Asked if Staind has plans to record again, Lewis answered in the affirmative but with a qualification.
Aaron Lewis Just over a week ago, Aaron Lewis found himself in a place that he never imagined during his tenure as the front man for one of the great hard rock bands to emerge from the 1990s – front and center at the Grand Ole Opry.
“How crazy is that?” mused the lead singer of Staind in a recent interview. “That I would go from playing the clubs in downtown Springfield and be on a path that would lead me to the Grand Ole Opry?”
Of course, Lewis never thought his career path would lead him to country music at all.
“I really thought I got enough of a dose of that as a kid to last me a lifetime,” he said. “I never thought I would have come to a place where the music that I was exposed to as a child is what I would be doing.”
Lewis has talked about his grandfather’s record collection, and how the songs of Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Merle Haggard were part of his musical upbringing. For some, it may seem like a far cry from the hard rock rage of Staind, but Lewis doesn’t see it that way.
“It’s a different way to express myself,” he said. “If you took the songs I wrote or was responsible for bringing to the band, songs like ‘Zoe Jane,’ ‘Outside’, ‘Tangled Up in You,’ if you stripped them down and put side by side with my country songs, there is some cohesiveness there. It doesn’t seem that far outside my box.”Similarly, both Staind and Lewis’ country persona enjoy a bit of an anti-establishment reputation.
“They both sort of go against the grain,” said Lewis.
Which brings us to the question at hand; what, exactly is going on with Springfield’s favorite rock band? What is next for the group that has sold more than 15 million records and became a worldwide phenomenon with the release of their sophomore record “Break the Cycle” in 2001?
“Mike (guitarist Mike Mushok) is fully committed to Newsted (his work with former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted) right now,” said Lewis. “And Old School (bassist Johnny April) is enjoying a much needed and deserved vacation.”
Asked if the band has plans to record again, Lewis answered in the affirmative but with a qualification.
“At this point it will happen when it happens,” noting that Mushok is traditionally the one who will make the call to get things rolling.
“There will come a point if the end of his cycle with his project matches the end of mine. We will play it by ear.”
Meanwhile, Lewis will spend some time reveling in his trip to the Grand Ole Opry.
“It was quite an honor to stand on that circle of original planks from the Ryman Auditorium,” he said. “Just to stand there…it was pretty amazing.”
Lewis returns to the Springfield stage on June 14 when he brings his “It Takes A Community” charity concert to the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield.