Staind Biography

The band Staind has had the current line-up since 11/24/95. They put out a self-released CD on 11/29/96. During the next year, they sold more than 2000 CDs while playing gigs throughout New England with bands such as: Honkeyball, Shed, Kilgore, GWAR, Far, and God Lives Under Water.

The band's big break came October 23, 1997 when Staind performed with the band Limp Bizkit at the Webster Theater in Hartford, CT.

The story begins approximately 20 minutes before Staind were supposed to perform. Fred Durst, the singer for Limp Bizkit, approached Aaron, Staind's singer, and guitarist Mike Mushok with a copy of their CD in his hand. Fred thought they were Satan worshippers due to the nature of the cover art. Of course they weren't, but they tried to have them kicked off the bill. Fred and Mushok exchanged words. Then, he took the CD and threw it across the table; he wanted nothing to do with Staind. So much for their big break. Well, at least until Fred saw the show.

After their set, Fred approached them and said they were the "best band he had seen in 2 years." Also, he said that he was starting a production company and wanted to work with them. So, they exchanged phone numbers and went their separate ways.

At the time, Staind was in the studio making a demo with 4 new songs. Mushok tried to reach Fred, but was unsuccessful due to their busy touring schedule. The band found out that Limp Bizkit was opening for the Deftones outside of Boston, the night before Thanksgiving 1997. They thought this would be the perfect opportunity to give Fred a copy of their new tunes, so the band drove up to see the show.

They went to Limp Bizkit's bus and knocked on the door, where they met up with DJ Lethal -Fred was busy elsewhere. They gave Lee a couple of tapes with the new tunes, then went to see the show. The band was unsuccessful in trying to find Durst.

That night Staind returned home and went to bed. Around 2 a.m., their phone rang -it was Fred. He LOVED the new songs and wanted the band to go to Jacksonville, FL (Jax) to work with them on their material. After a few phone conversations, they decided that they would leave the day after X-mas. They would stay at Fred's house and play a show with the Limp Bizkit at the Milkbar in Jax on January 4, 1998. Staind had a gig the day after X-mas. After the show, They loaded the van and trailer and headed to Jax.

They almost made it, but the van broke down 1000 feet from the Florida state line. So, they had it towed to Fred's house and started work the very next day.

Fred played an important part in helping Staind develop their sound. Aaron, Staind's singer, has an amazing voice and Fred helped to bring that out. They had a lot of screaming parts in the songs. Fred said, "Man, you can sing, why don't you do that more?" The trip was very productive because they reworked 4 songs.

While there, Fred contacted Jordan Schur, the President of Flip Records. Fred told Jordan about Staind and within a week of leaving Jacksonville, they were on a plane to L.A. where they met up with Schur and recorded a 3 song sampler.

It is said that they recorded "A Flat," "Suffocate" and one of Aaron's acoustic tracks "Black Rain" at Sound City Studios with Fred and Lethal producing. By February 1998, they had signed to Flip Records. Jordan did the sampler as a joint venture with Elektra Records in the Spring of 1998.

During this time, they were scheduled to play some shows with Limp Bizkit, Sevendust and Clutch . In April, they went back to Jax and worked with Fred on some more tunes.

By June of 1998, they were working closely with their management company, The Firm, who also managed Limp Bizkit, Ice Cube and Orgy. Staind was then able to persuade Terry Date (The Deftones Pantera, Sound Garden, White Zombie) to produce their1st album, titled "Dysfunction". On August 1, 1998 they flew to Seattle to record at Studio Litho (Pearl Jam's Studio.) During early October, the album was mixed at Studio X (the old Bad Animals) in Seattle.

Since then, Staind has appeared a few times on MTV, and has continued to attract new fans with their musical talents playing on such bills as Korn's "Sick and Twisted Tour" and the "1999 Family Values Tour" with acts such as Limp Bizkit, Filter, and the Crystal Method. Staind may make an appearance on the 2000 Family Values Tour, but they are currently discussing whether they want to make their second album, or stay on the road.