Staind guitarist Mike Mushok was recently a guest of the Audio Ink Radio Show and said you can expect the band to keep pushing into new sonic territory like 2023’s Confessions Of The Fallen, their first album in over a decade.
In the interview, Mushok confirmed the “electronic element” will likely carry into future work. “I do think that’s gonna happen. Yeah, definitely. In fact, there’s some new music kicking around, and it’s definitely still kind of following that same vein a bit. So, I’m real excited about that as well.”
As for when you might actually hear new music? Mushok isn’t making promises. “I don’t know. That’s a great question. Aaron’s (Lewis) super busy, always out playing. So hopefully this fall we can maybe start to solidify some of these ideas and figure out exactly where we are. But yeah, there’s a bunch of songs kicking around.”
Back in December 2023, Mushok told Germany’s Riot Vision that the electronic vibe came from Lewis. “That was something that Aaron really wanted to explore… and it was funny, ’cause I do remember saying to him, like, ‘I play guitar. I don’t know how to do that.’” Enter producer Erik Ron (Godsmack, Panic! At The Disco, Black Veil Brides), who helped translate Mushok’s guitar parts into synth sounds. “Some of those verses where you hear it’s more electronic[-sounding], that’s a guitar part I wrote just played on a synthesizer, (using) some crazy sound. I think he did a great job. I like it. I’m pretty happy with it.”
When Confessions Of The Fallen was first announced in April 2023, frontman Aaron Lewis said he wanted to “modernize the sound and bring us up to date. You can certainly recognize the band but at the same time you can hear that we’ve been paying attention and understand what kind of sounds and approaches we can use that maybe weren’t around the last time we did this.”
Since forming in 1995, Staind have released eight albums and several became Billboard-topping records, including Break The Cycle (2001), 14 Shades Of Grey (2003), and Chapter V (2005). Their biggest hit, “It’s Been Awhile,” remains a staple of early-2000s rock radio.
