Staind 'Illusion of Progress' album

Talk about detonating on impact. "THE ILLUSION OF PROGRESS," the new album from Flip/Atlantic recording artists STAIND, rocketed onto the Billboard 200 this week at #3, making it the fourth consecutive album of the band's career to debut in the top 3.

News of the album's explosive arrival follows a flurry of headline-making moves for the multi-platinum band, who recently teamed with online retailer Amazon.com for an innovative pre-release promotion, and have been on a worldwide summer tour, to be followed by a run in Europe with Nickelback in September, and headlining dates with special guests Seether and Papa Roach beginning October 4th at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD.

"THE ILLUSION OF PROGRESS" is being propelled by chart-topping lead single "Believe," currently #2 at Modern Rock, #5 at Active Rock, and #4 at Mainstream Rock. The song has already begun crossing over to the Hot AC charts with a debut at #34. "Believe" is STAIND's fastest-growing hit since "It's Been Awhile."

In other news, STAIND is set to perform on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on August 28th, to be followed by a special solo acoustic performance by lead singer Aaron Lewis on August 31 at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Irvine, CA.

About "THE ILLUSION OF PROGRESS," the Boston Globe wrote, "...the music packs as much punch as ever -- and more variety, as STAIND sometimes departs from its rock-metal power ballads for tunes that suggest Pink Floyd and even Brit band Oasis." The Hartford Courant praised the band for "pushing its musical boundaries outward," and USA Today hailed the quartet for serving up a "nicely crafted ballad or two" and "a few engaging surprises, including the sparse, acoustic 'Tangled Up In You,' politically charged 'Rainy Day Parade' and 'The Corner,' with a gospel choir and a bluesy grandeur worthy of Pink Floyd."

"THE ILLUSION OF PROGRESS" is STAIND's sixth album and the follow-up to 2005's certified platinum "Chapter V." The album was produced by Johnny K and recorded in Lewis' home studio with guitarist Mike Mushok, drummer Jon Wysocki, and bassist Johnny April.

Over the course of the past decade, STAIND has sold more than 12 million records worldwide. They've had four #1 singles that span three different radio formats, including two massive crossover singles "It's Been Awhile" and "Right Here." "It's Been Awhile" spent 16 weeks at #1 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart, making it the #1 most played rock record of 2002.

STAIND's major label debut "Dysfunction" went double-platinum in 1999, and in the new millennium the band's "Break The Cycle" was certified 5x platinum, followed by the platinum succession of "14 Shades Of Grey" in 2003 and "Chapter V" in 2005. 2002 saw the release of a gold-certified "MTV Unplugged"; and in 2006, Flip/Atlantic released "The Singles: 1996-2006," the band's first-ever hits collection, along with a separate companion DVD, "Staind: The Videos."

tour dates
DATE VENUE CITY
With Seether and Papa Roach
10/4 Merriweather Post Pavilion Columbia, MD
10/7 Greensboro Special Events
Center Greensboro, NC
10/9 Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and
Casino Hollywood, FL
10/10 St. Augustine Amphitheater St. Augustine, FL
10/12 Hard Rock Live Orlando, FL
10/14 Heritage Park Simpsonville (Greenville), SC
10/15 Freedom Hall Civic Center Johnson City, TN
10/17 The Amphitheater at the Warf Orange Beach, AL
10/18 Snowden Grove Park Amphitheatre Southaven, MS
10/19 Lakewood Amphitheater Atlanta, GA
10/21 Black River Coliseum Poplar Bluff, MO
10/22 Rockford MetroCentre Rockford, IL
10/24 Tulsa Convention Center Arena Tulsa, OK
10/26 Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Houston, TX
11/12 Mohegan Sun Casino Uncasville, CT
(with Papa Roach only)
11/14 Sovereign Center Reading, PA
(with Papa Roach only)
11/15 Asbury Park Convention Hall Complex Asbury Park, NJ
11/16 Tsongas Arena Lowell, MA
11/18 Hammerstein Ballroom New York, NY

more Staind information
Staind's sixth studio album may be titled The Illusion Of Progress, but there's no mistaking just how far the band has come since the release of their major label debut less than a decade ago.

Look no further than the array of Staind "firsts" that earmark the new release: It's the first album where guitarist Mike Mushok solos, as well as the first where he wrote and recorded on a standard guitar, rather than his customary baritone. Despite the band's heralded run of ten Top 10 hits at radio, including four No. 1 singles, it's the first time that they have recorded a song that they almost feel can be classified as a pop song, and it is also the first time that frontman Aaron Lewis has taken a political stance lyrically. On that same lyrical front, Mushok is proud to point out, with a laugh, that "consciously, I don't think Aaron says the word 'pain' once throughout the record!"

Make no mistake, Lewis still feels the torment and anguish that, in many ways (and often unfairly), became Staind's trademark as they rose to prominence to become one of the biggest rock bands of the new millennium, but The Illusion Of Progress boasts a lyrical maturity and songwriting aptitude matched only by the band's musical depth and insatiable desire to get better and better with each release. "When you finish a record, you have to feel like it's the best job you've ever done and they are the best songs you've ever written, if you don't feel that way, then you didn't do your job and your job isn't done," says Mushok. "We think this album is a big step for us. Both lyrically and musically, it's a little bit of a departure."

A departure maybe, but only in the sense that it propels Staind's evolution to heights they have only hinted at on previous releases. While the humble Lewis readily admits that the lead single, "Believe," is in line with everything fans have come to expect from Staind over the past decade, even he can't deny the sense of optimism that shines through the track's musical familiarity and vulnerability. "It's definitely there," he says of the album's more upbeat lyrical tenor. "It's a different timeframe in my life, and it is what it is." Adds Mushok, "Aaron and the band have always taken a rap for being dark and gloomy, and it would be nice to try and get away from that, songs like 'All I Want' and 'Believe' are ways of doing that, hopefully."

'All I Want' impacts Rock on October 28th.

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