Chad Gray puts Hellyeah songs back in his tour set

Chad Gray has built "30 Years of Madness," a tour on the tour guide that mixes metal songs from both of his bands, Mudvayne and Hellyeah, after Mudvayne decided to take 2026 off. Early shows ran close to two hours and pulled from Gray's full 12-album catalog before the band trimmed the set to about an hour and 40 minutes.

The idea started small. Gray began jamming with friends, including bandmate Marcus Rafferty, on what he originally pictured as a stripped-down acoustic show for a casino or two. "This is where my happiness lies," he told Full Metal Jackie, describing how the plan grew into a full touring band once Mudvayne's year off left him without his usual outlet. Gray and radio host Shannon Gunz booked the early shows themselves, without an agent, at venues run by people they already knew, and the shows sold out one after another.

The tour marks the return of Hellyeah material that had mostly gone unplayed since the band's hiatus following drummer Vinnie Paul's death. "Just to let his music die because he did is ridiculous," Gray said, adding that keeping songs like "Alcohaulin' Ass" in rotation is a way of keeping Paul's legacy alive. He recalled Paul as a generous bandleader who once outfitted Hellyeah's tour bus with grills and folding tables so the band could cook for entire festival lineups, "the bands, the local crews, the staff," never taking payment for the food.

Hellyeah had been dormant since completing its final album after Paul's 2018 death; the band had also largely dropped older tracks from setlists in its last years to make room for material from Blood For Blood, Welcome Home and Undeniable. Gray said the current touring band has learned around 27 or 28 songs and plans to rotate the setlist each night rather than repeat one show; deep cuts including "Moth," "Happy?," "Dig," "Not Falling," "Nothing to Gain," "Demons in the Dirt" and "Love Falls" have all been in the mix.

Early dates have sold well: Gray said a show in East Moline, Illinois drew 1,200 people, and a stop at Epic Events Center sold 1,500 tickets, close to the 1,700 Mudvayne drew at the same venue. Gray said the tour has also mixed fan bases that rarely crossed over before, with the same "holy shit, we're seeing it again" reaction he remembers from Mudvayne's own reunion now showing up on faces in Hellyeah shirts.

Gray said the surviving members of Hellyeah have been supportive rather than involved day to day: guitarist Tom Maxwell is now "a homebody," bassist Kyle Sanders is touring with Kerry King, and guitarist Christian Brady, now a regular Las Vegas performer, was too busy to join. "Everybody seems to be awesome," Gray said. "I haven't got any negativity from anybody."