Hellyeah’s metal homecoming

Sharing the stage with members of prominent metal bands is nothing new for Atlanta bass player Kyle Sanders. He’s the older brother to Mastodon’s Troy Sanders, and the most recent project to bear his name was Vagrant Records’ self-titled debut album for Atlanta-based psych-rock supergroup MonstrO. Since December 2013, Sanders has been performing alongside Mudvayne’s Chad Gray, Nothingface’s Tom Maxwell, and Pantera’s Vinnie Paul in the group Hellyeah, following the recording of the band’s latest release, Blood for Blood. Before Hellyeah returns to Atlanta to play Rockstar Energy Drink’s Mayhem Festival, sharing the main stage with King Diamond and Slayer, Sanders took a few minutes to discuss joining Hellyeah, returning to play a show in his hometown, and what the future holds for MonstrO.

??
How did you end up becoming a member of Hellyeah?

??
In his Mudvayne days, Chad Gray got my band Bloodsimple our record deal. Then he took us out on tour several times with Mudvayne. When Hellyeah got started, they took Bloodsimple out on tours. Even after Bloodsimple, Hellyeah took MonstrO out on tour. We’d always talked about being in the same band together one day. When the other guys departed from Hellyeah, there was an immediate phone call and an immediate “Yes!”

??
It wasn’t an immediate “hell yeah!”?

??
It was, actually. They called and I was like, “I’m there.” It’s been a solid year and a half touring on this record, and we’ve still got a few more months to go. The first tour was opening for Avenged Sevenfold, then we did a headline run, then we went out with Volbeat and Five Finger Death Punch. Then we did a headlining run. We went overseas a couple times playing festivals and doing headlining club shows. After Mayhem, we’re going to Australia, Japan, and New Zealand for headlining shows.

??
How does performing at home compare to playing shows in other cities?

??
I think every tour has come through Atlanta. I’ve been pretty fortunate for that. I love playing my hometown, but it’s also super stressful. You’re seeing people you haven’t seen in a long time, but you really don’t have time to hang out with them. This time we have a day and a half off in Atlanta. So, I’ll get to sort things out a little bit more. Plus, there are only a couple of days left on the tour after that.

??
How involved will you be on the next Hellyeah album?

??
We’ve been talking about it for the last couple of months. We’re shooting for October or November to record. For the first part of October we’ll get together and start writing and putting everybody’s ideas together. By the end of the year we’ll be getting ready to go back on tour for January. Everyone is involved and we all just come to the table with whatever ideas we have. I’ve been sitting with Tom Maxwell, who has a ton of ideas, and piecing shit together and throwing in my two cents. We just let the chemistry do the talking for us.

??
Now that you’re so entrenched with Hellyeah, what’s the status of MonstrO?

??
We were kind of in a lull when all this came up for me. Our drummer Bevan Davies had some things going on with Static-X and was busy. MonstrO has a lot of songs that never got fully developed and recorded. So the plan is whenever the timing is right with everyone’s schedules to get back together and at least record some stuff. If we can play some shows, that will be awesome. MonstrO definitely is not over. It’s just kind of in limbo right now because we’re all busy, which is a good thing.