HELLYEAH: At Home on UPROAR

By Jeannette Madden
Staff Writer

It’s no wonder that HELLYEAH is a part of the Rockstar Energy Drink UPROAR Festival. Since
every night is a Friday night for HELLYEAH and their mission is to provide fans with good-time,
spirit-lifting hard rock, it’s a perfect match.

Made up of drummer Vinnie Paul (Pantera), vocalist Chad Gray and guitarist Greg Tribbett (Mudvayne), guitarist Tom Maxwell (Nothingface) and bassist Bob Zilla (Damageplan), HELLYEAH combines metal roots with ties to Southern rock.

Their new release, “Stampede,” shows that they are a real band that speaks to real people.

HELLYEAH became an idea in 2000 but it wasn’t until 2006 that the idea started to become a
reality. It was then that several of the members realized that their other bands were going to be
taking breaks at the same time, allowing the guys to get together, do a little recording, and decide
if the project was something they could make happen.

Their biggest hurdle was getting Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul to come on board. Paul, brother of Dimebag Darrell, who died during an onstage shooting in 2004, wasn’t sure he would ever play again.

Said Maxwell, “The worse thing he could do was say no, which he did, a bunch of times. But I think he saw the persistence that we had and the desire to really do it. And we caught him on a good day.”

“He [Paul] built these five bungalows, little apartments with TVs and air conditioning. We didn’t
want to be put up in a hotel so we just stayed at his house. The first couple days, warming up to
each other, we’d have a barbecue, drink a little bit. When there were eight days left we wrote
some songs and that was it. The rest is history. It just took off from there.”

Maxwell describes HELLYEAH’s writing process as “sitting face to face, working on
arrangements, trading words back and forth, developing hooks. That’s really what we wanted to
go for in this band because our other bands are so busy. It’s like let’s do this, let’s make it heavy
but still have that Southern twang to it. And that’s it. Just kind of sit back and jam.”

HELLYEAH’s influences, more than just the other bands that the members are a part of, are not
premeditated. Maxwell says that that the music “just kind of birthed itself…it’s really that simple.
It’s friends and it’s having a good time and going back to what we felt when we were younger.
What made us feel excited about music. Going to see Van Halen or Judas Priest, when it was an
event, when it was to have a good time.”

With that in mind, UPROAR is the perfect place for HELLYEAH. “Everybody on this tour we
all know.” Maxwell said. “They wanted us to play the main stage but we chose to play this stage
[Jagermeister] because there’re people in front of you, throwing down. It’s not a mass production
like what’s in the arena but you’re right there with everyone. You can see everyone moving. This
is one of the best times I’ve had.”

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If You Go

What: Uproar Festival
Where: FargoDome
When: Sun, Oct 3, 3:30pm
Info: 701.241.9100