Aaron Lewis Interview: Staind, Going Solo and Gibson Guitars

By: Rick Landers

A bitter cold day in Massachusetts keeps a lot of people indoors, but as a father of three daughters, Aaron Lewis, vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the mega-group Staind would rather be out in the snow pulling his girls around in a sled. Still, there’s also business to tend to and interviews to keep, so he takes a break so he and I can talk about Staind, his Signature Gibson acoustic, his projects and performing solo.

It’s been nearly 15 years since Staind released its debut album, Tormented, and today Aaron and his mates can lay claim to another five including: Dysfunction, Break the Cycle, 14 Shades of Grey, Chapter V and The Illusion of Progress. Out of the box, The Illusion of Progress pegged the U.S. Billboard chart at #3 with sales over 91,000 within the first week. The album would also reach #1 on the Top Digital Albums Chart, #1 on Top Modern/Alternative Albums Chart and #1 on the Top Internet Albums Chart.  But, it was Staind’s Break the Cycle CD that offered fans a series of hit singles like “It’s Been Awhile,” “Fade,” “Outside,” “For You” and a low-key ballad “Epiphany,” all helping pump up the album sales to 7 million copies.

Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia.com

Lewis’ vocal strengths were recognized in 2006 by Hit Parader magazine that placed him at #49 in the magazine’s Heavy Metal’s All-Time Top 100 Vocalists ranking. But, if you’ve been living in a cave and have never heard him, don’t think that Aaron’s a screaming metal head banshee, frenetically spewing angst-ridden vocals.  He’s more a balladeer with an edge, a storyteller who can soft pedal it or burn hot when some lyrical fire needs stoked.

As much as Aaron Lewis is associated with Staind, he’s also gained recognition as a solo artist, touring with his Gibson Aaron Lewis Signature acoustic. He seems to find a comfort zone regardless of whether he’s fronting Staind or sitting alone on a stool by himself in front of thousands of his fans. And it’s apparent that he likes to keep his life balanced as we talk about his professional commitments.

And as much as he’s keen on talking about his world of music, today is a snow day and the celebrated vocalist for Staind has three more important things to tend to at the moment. We keep our conversation robust, yet short, allowing him more time to frolic around in the white stuff and enjoy the warmth of his childrens’ laughter.

******

Rick Landers: Are you in the snow?

Aaron Lewis: I’m in the snow. It’s snowing right now as we speak. You’re my last interview, then I’m gonna go and throw my snowsuit on and take my daughters out sledding.

Rick: Well, after we’re done I’m gonna throw mine on and gonna be shoveling the driveway.

Aaron Lewis: There you go. I think I’d rather be sledding.

Rick: Yeah, I think you’ll have more fun. All right, if you don’t mind, let’s talk about some of the latest news of what’s been happening with you rather than retreading some old ground that you’ve probably talked about before. You were just inducted into the Mohegan Sun Walk of Fame right?

Aaron Lewis: Yes, sir.

Rick: How was that? One thing, who shares that honor with you and how was that for you? How was the induction ceremony?

Aaron Lewis: Man, you know, I didn’t stop. There were too many people around me to stop and look at all the other stars that were there. I never did look. I know that it’s quite a list though and it was cool. It was an honor to be recognized for what I’ve done there. Over the last six years or seven years I’ve played 32 sold-out shows there.

Rick: Oh, that’s pretty amazing. Okay. At the moment, now you’re on a solo acoustic tour starting within the next few days, aren’t you, and you’re flying solo on this tour, right?

Click to Buy The Singles 1996-2006 From Amazon.com

Aaron Lewis: That’s right. Just me and my acoustic guitars sitting on a stool.

Rick: [Laughs] That sounds fun. Are you more comfortable with that small intimate type of scene than when you’re playing with a group and playing larger theaters?

Aaron Lewis: You know, it’s been applied to both. At the Mohegan Sun shows we’re talking about, that show that I did last Friday night, there were 7,300 people there.

Rick: Oh, huge. Okay.

Aaron Lewis: I actually oversold their sellout number for the arena. So that’s not an intimate setting. That’s the Mohegan Sun Arena. But, I also play to rooms that are 400 people.

Rick: Do you have any preference?

