1996-2010, 2021-Chad GrayVocals
Greg TribbettGuitar
Matthew McDonoughDrums
Shawn BarclayBass1996-1997
Ryan MartinieBass1997-
The band formed in Peoria, Illinois, in 1996. Lead singer Chad Gray had a steady factory job making good money but left it to pursue his passion. "Heavy metal was the one thing that I could really relate to," he said in a
Songfacts interview. "It's never let me down."
After releasing their 1997 EP Kill, I Oughtta, Mudvayne started painting their faces and using stage names because they wanted their shows to be like films, complete with a visual story - this was before anyone outside of Iowa had heard of Slipknot. Their elaborate stage costumes and makeup became part of their identity, but they stopped doing it in 2003 because it looked like they were imitating Slipknot, which was huge at the time. On their 2021 reunion tour, Mudvayne went back to the makeup and costumes.
In 2001 Mudvayne won the first-ever MTV2 Award for the video to their debut single, "
Dig." They beat out artists like Gorillaz and Alicia Keys, which was completely unexpected from a nu-metal band. Mudvayne
went to the ceremony wearing white suits with red, spiked mohawks and bloody bullet holes in their foreheads. Chad Gray said Bono gave them a screwfaced expression from the crowd.
Moby, who handed the band the award, blew Gray off in a hotel lobby the next day. Gray remembers him as "a f--king dick" who is "about four foot nine." Speaking in 2025, Gray's disdain for Moby was still
palpable.
At 17 Chad Gray saw a documentary titled
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, in which Ozzy Osbourne shared the wisdom, "Don't f--k people on the way up because you'll meet them on the way down."
Gray lived that motto throughout his rise to the top, remembering to always be kind to younger bands and grateful to older ones and to fans. He passed the wisdom on to Mark Heylmun of Suicide Silence, who also took it to heart.
The band's first bass player, Shawn Barclay, was the driving force behind their formation but left less than a year later and never returned. He was quickly replaced by Ryan Martinie and eventually started a band called Sprung.
Mudvayne played on the second stage at Ozzfest 2001. The appearance earned them a lot of respect in the metal community and many new fans.
They toured constantly until 2010, when they took a long hiatus, largely because Gray and Tribbett wanted to focus on their heavy metal supergroup, Hellyeah. The band didn't reunite until 2021, when they played a series of festivals. Mudvayne started touring again in 2022.
In August 2025 the band released their first single since 2009: "
Hurt People Hurt People." Here's how Chad Gray explained the lyric: "We create our own suffering, our own hurt. It's time for us to create self-love and let go of the pain. It was never ours to begin with."
Gray had never written original music before joining Mudvayne. He started working on their first songs before the group signed with a major label, so he didn't think they'd get as much exposure as they did. He felt safe to write from his own life and raw wounds, which became a problem for him because he found himself continually revisiting his childhood pain. While he acknowledged the emotional toll, he doesn't regret it because he was willing to endure some pain if he could give his fans an emotional catharsis.
Gray usually has to grind it out when he's writing songs, but he recalls about a dozen or so coming to him whole in singular flashes of inspiration. That list includes Mudvayne hits "Dig," "
Happy?" and "
Not Falling."
Gray unironically loves the Eagles, particularly their harmonies. "There's a lot of f--king talent on that stage when that band is playing, for sure."
The band were interested in American thinker and psychonaut Terrence McKenna, who died around the time they recorded their debut studio album, L.D. 50 (released by Epic Records in 2000). McKenna spent his career working to give legitimacy to psychedelics as means of legitimate spiritual experience. Distorted audio recordings of McKenna can be heard at various points in L.D. 50.
Mudvayne has a long history with Slipknot. Slipknot member Shawn Crahan and manager Steve Richards executive-produced L.D. 50. Mudvayne gained significant exposure by opening for Slipknot during multiple tours in the early 2000s when Mudvayne were still unknown outside Illinois. Mudvayne had to work to differentiate themselves and get out from under Slipknot's shadow, but always expressed gratitude for the support.
Mudvayne like to leave ambiguity in their music because they want the listeners to have space to create their own relationships to the songs.
Gray found that alcohol liked him from the very first time he tried it as a teen, and it became a problem for him throughout his adult life. He finally got sober in 2024.
At a Florida show in 2022, Gray made headlines by
falling offstage while singing the group's third single, "Not Falling." It was embarrassing for Gray but great publicity for the band when the video went viral - the internet just loved the irony!
Gray has had issues with the music industry pretty much from the start. He wrote Mudvayne's debut single, "
Dig," about it. Discussing the song, he told Songfacts, "You're starting to get a very clear idea of what the business is, how corrupt it is. People putting their two cents worth into your art that have nothing to do with art on any level; they're completely business, but they think they know the best thing for you. It's, 'I would love to beat the face of any mother f--ker that's thinkin' they can change me.' That's the opening line."
Lifting weights is "like meditation" for Gray. He listens to Pantera while working out and finishes up his weight sessions with the stair stepper.
