Gurrg (greg tribbett) – guitar
There’s reason to be afraid. There’s very good reason It’s no coincidence that the opening track on “The overall theme of the album reflects and embodies Like that cryptic black object, Mudvayne keep their “L.D. 50 is a medical term used by pharmacologists to “The metaphor is that the things that can potentially sPaG and his cohorts have been pushing the envelope The band began gigging regularly, winning over “We always wanted to try and bring some visual aspect The concepts behind Mudvayne’s music – a twisting “The band has been really influenced by movies and Having recorded one self-released album, Kill I “It was the most horribly beautiful experience I’ve “We worked around the clock, and some of the engineers “Making the record was crazy. It was all about work,” “There were songs I left alone and didn’t mess with But the end result was worth the harrowing experience, “They’re a great band and they’re great people,” One thing is certain: The frontal assault of “I really feel like we’re trying to do something
Kud (chad gray) – vocals
sPaG (matthew mcdonough) – drums
Ryknow (ryan martinie) – bass
indeed, if you’re someone who likes their music
unchallenging, simple, and easy to define and digest.
But if you want something dark, mysterious, savage,
and unsettling, something that will force you to
confront the unknown and possibly alter the way you
look at the world, then prepare yourself for Mudvayne.
Mudvayne’s stunningly heavy debut album, L.D. 50, is
titled “Monolith,” after the brooding alien artifact
at the heart of Stanley Kubrick’s classic 2001: A
Space Odyssey.
ideas about the evolution of consciousness,
transformation, and the risks involved in
experimenting with things that can change a person’s
point of view, internally and externally,” says
drummer and “self-proclaimed super-genius” sPaG. “And
the monolith in Kubrick’s film was also a
representation of that.”
secrets well—even their faces are hidden in hal-
lucinatory colors and symbols—but make no bones about
their desire to fuck with your head. Taking the
intensity of the new school of heavy rock one step
further, Mudvayne has left a long trail of shattered
preconceptions and blown minds in their wake. Next
victims: the world at large.
measure how toxic a substance is,” explains sPaG about
the album’s enigmatic title. “It stands for Lethal
Dosage 50, which represents how much of a chemical it
takes to kill fifty out of a hundred test subjects.”
open your mind, expand your consciousness, and show
you a new vision of yourself and the world also have a
risk involved in them and a consequence. It’s about
how far you can push the envelope before it gets
dangerous, which is a way we’d like to see our work
perceived as well.”
for four-and-a-half years, ever since Mudvayne first
conspired together in the forbidding wastelands of
Peoria, Illinois, circa 1996. sPaG, Kud, and Gurrg,
with a different bass player (Ryknow came aboard two
years later), found each other after ten years in the
usual maze of local outfits, immediately sharing a
vision of their own musical apocalypse.
audiences from Denver to Philadelphia with an un-
matched intensity and a musical attack that was
increasingly intricate and brutal. Somewhere along the
line, the four members began painting their faces as
well, adding an extra layer of mystery to their dense,
foreboding approach.
to what we did, but of course our budget lim-ited what
we could do,” says sPaG. “The makeup thing just came
upon us.” But the drummer also cautions not to read
too much into the band’s war paint: “It doesn’t
necessarily symbolize anything, and I’d really hate to
see things like that taken too literally,” he
insists. “I feel the same way about our music – we try
to leave it up to the listener to make their
own ,opinions about what it is we’re really do-ing.”
roller coaster ride comprised of gargantuan, de-monic
riffs, serpentine rhythms, and Gurrg’s expressive,
multi-dimensional vocals, offset by kaleidoscopic
effects and samples taken from subjects like evolved
consciousness guru Terence McKenna – were gen-erated
organically through the band’s shared interests.
directors, that sort of thing,” reports
sPaG. “Kubrick’s work in general has influenced us,
but 2001 especially – some of the metaphors in that
movie were a real big influence on the writing of this
album. It was just a natural progression for us to
pull each other into exploring these ideas together,
which is exciting for us because we’re still at the
beginning of exploring how we work together as
artists.”
Oughta, Mudvayne was more than ready to take their
ideas to a larger platform, and Epic A&R exec Steve
Richards was happy to oblige them. Next began the real
alchemy of getting Mudvayne’s dizzying energy and
technicality properly recorded, with famed producer
Garth Richardson (Rage Against The Machine, L7).
ever had,” recalls sPaG. “It was very, very straining,
very psychologically straining, but it was also
awesome to realize your vision on that level, to have
that kind of equipment available to you, and the
expertise from a producer like Garth.
we had with us literally went for days with-out sleep.
It was very, very time-intensive. We didn’t party. We
were recording in Vancouver but didn’t get to see the
town—we were just there and we worked and that was it.
It was very intense, and Garth ran a tight ship.”
recalls Gray, a Clockwork Orange fanatic who claims to
have gargled gravel in his youth, about which details
are sketchy.
until we were in the studio, which was not a smart
idea considering the time and budget constraints we
were under. I wrote ‘Pharmaecopia’ and ‘Nothing To
Gain’ on our last night in the studio, before the
tapes were sent to New York to be mixed. The pres-sure
was insane.”
with Mudvayne’s music already earning the accolades of
fellow musical shock therapists Slipknot, whose
percussionist Shawn “6” Crahan serves as executive
producer on L.D. 50. The two bands have also been
sharing the stage this past spring on Slipknot’s
headlining tour and this summer’s Tattoo The Earth
mega-fest.
enthuses Kud. “Shawn’s seen something in us that was
very genuine, and I also hope that people can see that
the music is very passionate and honest. We stand
behind it and we believe in it.”
Mudvayne’s music may be too lethal a dosage for some
to take.
different and test the waters here,” concludes Kud,
before warning ominously: “If you’re scared of it,
don’t buy it.”
