MUDVAYNE’s Chad Gray Says “Sticks And Stones” Was Inspired by Trauma: “We’ve Got to Be Careful About the Kind We Inflict on Others”

In a recent conversation with 93X’s Kevin Kellam, Mudvayne frontman Chad Gray opened up about the band’s return with their first two new singles in 16 years, “Hurt People Hurt People” and “Sticks And Stones,” both released through Alchemy Recordings.

Speaking on the urgency to release new music, Gray explained:

“I was just to the point where we’re like, ‘We have to release new music. This is crazy. We’ve been back for four years. We’ve got to release some new music.’ I put an exclamation point on it: ‘We have to release new music!’”

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When it came to selecting which track would reintroduce Mudvayne, Gray said there was a clear choice:

“’Sticks [And Stones]’ is a great track, but we’re Mudvayne, and we’re a heavy band, and we’ve always been a heavy band. And then we’re a deep band, and we have written the ‘Happy?’s, the ‘Not Falling’s, and the ‘World So Cold’s—those deeper, easier tracks.

But I was just like, ‘If we’re gonna release new music, we have to come back and put the exclamation point on the end of Mudvayne. We are Mudvayne, here we are, and sock people in the mouth with it.’ Leading with ‘Sticks And Stones’ wouldn’t have had the same impact. ‘Hurt People Hurt People’ is very much, ‘Hi. We’re back.’ And then you go to the next one, the next one down the line. I think it makes them both more powerful. I don’t think ‘Hurt People’ would have been as well received if it had come after ‘Sticks.’”

Discussing the inspiration behind “Sticks And Stones,” Gray reflected on the long-lasting impact of words:

“There’s a lot of different things. We were always taught, ‘Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.’ And it’s like—no, they do.

I was a child that was used as a weapon. You see that a lot in the world we live in today—divorced parents, or whatever, treating their kids like bullets just to fire at one another, without even considering the child. Words are powerful.

Maybe it’s just another one of those ‘break the cycle’ kind of things—recognize what you’re doing with your words, because words do hurt. You see it all the time on social media, people being bullied and attacked just by someone writing something, and it affects people deeply.

And then to the power of family… the line ‘blood doesn’t wash out, it stains’ is the truth, man. It’s hard to get out from under family trauma, because it usually comes from people that you love very much. We’ve got to be careful about the kind of trauma we inflict on others. That’s some of the backbone of the song.”

For Gray, songwriting has always been deeply personal, often forcing him to relive past experiences rather than leave them behind:

“I’ve been using music to flush my trauma for years. I thought it was going to be a way for me to exorcise my demons, but one thing I didn’t think about—because I was novice and new and didn’t know any better—was, ‘Oh, okay, now you get to play these songs every single night.’

What sucks is, anytime I play a song, I don’t go back to the time that I penned it. What I go back to is the time that created it, the moment that inspired me to write it. So I literally go back to the action, not to when I wrote it. I go back to the event itself.”

Mudvayne recently kicked off their “L.D. 50” 25th Anniversary Tour on September 11, which will run through October 26. Originally released in August 2000 via Epic Records, L.D. 50 cemented the band as one of metal’s most innovative acts and went on to achieve gold certification.

The band is performing this trek without guitarist Greg Tribbett, who is mourning the recent passing of his significant other after a lengthy battle with illness. The tour features support from Static-X, with Vended opening each night.

Mudvayne 2025 Tour Dates:
09/13 Waukee, IA – Vibrant Music Hall
09/14 Chicago, IL – Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom
09/16 Milwaukee, WI – The Rave
09/17 Youngstown, OH – The Covelli Centre
09/19 Louisville, KY – Louder Than Life
09/20 Chesterfield, MO – The Factory
09/21 Omaha, NE – Steelhouse
09/23 Denver, CO – The Fillmore
09/24 Albuquerque, NM – Revel Entertainment Center
09/26 Las Vegas, NV – Palms Casino Resort
09/27 Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Theatre
09/28 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
09/30 Portland, OR – Moda Center
10/01 Airway Heights, WA – Northern Quest Amphitheater
10/03 Pocatello, ID – Portneuf Health Trust Amphitheatre
10/05 Sacramento, CA – Aftershock
10/07 Salt Lake City, UT – The Union Event Center
10/09 Tulsa, OK – Tulsa Theater
10/11 Dallas, TX – South Side Ballroom
10/12 San Antonio, TX – Boeing Center at Tech Port
10/13 Houston, TX – Bayou Music Center
10/16 Durant, OK – Choctaw Grand Theater
10/18 Nashville, TN – Nashville Municipal Auditorium
10/19 Atlanta, GA – Coca-Cola Roxy
10/21 Raleigh, NC – The Red Hat Amphitheater
10/22 Virginia Beach, VA – The Dome
10/24 Montclair, NJ – The Wellmont Theater
10/25 Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall at Fenway
10/26 Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Arena

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