MUDVAYNE guitarist Greg Tribbett was forced to miss the band’s May 18 concert at the Premier Theater at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut due to a family emergency. Playing all guitar parts at the show was MUDVAYNE‘s second guitarist, Marcus Rafferty, who has been joining the band on the road to fill out the sound.
Rafferty is a veteran guitar technician who has previously worked with LAMB OF GOD, HATEBREED, SAXON, FOZZY and MUDVAYNE. He also spent time as a guitar tech and stage manager for HELLYEAH, the band MUDVAYNE singer Chad Gray co-founded in 2006 with Tribbett alongside late PANTERA drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott.
MUDVAYNE will support MEGADETH on a North American tour this summer. The 33-city, nationwide trek, “Destroy All Enemies”, produced by Live Nation, includes stops in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Boston, St. Louis and many more. With additional support from ALL THAT REMAINS, the tour begins in Rogers, Arkansas on August 2 and runs throughout the month before wrapping in Nashville, Tennessee on September 28.
MUDVAYNE completed its first headlining tour in over 14 years, “The Psychotherapy Sessions”, last summer. Support on the 26-city trek, which was produced by Live Nation, came from COAL CHAMBER, along with GWAR, NONPOINT and BUTCHER BABIES.
Previously, MUDVAYNE made waves in 2022 when they embarked on the “Freaks On Parade” tour co-headlined with ROB ZOMBIE. This 2023 tour, however, marked MUDVAYNE‘s first headlining endeavor since 2009.
Gray told The Oakland Press that his “main motivation for putting [MUDVAYNE] back together and coming back was our fans”, including those who discovered the band during its absence. “There’s so many younger kids that are coming up and coming into our world, the metal world, and they’re learning about MUDVAYNE,” he said. “So you have this, like, the ground’s kind of rumbling and it goes out and touches more and more people, but we weren’t out there to scratch that itch. You still have your actual fan base but you’re accumulating new people. So when we came back it was very exciting for us. It was about our fans and giving those new fans the experience.”
MUDVAYNE formed in 1996 and has sold over six million records worldwide, earning gold certification for three albums (“L.D. 50”, “The End Of All Things To Come”, “Lost And Found”). The band is known for its sonic experimentation, innovative album art, face and body paint, masks and uniforms. MUDVAYNE is Gray, Tribbett (guitar, backing vocals),Matthew McDonough (drums, synthesizer) and Ryan Martinie (bass).
Gray spent 15 years fronting HELLYEAH, which released its sixth studio album, “Welcome Home”, in September 2019 via Eleven Seven Music. The disc marked the group’s final effort with drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, who passed away six years ago.
MUDVAYNE did not tour behind its fifth album, which was barely promoted and sold weakly upon release.