FROM: MARCEE RONDAN/KRISTINE ASHTON/MITCH SCHNEIDER
STAIND’S ‘14 SHADES OF GREY’
ENTERS BILLBOARD ALBUM CHART AT #1;
BAND TO SHOOT VIDEO FOR NEXT SINGLE
“SO FAR AWAY”
WHILE IN THE MIDST OF CROSS-COUNTRY TOUR
STAIND will again debut atop the Billboard pop album chart in the #1 position with 14 SHADES OF GREY. This follows the group’s new #1 pop album chart entry in 2001 for the quadruple platinum BREAK THE CYCLE.
As the album’s Top Five radio track “Price To Play” continues to climb the rock charts, preparations are now being made for the release of album’s next single “So Far Away.” The band will shoot a video for the song next week while touring the U.S. The clip will mix live performance footage (from the Orbit Room in Grand Rapids) and life on the road vignettes.
14 SHADES OF GREY marks the fourth album from the multi-platinum selling group–singer AARON LEWIS, guitarist MIKE MUSHOK, bassist JOHNNY APRIL and drummer JON WYSOCKI–who’ve also released their platinum-plus Flip/Elektra debut DYSFUNCTION (1999) and their self-released TORMENTED (1996). 14 SHADES OF GREY is being greeted with critical accolades such as:
Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times: “It’s a connection you feel in the purity and conviction of Aaron Lewis’ voice as well as in themes that examine matters of youthful self-esteem in ways that are both sympathetic and vulnerable.”
Edna Gundersen of USA Today: “In contrast with earlier albums, Grey is more light than dark…The new songs are sturdier and more melodic, and the band deserves credit for taking the sunny side of the street instead of the genre’s low road to gloom wallows and celebrations of adolescent fixations.”
Dan Aquilante of the New York Post: “What separates power-rock quartet Staind from the horde of bands who want to be the next kings of the arena is this group’s ability to hitch its intense, propulsive melodies to lyrics that have something to say…On this fourth record in the Staind catalog, the band is as tight as they were on Break The Cycle but aim more of the melodies toward anthems and power ballads, none better than the taut ‘Price to Play.’ Lewis nails the metallic-edged number with his lean, bombastic style…this slow-burn collection will find staying power in the complexity of its melodies, the meaning in the lyrics and textures in the arrangements.”
“With us, we really hoped to make an album that reflects the way kids in this world feel,” LEWIS recently told the Orange County Register’s Ben Wener (May 16, 2003). “Not that it’s just directed toward kids; it’s broader than that. I think it’s more how everyone in general feels. Back in the ‘80s, if you listened to rock, you heard guys sing about hot girls, fast cars, wild living. That’s just not where things are coming from now.”
The following are STAIND’s in-progress tour dates:
Date City Venue
Fri 5/30 Buffalo, NY Dunn Tire Park (WEDG)
Sat 5/31 Detroit, MI Freedom Hill (89X)
Sun 6/1 Cleveland, OH Tower City Amp. (WXTM)
**Tue 6/3 Columbus, OH Promowest Pavillion
**Wed 6/4 Grand Rapids, MI The Orbit Room
Fri 6/6 Louisville, KY Freedom Hall
Sat 6/7 Chicago, IL Old Town YMCA Park (Q101)
Sun 6/8 St. Louis, MO UMB Bank Pavilion (KPNT)
**Tue 6/10 Oklahoma City, OK Bricktown Event Center
***Wed 6/11 Albuquerque, NM Journal Pavillion
Sat 6/14 Los Angeles, CA Irvine Meadows (KROQ)
Sun 6/15 San Diego, CA Coors Amphitheatre (91X)
**Tue 6/17 Las Vegas, NV The Joint
**Wed 6/18 Las Vegas, NV The Joint
Sun 6/21 Seattle, WA The Gorge Amphitheatre (KNDD)
Sun 6/22 Portland, OR KNRK Radio show
Thu 7/3 Atlantic City, NJ Grand Canyon Ballroom (WJSE)
Fri 7/4 Hartford, CT The Meadows (WMRQ)
Sat 7/5 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga Performing Arts Center
(WHRL)
**Indicates STAIND headlining show with special guests Cold
***Indicates show with Godsmack and Cold
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