Mudvayne and Hellyeah vocalist Chad Gray has officially launched his first-ever solo touring cycle, dubbed the “30 Years Of Madness” series. The inaugural performance took place on April 24 at the Fremont Country Club in Las Vegas, Nevada. For the live shows, the singer is backed by an extensive lineup of musicians, including Hellyeah guitarist Christian Brady, Mudvayne touring guitarist Marcus Raffety, drummer Devin Attard, guitarist Joe Bonasorte, and bassist Nick Villarreal.
During a recent conversation with Jesea Lee, the frontman addressed the possibility of releasing original material under his own name while navigating the current music industry landscape.
“I’m certainly not opposed to it. But just promoting music and everything is just done differently now. It’s about having those tools. It’s about having the right people plugged in to be able to let people know that you have new music,” Chad stated (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
The conversation shifted to the 2025 release of two new Mudvayne tracks, “Hurt People Hurt People” and “Sticks And Stones“. Chad Gray reflected on the commercial reception of the songs and the shifting reality of radio promotion.
“We released the new Mudvayne songs [‘Hurt People Hurt People‘ and ‘Sticks And Stones‘ in 2025], and everybody was super stoked about those. But I thought for sure ‘Sticks And Stones‘ would be a Top 10 single, and it topped out at [Top] 20. It was weird, because everybody at radio f**king loved that track. It’s just it’s done a little bit differently now than it used to be. It’s not saying that it’s not able to be done now, because people do it. But I’m not sure we were plugged into completely that world,” Gray explained.
When asked if the poor chart performance of those singles influenced the decision for Mudvayne to halt touring and recording in 2026, the vocalist quickly dismissed the idea, citing the need for a necessary break after four consecutive years of heavy activity.
“No. Not at all. It was just merely, like, boom, boom, boom, boom. Four years in a row of just hitting it. Like, let’s chill. Let’s put it on ice for a minute and see what kind of opportunities come, having put it on ice for a year. Just see what happens. ‘Cause we just headlined [a tour]. So who knows? [We weren’t interested in] headlining again within such a short amount of time. We want things that we do to be successful, and we want people to be excited to see us, and sometimes when you kind of know you’re gonna be able to see them next year, you kind of pass. ‘Ah, maybe I’ll pass this year, and I’ll just go see them next year.’ So it’s just one of those things, where you’re just, like, ‘Eh,'” Gray responded.
Returning to the topic of his current solo endeavor, the singer expressed intense enthusiasm for the project and the initial fan response.
“I’m excited. I’m excited about what we did. I’m excited I decided to do this. I think the fans really enjoyed [the first show]. I think the fans are gonna continue to enjoy it. I know I enjoyed it, and I’m gonna continue to enjoy it. And I think I’m doing it for the right reasons,” he said.
The solo shows offer a unique opportunity for fans to hear material from both Mudvayne and Hellyeah performed during the same set. The singer acknowledged the historical divide between the fanbases of his two major projects and the misconceptions surrounding the formation of Hellyeah alongside the late drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott.
“That’s exciting for me, too,” he concurred. “You can’t always guarantee that Mudvayne fans are gonna be Hellyeah fans and that Hellyeah fans are Mudvayne fans. They were two separate things. They were two completely kind of different things. And with Hellyeah, it was funny, ’cause [late Hellyeah and Pantera drummer] Vinnie [Paul Abbott] used to say, like, ‘Man, it’s frustrating to me because people look at our band like a wall between me and Pantera and you and Mudvayne.’ And that’s not what it is at all. It was just some dudes getting together in a room and going for it and just having some fun. But people did kind of look at it like, ‘I’m not gonna like Hellyeah because Hellyeah is keeping Chad away from Mudvayne, or keeping Vinnie away from doing the Pantera reunion,’ or something like that. And we always wanted Hellyeah to kind of stand on its own. That’s why we never played Mudvayne songs and we never played Pantera songs in our sets. We just wanted Hellyeah to be what Hellyeah was. It was a very true band that was real. There was a lot of passion in that project. It was a passion project, is what it really was. And there was a lot of passion in that project. We worked really hard in that band for f**king 12 years.”
The “30 Years Of Madness” dates fill the 2026 gap left by the scheduled downtime for Mudvayne while simultaneously reviving the music of Hellyeah, which has remained inactive since their final U.S. tour was canceled in early 2020 due to the pandemic. Following that hiatus, Mudvayne officially reunited in 2021, completing multiple successful tours and releasing their first new studio material in over a decade.
