Advertisement
Staind's third album, Break the Cycle, was the best-selling rock record of 2001. Since its debut at Number One in May, it has sold more than 4 million copies and has never slipped from the Top Twenty. The success of the Massachusetts quartet's pathos-drenched hard rock is due in large part to frontman Aaron Lewis, who draws on his own disturbing childhood experiences and feelings of alienation to express what his fans can't: "I feel all this pain/Stuffed it down/ It's back again," he sings in "Outside." Lewis swears he'll never run out of fucked-up stuff to write about. But he also admits that, during a year when he's got a quadruple-platinum record, money in the bank, and his wife, Vanessa, is pregnant, he's got no complaints.
What was the high point of your year?
Finding out that my wife and I are pregnant. She was taking a home test, mostly just to ease her mind. She took the test in August at her friend Jen's house, which is where many pregnancy tests have been taken over the years by various friends. Me and Jen's boyfriend were out playing golf, and when we got back, I was like, "Uh, what's going on?" because everyone was kind of quiet and weird. And she just handed me a positive test. Last night she felt the baby kick for the first time.
How do you feel about it?
It makes life have a little more weight, more importance.
What was your most memorable personal encounter this year?
I met Bono while I was involved with the "What's Going On" remake. I'm a huge U2 fan, and he's a very righteous guy. He's taken time out of his life to help others: It's very honorable. I got an invite after we were done recording to go have a beer with him, but I don't drink, and he didn't want to smoke a joint with me. Another one was just last week: I was at my hotel, and Jay-Z's assistant was riding the elevator with me and was like, "Come up and meet Jay-Z, he's a big fan of yours. He's been playing your record nonstop for a week." It was a trip to meet him and for him to be a fan. If you could have done one thing differently, what would it have been? Man, everything happened good this year. There really isn't anything I want to take back. I'm pregnant, I just bought a new house. I was on the cover of Rolling Stone, and I'm going to be on the cover of High Times next month. It's all good. But I do have to mention the loss of my friend, Joe C. If I have a boy, which I just know I'm gonna, we're naming him Zachary Joseph, in memory of Joe.
What's the best place you've gone this year?
Probably the hospital to see the ultrasound, to see my little one growing. He's in the womb, and he's sitting in there with his feet crossed and his arms up behind his head. It's like he's totally lounging in a La-Z-Boy chair. And my wife took one look at the picture and was like, "That is definitely your kid."
[From Issue 883/884 — December 13, 2001]