HELLYEAH's CHAD GRAY On Family Members That Have Passed: 'You Never Lose Somebody All

[dilatedmind]

France's TV Rock Live recently conducted an interview with HELLYEAH singer Chad Gray in Paris. You can now watch the chat below. Speaking about his family, Gray said: "My family is, like, my friends now. My grandmother passed. I'm still very close to her, you know what I mean?! I miss her very much, but, you know, I feel like she's right with me, just like [HELLYEAH/ex-PANTERA drummer] Vinnie [Paul Abbott], I know, feels like Dime [late PANTERA guitarist 'Dimebag' Darrell Abbott] is right with him. "It's, like, you never lose somebody all the way; their vehicle wears out or is taken from them, or something like that, but you don't lose the memories and stuff like that. I'm very fortunate to have… 'Cause I don't look at, like, the band-fan connection as being fans like some… I've got really great friends all over the world that are 'fans,' so to speak, but I just look at them as friends. We're all sharing something when we're on stage. There's a circumvention of energy that's happening, it's crescendoing, it's building, so… I don't take that for granted." As previously reported, HELLYEAH has recruited Christian Brady as its new touring guitarist following the recent departure of Greg Tribbett (MUDVAYNE). A former member of MAGNA-FI and FRANKY PEREZ & THE TRUTH, Brady met HELLYEAH drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott in Las Vegas, where Christian has been living and playing in bands for a while. HELLYEAH's fourth studio album, "Blood For Blood", will be released on June 10 via Eleven Seven Music. The CD was helmed by producer Kevin Churko at his The Hideout Recording Studio in Las Vegas, Nevada. Churko is the Canadian musician, sound engineer, songwriter and record producer who has previously worked with OZZY OSBOURNE, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH and IN THIS MOMENT, among other acts. Prior to the recording of the new album, HELLYEAH parted ways with Tribbett and bassist Bob "Zilla" Kakaha (DAMAGEPLAN). Kakaha has since been replaced by Kyle Sanders, a former member of BLOODSIMPLE and the brother of MASTODON's Troy Sanders. Still in the lineup are drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, guitarist Tom Maxwell and singer Chad Gray. A press release describes "Blood For Blood" as a "welcome return to form" for the band, adding that it "sounds like a recharged HELLYEAH, taken up many notches." HELLYEAH's other albums include 2009's "Stampede" and 2011's "Band Of Brothers". MUDVAYNE has not released an album since 2009 while Gray and Tribbett have been working with HELLYEAH.

Performance footage (May 10 at Rise Above Fest in Bangor, Maine):

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