Hellyeah Drummer Vinnie Paul Clarifies Band’s Current Lineup
Hellyeah definitely shook things up earlier this year when they announced that guitarist Greg Tribbett and bassist Bob “Zilla” Kakaha had exited the group. The announcement came right as the band was announcing that they had completed a new album and were planning to release it. Now, in a new interview, drummer Vinnie Paul clarifies the band’s current lineup and how they intend to proceed after parting ways with the two musicians.
Speaking with RockNLive.org, Paul reiterated that Bloodsimple’s Kyle Sanders will take over on bass, but also gives an update on the guitarist vacancy. He explains, “After we realized we were gonna have to part ways with Bob and Greg, we wanted to make sure that we brought somebody in that was a ‘bro,’ somebody that we felt comfortable with. We didn’t wanna go through an audition process and bring a whole bunch of different people in that we had no idea, anything about their character or dynamic or what they were all about. And Kyle had toured with Hellyeah many times with his band Bloodsimple, who we were all fans of. … He was the first guy that came to our mind.”
Paul recalls of the invite, “The first phone call we gave to him, we barely mentioned it and he said, ‘I’m the guy. I wanna do it. I wanna do it.’ And that’s all we needed to hear; that was perfect. So he’s gonna be a perfect addition to the band. We shot the videos together and we hung out, and he’s really into it. So it worked out perfect for us.”
As for the guitar slot, the drummer adds, “To complement Tom [Maxwell] on guitar, these songs for this record really have a lot of dueling guitars and a lot of parts, we’re gonna add a touring guitarist. We haven’t announced who that is yet, but I can tell you he’s a hell of a guitar player. So we’ll do that soon. And the band’s gonna be stronger than ever. There’s nothing like having some fresh blood out on the road with you. And these guys are gonna kill, we’re gonna kill, and we’ve got a great new record to tour with.”