Aaron Lewis: No. I mean, surprisingly, that entire arena is silent.

Rick: Oh, really?

Aaron Lewis: While I’m playing and the intimacy is created even though it’s an arena. It’s a fun time. I really can’t complain and I love playing with the band too. I get to embrace my heavier side of things, so I do hope that everybody is cool and coexisting.

Rick: Over time, musicians gain a lot of insight about being a performer that oftentimes are at odds with what they had initially thought being a famous musician would be. How has your life changed now that you’re very well-known, and how much is it the same? How would you like it to remain the same?

Aaron Lewis: You don’t think of the things that have changed in life. I love the fact that I’ve sold 15 or 16 million records over the years. I can still go walk around town with my kids and for the most part not get bothered.

Rick: Yeah, that’s unusual.

Aaron Lewis: By not embracing the machine and not being at every awards show and not trying to get my face on camera every possible chance I get, I’ve created this nice balance of I can come home and disappear and then when I go out on tour, it is what it is.

The Gibson Aaron Lewis Signature Model Guitar

Rick: You and Gibson collaborated on the Aaron Lewis Signature Jumbo. Would you tell us a little bit how Gibson approached you and what was your first reaction?

Aaron Lewis: Well, it was me that approached Gibson at first, six years ago when I became endorsed by Gibson, so to speak. Then as time went, we started talking about stuff and here we are. It started just as a simple endorsement.

Rick: Have you always played Gibsons, it’s a J-200, right?

Aaron Lewis: Well, I play…I have that ’51 Southern Jumbo which is actually a J-45 fully dressed.

Rick: Nice guitar.

Aaron Lewis: Then I play a 1950 J-200. I’ve got a few different J-45s from the early ’50s and late ’40s. Those are the guitars that if you go to a show, that’s what I’m playing.

Rick: I saw with the Signature model that it’s historically aged? What exactly does that mean? What did they do?

Aaron Lewis: The guitar is historically correct, in every way, shape and form. I was very insistent about that and I was a stickler for detail about that stuff. It needed to be filled with the hot glue. They would have used hot glue, the original really thin, watery nitrocellulose and the hand scalloped and hand done bracing and the original mid-’30s advanced Jumbo X-bracing for the top. Making sure that the wood, the thin pieces of wood that were used for the top, back and sides were of the same calibration, all the same specs, the same thicknesses and then the aged ones.

Everything from the water spots on the inside of my guitar from sweat dripping in there to the spot where the side was fixed many years ago, messy job with the glue. Well it’s messy on that guitar. Back in the early ’70s somebody wrote their driver’s license number inside the guitar on the center seam and that’s still there. To every last detail every ding, every nick and every check. They blueprinted the weather checking on my guitar.

Rick: That’s amazing.

Aaron Lewis: So the first 50 are exact replicas of my guitar. I actually took the first 13 guitars home with me and played them live and in the studio. I even got pictures of me playing the guitars live and the guitars come with provenance of me already having played them live, in the studio and on my couch in the house. The guitar comes with a pic of me playing it as well as one of my “Stolen from Aaron Lewis” cables and a pack of my signature series strings and that’s the first 13.

14 through 50 is the same exact guitar just without me having taken it home and whatnot. 51 through 413 is the exact same guitar built specs-wise, it’s just not aged. It looks like a guitar that was bought in 1951, strummed a couple of times, put into its case and put in a closet.

Rick: Like a quasi-classics that you get from like Fender.

Aaron Lewis: Right, so it’s still a little bit yellowed from time, that type of thing, but it’s basically a brand new guitar.

Rick: Is there any personalized orientation on the guitar that notes that it’s your signature model?

Aaron Lewis: There is a badge on the back of the headstock, an inlay on the back of the headstock that says what number guitar it is and that it’s an Aaron Lewis Signature Run, that type of deal.

The Illusion of Progress

Rick: Going back to your music a bit. How would you compare the production and recording of The Illusion Of Progress with your first experience recording music?

Aaron Lewis: Well, the Illusion of Progress we recorded in my barn. Our first recording experience was at Studio Litho, which is Stone Gossard’s studio just outside of Seattle. That record, the first record we were load in to load out with 23 days. So we really probably only recorded for 16 or 18 days and the whole record was done.

