Staind explain why they're better than Nickelback

Break The Cycle has to be one of my favourite albums of all time, so when I heard that Staind had a new album out and were hitting the road in the UK, I was more than a little excited, despite the fact that my love for front man Aaron Lewis has now shifted to Nickelback’s Chad Kroger…

I caught up with Aaron before his Manchester gig to see why his true fans don’t appreciate Nickelback, why guns don’t kill people, rappers do and he never dyed his pubic hair.

Hey Aaron, how are you enjoying being in the UK?

It’s been great.

Where has your favourite gig to date been?

Oh I don’t know, [FF: Manchester?] Yeah, Manchester this evening.

We’ve been waiting for you to return ever since the release of Chapter V in 2005; how have fans reacted to your return?

The shows have been really good, we’re very lucky that we have the amazing fans that we do.

Have you found your fan base has gotten bigger or smaller?

Well it seems that the choices that were made by the people guiding our careers earlier in our career weren’t good ones and in the 10 or 11 years that we’ve been doing this job, we should have been in the UK a dozen times already, but management didn’t stand to make any money by sending us over here so they kept us in the states.

Our career over here has suffered tremendously because of it and we are just very thankful that there are still fans here and I hope that that grows as we get over here a lot more often now that those people aren’t in control of our career anymore.

Did you get up to anything super exciting during your break?

Which little break? [FF: Between this album and your last one] I spent the whole time doing acoustic shows.

So, we’re in a bit of an economic crisis at the moment, why should people spend their last couple of pounds on your new album the Illusion Of Progress?

I don’t know what the answer should be to that, especially in the pretence you put it in. with the credit crunch going on, I think the least important thing for somebody to do would be to go out and buy an album.

Surely a person would want to treat themselves to a lovely CD to make them happier?

Well I guess we have put a lot of time and effort into making sure that if you do buy the record you don’t buy the two or three songs you know already on the CD and the rest of it is crap. All killer, no filler.

If you were selling the album to someone who has never heard of you before, which one song would you recommend they listen to?

I’m not a good salesman. There isn’t an answer to that question. I don’t think that one some could paint a picture.

Okay, can you sum The Illusion Of Progress up in five words for me?

A little outside the box.

I love how you made it into a sentence. Woo! So you’ve also done a tour with Nickelback who (I’m sorry to admit) replaced you in my CD collection, how was that tour for you?

Why did you have to choose between the two of us? [FF: Don’t say that!] Why couldn’t we both live there?

After break the cycle I ventured out into another musical world and then Nickelback came along so Chad Kroger was taking over my life and now you’ve come back and I just hate splitting my ears between you both! You’ll have to read the review then you’ll understand where I’m coming from..

I’ll have to check it out.

You do sound pretty similar though…

Oh my goodness. He’s a little gravellier. He’s my friend!

Wow! He’s my hero, I love him, well I don’t love him, I’m not a psycho, I just wish I could sing like him! Anyway, did their fans receive you well?

Our fans and Nickelback’s fans cross over in top 40 music charts. Our true fans don’t have any appreciation for Nickelback.

That weird, because Nickelback are playing Arena tour and you’re playing the smaller Academies, so I imagine they have a lot of fans who might like you also. Anyway, moving on, if you could share a stage with any band, who would it be?

Led Zeppelin. Black Sabbath.

Not Girls Aloud then?

I don’t know who that is.

They sing Something Kinda Oooh. Anyway, what’s in your CD player at the moment?

I really don’t listen to music very much. [FF: Just your own?] No, never. When we’re done in the studio I don’t play the CD again. Wouldn’t that be weird if I sat at home and listened to my own music?

No! If I was a singer, I’d swan around the house singing!

Well you don’t catch me singing my own stuff walking around very often.

I bet you do in the shower, you sing Nickelback don’t you? Scrap that, if the bands equipment was in a fire and you could only grab one thing, what one piece would you save?

My guitars. They’re all old. You cant replace them, if they were new guitars I could just go get a new one and it wouldn’t matter.

What was the last book you read?

From beginning to end, I don’t know if I’ve ever fully finished a book, I’m not much of a reader. I have ADD so when reading I will read a paragraph and I won’t take anything in from the paragraph so I have to read it again, and then having to read something over and over gets a little tedious when you’re trying to read a whole book!

Okay, so to ask you three random questions; if you were at a friends house for dinner and you found a cockroach in your salad, what would you do?

I’d tell my friend! If it was a stranger I just wouldn’t eat the salad.

What if it was you’re new President, would you say; “Excuse me Mr President, there’s a cockroach in my Salad?

Absolutely.

What is the oldest age you would like to be alive?

I want to live as long as I can. I’ve got kids, three daughters.

If you were on a plane and sat next to you was a woman of average appearance with whom you were having pleasant conversation offered you £10, 000 for one night of sex, what would you do?

No way, I’m a married man.

We ask everyone we interview to come up with a question for the next person we interview and Goldie Lookin Chain have come up with one for you… do you know them?

No

They sing that song; “Guns Don’t Kill People, Rappers Do”…

No I don’t know it, but it’s true though. [FF: I don’t think so] Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.

Yeah, but not just rappers, lets not start stereotyping here Aaron, Eminem hasn’t killed anyone has he? Anyway, that’s not the point, they want to know if you ever dyed your pubic hair?

Coloured it? No! What for? That’s odd, I’ve never dyed it no.

Now can you come up with a question for Mindless Self Indulgence?

Ask them why they were wearing hockey masks when they opened for us a couple of years ago.

Ooh, interesting, thanks for your time anyway Aaron.