MUDVAYNE RISES FROM SLIPKNOT SHADOW

Mudvayne admitted that part of the reason they de-emphasized their make-up is to emerge from Slipknot’s shadow.

Mudvayne was managed by the same people as Slipknot, and Iowa’s masked marauders are largely credited with giving them their first big breaks. The band relied heavily on the visuals as do Slipknot, and found that there was much crossover between fans of the two. With Lost And Found, their last album, they toned down their image and the visuals that some were starting to define them by.

Mudvayne continued to experiment with make-up, and still do, but vocalist Chad Gray said that they started to feel trapped by their masks and their link to Slipknot.

“All of the sudden it became that is what we had to do, and that’s when it was like, ‘No wonder people are making the comparisons to Slipknot and stuff like that,’ even though we’re sonically different. We are wearing a mask every day. If you put the exact same make-up on, it’s just semantics. It’s the same thing. We’re wearing a make-up mask instead of mask. As much as we love those guys and appreciate everything they’ve done, we wanted to draw away from that. We wanted to be able to have our own wings and to do our own thing, and we did. Like I said, I’m very thankful for what they did for us because they basically put the stamp of approval on us. If they would have hated us, a lot of people would have probably been like, ‘Oh, screw them,’ but they like the band so it’s cool.”

Gray and drummer Matt McDonough said that they will still don make-up, however they leave it up to each member, and it’s not a universal choice. Mudvayne’s new single is “Do What You Do,” and their new album The New Game is set for release November 18.