you got the attitude like “I am the fucking shit” for the here today, what happens when you are gone tomorrow? You’re going to look like a fucking fool, when you are working at the record store or flipping fries. Hang on to your integrity as a person. It’s just a fucking job. We love our job, but it is a job.

What is it about music that you love so much, what gives you goose bumps?

Vince: It is just creating it and performing it, you know. There is not a bigger rush in this world then to hear a crowd roar when the lights go down. If you cannot get up for that, you can’t get up for anything. That is what it’s all about… performing. You look out there and whether it is 500 people, or Donington with 100,000 people, or Monsters of Rock with half a million people… you are making these people happy and they are into it.

Chad: For me it starts when we start writing something, putting something together. I listen to a song and I will listen to it over and over again. A lot of times you are kind of holding on, trying to figure it out so you know where to go with it. The more I listen to the song as a singer and a writer, the more I familiarize myself with it, the more I tend to just unconsciously let go off the song. Then it is just in my head, and all of a sudden here comes the melody, here come the lyrics, everything just starts coming in. And I love that feeling when I start writing and everything is just pouring out, I am so fucking excited… I cannot wait to get behind the mike. So you got that one moment. Then you get the moment of getting behind the mike and actually hearing it. And then you get on stage and there is this fucking energy, like what Vince was talking about. We’ll get on stage tonight and there are all these people that have never seen us here in Oslo. And if everything is really cool and everybody is being really open-minded and everybody really wants to give it a shot, there is this energy exchange that happens. We are giving them something and then they go ‘Waaaah!!’ and they give it back. And then we go “Oh yeah!” and we give it harder and then they give it harder. And the next thing you know everybody is fucking partying and fist-pumping and drinking… We fucking bring it pretty hard and I think that is what people receive from us. They see that we are very passionate about what we do. It is a real fucking thing, you can almost touch it. The big thing with us is honesty, we are not out to fool anybody. We just want to share our music and if you like it then take it, if you don’t… OK.

If you could go down in history as the first band that did... what?

Chad: …Drank one billion beers. I think we are close. (laughter)

Vinnie: And tha is just the four of them, because I drink vodka. I drink a lot of vodka. And I have been drinking Finlandia all the time I've been here.

Chad: Yeah well… one thing. I think just to leave any kind of mark, not from record sales or this or that, but actually leave a mark with what we have done, that would be amazing! I mean worldwide mark.





Related links:

HELLYEAH
Music Photocalypse

Interview by: Tanja Caciur from Music Photocalypse