After touring in support of their self-titled latest album, Staind plans to take a short hiatus in order to unwind and allow singer Aaron Lewis to put out a solo record. While Lewis is using his solo time to explore Country music, he doesn't want fans to think he's finished rocking out with Staind.
"The touring that we've done this year has been good," Lewis told Billboard.com, as the band gets ready to launch the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival on August 17. "We've got this next tour and we might do something next year and then we're going to take a little break for a second. We're not breaking up. We're not gonna stop making music. We're just going to take a little hiatus that really hasn't ever been taken in our career. We put out seven records in 14 years. We've been pretty busy."
Lewis' first full-length solo album, The Road, comes out on September 11. He recorded it in Nashville and Las Vegas during days off from touring with Staind. Lewis will be touring solo until August 10, and he plans to visit Country stations while on the road with the Uproar Festival. He also plans to do more solo touring to promote The Road, possibly even opening for other Country artists.
"(Going Country) hasn't been dauntingly and terrifyingly difficult, but I wasn't given a free pass for selling 17 or 18 million records in my career already (with Staind), that's for sure," Lewis said. "I guess I knew it was going to be a fight because I was starting over. I just didn't think that people would be as close-minded as they were about things they had issues with. There was a lot of 'Am I Country enough? Am I dipping my toes? Am I really committed to the format? Am I just testing the waters to see what I can do?' If it was garbage that I was offering, I could understand that, but it wasn't and isn't and it hasn't been."