Mudvayne’s Chad Gray ‘Still Hurting’ After ‘F—ing Brutal’ Fall Off Stage
Mudvayne's Chad Gray has checked in with fans following his fall earlier this week in which he took a tumble off the stage, ironically while performing the song "Not Falling." Gray reveals in his new update that he's still "fuckin' hurtin'," but considers himself lucky that he didn't break a rib. "It was fuckin' brutal," added the singer, who shares his commentary on the incident in video below.
"I'm okay. I'm still fuckin' hurtin'. But a lot of people have reached out to me personally; a lot of people sending me well wishes online. I appreciate it very much," says the singer.
"I just want you to know that it's not like I walked out there and fuckin' slipped on a banana peel or something and fell into the crowd," he continued. "It was absolutely my intention to get out there and get down in your face and lay on ya and lean into ya and scream and have you scream back at me. It's probably one of my favorite parts of any show that I ever play, is getting that close with you guys."
Breaking down what occurred, he explained, "What happened was… So I basically walk to the down stage edge of the stage, and I step across and I put my foot on top of the barricade. When I'm on the stage, there's about five feet underneath me from where my feet are at to the ground, so I'm even higher, my head and shit. So, yeah, it's probably four or five feet. So what happened was I stepped out, the crowd surged forward, pushed my foot off backwards, so my foot went straight fuckin' down. My left foot was still on the stage — I hadn't stepped across yet — and my whole fucking body just went 'wham!' like that, right on top of the barricade, right here, right across my sternum. I thought I was gonna piss my pants; it hurt so fuckin' bad. We were ironically in the course of 'Not Falling', which is amazing, so I just started singing that. And I was able to sing. So I just pushed through the shit."
"It was fucking brutal," Gray admitted. "But we did it, and I got through it. I'm on day two now. I'm hoping this is the worst of it. I hope it's kind of like lifting weights where you get sore for a couple of days. But the good news is I didn't break a rib. Otherwise this tour could be over and I would be absolutely fuckin' devastated because all I wanted to do for the last two and a half years is get back out here and be with my fuckin' heavy metal family around the country and hopefully soon around the world."
Despite the soreness created by the mishap, Gray says he has no plans to stop reaching out to the audience. He likens the experience to doing a trust fall, and adds, "I would never stop doing that."
The fall, which took place at a show in Tampa, Florida, can be seen close-up via fan-shot video below. Gray's post about it also earned a few comments from some of his peers. Hatebreed's Jamey Jasta commented, "Next time I eat shit on stage I will say I’m doing it in solidarity with you," while Nothing More's Jonny Hawkins added, "That's a rowdy spill. Way to take the hit," with a flexing arm emoji.
The band is currently on tour with Rob Zombie. Tickets for the run are available here.