Leaving a Staind

Kirk Baird

Friday, June 15, 2001 | 10:42 a.m.

So much for the sophomore slump.

In May 1999 hard-rock band Staind's major-label debut, "Dysfunction," inauspiciously opened at No. 173 on Billboard's top 200 with just 29,000 copies sold.

Two years later after a lengthy touring schedule and a hit single, the band's new record, "Break the Cycle," debuted at No. 1 with 716,000 albums sold. It marked the second-highest opening sales total this year, behind Dave Matthews Band's "Everyday."

While the success may not be of the overnight variety, it is sudden and surprising enough to merit a cover story in Rolling Stone magazine, which is scheduled to run later this month.

All of which has caught the band off guard.

"It is overwhelming. Everyone's going, '(The new album) is going to be big.' But we never really expected it to be that big," Staind drummer Jon Wysocki said recently from a tour bus on a remote highway in Iowa.

"I don't think it has sunk in with anyone yet. I'm sure when we all look back on it, it will be that much more amazing."

Headlining a sold-out show Saturday at the Joint at the Hard Rock, Staind, to the unfamiliar, is a musical hybrid.

While more melodic than many of the its metal peers, the band can still assault listeners with a wave of crunching guitars and testosterone-fueled vocals that send teen fans into moshing frenzies.

"We have a younger fan base," Wysocki said. "I'll definitely agree with that. But I also think there are songs on the record that a lot of people can relate to."

Hailing from Springfield, Mass., Staind also includes frontman Aaron Lewis, guitarist Mike Mushok and bassist Johnny April. All four members, who range from 29 to 33 years of age, played in metal bands around New England while growing up.

In 1995 the band came together and soon after recorded its first disc, "Tormented." Its big break, however, came after serving as opening band for Limp Bizkit.

Bizkit frontman Fred Durst was so impressed with Staind's performance and sound, he later invited the band to his Florida home to rehearse and write new material. He also was instrumental in getting its label deal with Flip/Elektra records.

"Fred took the ball, ran with the ball and dropped the ball in the end zone," Wysocki said. "He went to the right people. It just happened so much quicker having him behind us and talking to these people and trying to get our point across ... the right way.

"Yeah, we owe a lot to Fred."

Although Durst suggested the band lighten up musically and learn when to pace the metal urges, it's Lewis' lyrics that really give the songs their edge.

Lewis has said "music is therapy" for him, which helps explain such lyrical subject matter as divorce, separation and suicide, all of which are found on "Cycle."

"People categorize (the album) as dark. I suppose it is," Wysocki said. "But I don't care if you're the happiest person in the world, you're still going to have some dark period in your life or something that you keep to yourself that deep down inside of you is dark. It's just a way to release it -- through music."

No more is that typified than on the band's breakthrough hit, "Outside": "And I feel all this pain/stuffed it down/It's back again/And I lie here in bed/All alone."

Originally recorded live during a Biloxi, Miss., concert on the 1999 "Family Values Tour," while the lyrics seem to possess elements of emotional burden, it's interesting to note a majority of them were improvised onstage.

Lewis had written the chorus to "Outside" ("But I'm on the outside/I'm looking in ... ") and Durst mentioned joining Staind onstage to provide background vocals during the acoustic number.

"So Aaron got up there and did the song and totally ran with it," Wysocki said, adding that it wasn't the first time Lewis improvised lyrics during a performance.

"To me, it was one of those special moments you just can't describe. It was something that was special and worked out great," he said. "It has this character to it."

The concert happened to be recorded, and "Outside" eventually found its way onto a live compilation CD of the tour, where it became a radio favorite.

Although the band included a studio version of the song -- complete with full instruments -- on "Cycle," it's the stripped-down version that Staind plays in concert, Wysocki said. This is due to audience participation during the acoustic number -- with the ubiquitous sing-along and lighter display.

This image seems eerily reminiscent of other rock anthems, such as Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," Styx's "Come Sail Away," Rush's "Tom Sawyer" and, of course, Lynyrd Skynyrd's uber-classic "Freebird."

Has Staind found its "Freebird" in "Outside"?

"It's too early to say," Wysocki said. "But I would probably say so. I mean, it's the song that got Staind on the map."