Rick: Wow, that’s pretty fast.

Aaron Lewis: This one, this latest one. We didn’t even start writing the songs until we went in the studio.

Rick: That’s different.

Aaron: So we were writing and recording as we went.

Rick: Did you have anything written down before you went in though? Did you go in with ideas?

Aaron Lewis: Not really.

Rick: Really? You just sort of went impromptu, all you guys?

Aaron Lewis: Not really. Mike can’t help himself. Mike will sit and just noodle and have a tape recorder going and he’s got the same Radio Shack actual cassette tape recorder, you know the one I’m talking about…

Rick: Yeah.

Aaron Lewis: The big square push buttons, no radio or anything on it: that 1980s Radio Shack tape recorder. And he’ll sit there and just record and then he’ll go back and listen to it and go, “Oh, that little lick that I was doing right there was kind of cool,” and he just kind of collects those up and has a whole bunch of cool stuff to bring to the table to start with and we kind of form songs.

Rick: That’s interesting. You guys must have good relationships and be able to collaborate well, I would assume.

Aaron Lewis: We have a great chemistry. We really do and when we get together and the point of getting together is to write, we have a great chemistry together.

Rick: As far as music that you’re listening to, with the internet you can hear things from all over the world at this point, from Africa, Russia and all over. In the last 15 years not only can you do that but you can also kind of go back in time and listen to songs that, back in the ’70s and ’80s, you probably never would have experienced listening to music from the ’20s and ’30s. Do you sort of dig into music that’s outside your normal universe?

Aaron Lewis: I actually, if I’m listening to music, I’m usually driving in my truck. Driving is the only time I really listen to music. If my kids aren’t in the car, I’m listening to either country music or patriotic pop radio.

Rick: What kind of country music do you like? Do you have any favorites?

Aaron Lewis: There’s the Rolls Royces, George Jones, and then as far as the new stuff goes, I like Jason Al Dean. I throw Jason Al Dean’s name out there just because they’ve said his name after the song enough times where I can remember what it was. I’m not a follower of country, per se, I just kind of throw it on sometimes.

Rick: Okay, what’s coming up next for Staind and what’s next for you personally?

Aaron Lewis: For me personally, I’ve got shows this year and I’m doing some recording and getting these couple of new songs recorded so we can move forward with getting them out. Then from there through whenever it’s necessary for me to do something again, we’ll start the Staind record or go out and support these songs that I’ve put across the table for the solo thing.

Rick: Any other plans for another possible Gibson Signature Model that you might have?

Aaron Lewis: I don’t know. I’ve thrown the idea out there of doing a limited run of that ’57 Gold Top that has graced so many records over the years and been onstage with so many people. It was Jimmy Riff’s guitar before it was mine. He was the guitar player for Mick Jagger, do all of his solos and stuff. That guitar has been on Jerry Lee Lewis records. It’s been on like 5 different records over the years.

Rick: That’s quite a provenance too.

Aaron Lewis: And the thing is beat to death. Name of the guitar is “Crusty.” It’s just crusty around the edges because so much sweat has gotten under the finish over the years. Oxidation is oozing up through the weather checking on the guitar. I mean, it’s kind of gross.

Rick: Has the paint turned green?

Aaron Lewis: That’s what I’m saying with the oxidation is actually what turns the paint green. And the oxidation is actually oozing up through the weather checking.

Rick: That’s probably kind of cool looking, I’ll bet.

Aaron Lewis: It is. It looks like, gross. The back of the guitar, there’s hardly any finish left. It’s all been worn off. That’s how I like them. I like them so that they have ghosts. Here’s part of the deal, part of the story of it. It was one of the very, very last P-90s ’57 that were made.

Rick: Monster pickups.

Aaron Lewis: Somebody way back, like way, way back, you look inside the pickup cavity where it’s been routed and painted, the paint under there is all checked and old too, so it was done a long, long time ago, but somebody routed it out and put for PAFs, so I put a set of 1959 PAFs in the thing. It’s cool.

Rick: Yeah, it must be a monster guitar.

Aaron Lewis: Oh, it is. It is. But I’ll tell ya, that ’58 ES355 that I played, that thing will give it a run for its money any day. It is just so big and nasty. It just might be better than the ’57 Gold Top.