Hellyeah Vocalist Chad Gray: ‘Hopefully’ We’ll Return With New Music

Will Hellyeah eventually return with new music sans late drummer Vinnie Paul?

Lead vocalist Chad Gray is hopeful about the prospect, even though fresh material has yet to arise since the release of 2019's Welcome Home. That was the last effort to contain the drummer's contributions before the Pantera icon and Hellyeah co-founder succumbed to heart failure the year prior.

Gray's stance appears to run contrary to that of Hellyeah guitarist Tom Maxwell. Just a few months ago, the shredder bluntly stated, "I don't even know if there's gonna ever be another Hellyeah record. I don't even know if I wanna make another Hellyeah record without [Vinnie Paul]."

But Gray added more perspective to the situation during a virtual panel at this month's Headbangers Con (Dec. 5-6). The singer suggested that while he isn't sitting on any Hellyeah material and current logistics make it hard for members to convene, he's still optimistic about writing more songs.

"Everybody's just in a holding pattern right now," Gray explained of the band's circumstances, as reported by Blabbermouth. "I don't have any new music. I've been telling Tom to get me some riffs so I can write because right now is a great time to fucking write. So we'll just have to see."

The vocalist continued, "Obviously, we need to get together and write some music. But, yeah, I mean, hopefully. It's all fucked up right now; nobody knows what's going on with anything."

Although Gray mentioned hitting Maxwell up for song ideas, the guitarist might not want to be involved in another Hellyeah album. In a September interview with Bad Wolves member Doc Coyle's The Ex-Man podcast, the musician showed his averseness to such a project in the wake of Paul's death.

"I don't know if I even wanna do another Hellyeah record," Maxwell admitted. "I just don't have the emotional need and drive. I feel personally, as Tom Maxwell — I'm not speaking for anybody else at all — but I don't know what I wanna do. I write songs all the time, and I write 'em for me, like I always did. I don't see myself doing another Hellyeah record; I really don't."

When Gray (formerly of Mudvayne) and Maxwell (ex-Nothingface) first organized Hellyeah in 2006, they coaxed Paul out of semi-retirement to sign on as their drummer. The band released five albums before issuing Welcome Home — a 2007 self-titled set, Stampede (2010), Band of Brothers (2012), Blood for Blood (2014) and Unden!able (2016). For gigs following Paul's death, Stone Sour's Roy Mayorga filled in.

Paul, whose full name was Vincent Paul Abbott, was the second Pantera member to die following the drummer's brother, Dimebag Darrell Abbott. Darrell was murdered onstage in 2004 during a performance from the Abbott brothers' post-Pantera band Damageplan.