Staind

On the other, the burgeoning quartet benefits from a strong management team in The Firm, which guides the careers of heavyweights including Limp Bizkit, KORN and the Backstreet Boys. “They have done so much for us and for our record that I can’t begin to say. I think they play a huge part in where we’re at,” Mushok told POLLSTAR.

But the band isn’t some marionette Durst carved out of wood with The Firm as its puppeteer. It was Staind’s pulse-pounding music, after all, that initially earned the group a legion of followers in the New England area – and later, a hit record, multiple national tours and those other perks of being a mainstream success.

Starting in Springfield, the members of Staind relied on their musical influences to get off the ground. “The problem is if you want to play in western Massachusetts – it was at a time when the tribute band was king – you have to play other people’s music,” Mushok said of the area’s club scene. “It was very difficult to get a gig playing your own music. So we actually played cover songs for a little while. But we would always play our original songs with the cover songs.”

The band didn’t mind the sacrifice, he said. “The whole idea behind doing that for us was, basically, to do anything in the music business, it costs money. … We always had the intention of being an original band. We were just going to take a different route because of where we’re from, and we thought it was a good way to develop a fanbase.”

A turning point for Staind – an all-original act now – came when the band opened for Limp Bizkit in October 1997. “It was that gig that … introduced us to Fred and he really liked the band’s live set,” Mushok said. “We exchanged phone numbers that night. He said he wanted to work with the band and help produce us.”

The group’s members made plans to meet Durst in Florida. Following a day-after-Christmas show, they “loaded up the trailer about four in the morning and drove to Jacksonville to see what would happen.” The band’s road trip paid off.

Durst contacted Flip Records President Jordan Schur and had the band showcase in Los Angeles. Staind inked a contract with Flip in February ’98 and soon began work on its major label debut. Around that time, The Firm and William Morris agent John Branigan joined the Staind bandwagon. “Whenever we talked about touring and basically almost everybody that I said we want to tour with, they made pretty much every one happen,” Mushok said of the band’s business team.

Staind’s tour history reads like a headbanger’s dream. The band’s outings include playing with Kid Rock, Limp Bizkit, Monster Magnet, the Vans Warped Tour, Family Values and more. “We’ve been on, what I consider, some of the best tours; the Limp Bizkit/Kid Rock tour was one of the biggest of the summer,” he said.

“I have to say the only kind of shows that I really hated playing were amphitheatres,” Mushok said. “We’ve done some radio shows where it’s really just kind of depressing … because you’ll be playing at three in the afternoon with the sun fully up and people kind of standing, some sitting, in a half-full amphitheatre. And then you look up in the grass area and there’s 10,000 people going crazy. It’s just kind of like, ‘Man, I want to be playing there.’ We really feed off the crowd.”

He pointed out, though, that it’s a good gig “if there is a crowd there and they’re accepting what you do and are into what you’re doing.”

While the band’s touring experience continues to grow, its recording career is also getting a boost. The group’s major label debut, Dysfunction on Flip/Elektra, was recently certified gold. The album spotlights the band’s hard-edged sound created by Mushok, drummer Jon Wysocki and bassist Johnny April, with vocalist Aaron Lewis displaying a true ability to sing.

Staind wraps up 1999 with a series of radio festivals, with the new year delivering an opening slot on KORN’s U.S. tour, which kicks off in February. In light of the band’s accomplishments, Durst and Limp Bizkit remain at the top of the band’s gratitude list.

“One thing that sticks with me is something that (Limp Bizkit guitarist) Wes (Borland) said. I remember, it was the last night of the Limptropolis tour and I was like, ‘I just want to thank you guys again. We’ve had a great time and you guys have always been great to us.’

“And he says, ‘The biggest thanks you could give is if you find a band like yourselves and do for them what we did for you.'”