Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Mudvayne and Hellyeah lead vocalist Chad Gray discussed his vocal injury during an interview with The Jesea Lee Show, as per Blabbermouth. The injury led to the cancellation of two previously scheduled solo performances in California, specifically at the House Of Blues in San Diego on October 5 and at the Observatory OC in Santa Ana on October 6. His solo tour is anticipated to recommence on October 7 at the Fremont Country Club in Las Vegas, Nevada.
I live in the desert, and we flew into Nashville for rehearsals [for my solo tour], and my voice wasn’t working. So I thought it was, like, allergies. There’s a lot of ragweed there, and just other shit. It’s a Petri dish in Nashville when it comes to allergies. So I thought it was just that. And then we started moving, and it wasn’t getting better; it was actually getting worse. I was just working with my coach, and she’s, like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on, but something’s going on. I don’t know what it is, but something’s going on.’
So I went — four days ago, [I] got scoped [where they] put the thing down your nose and look at your vocal cords. And they looked at it, and one of my vocal folds is twice as wide as the other one, which makes it heavier than the way your vocals work, ’cause [they’re like] butterfly wings. They hit each other, and now mine are fucking crazy hitting each other. And there’s a big broken blood vessel on the front of it, which means that at some point I’ve hemorrhaged and bled or whatever.
When asked whether he has experienced severe symptoms such as coughing up blood, Chad provided a response.
No. But I wish I would’ve coughed up blood so then at least I would know when it happened. Because my shows before these shows, I was, like, ‘I can’t miss.’ I felt really good about my voice vocally. So I’m supposed to stay quiet — vocal rest… So that’s where I’m at, man.
To tell you I was scared would be the understatement of my life. ‘Cause I’m fucking scared to death. It’s not only my instrument — it’s my life, it’s my career, it’s what I do for a living. The idea of the potential fatality of this is enormous. But you gotta take care of it. And it’s a hurry-up-and-wait thing. The only thing that’s gonna heal it is time.
Will he have surgery?
Not at this point. But I think I’m gonna need one, though, to deal with that larger fold. So, yeah. I don’t know. But, yeah, not to bring everybody down. But life-wise, I’m good. Health-wise, I’m good. Just my throat’s fucked up.
