Despite political allegiances becoming increasingly more polarizing in the age of social media, Staind vocalist/guitarist Aaron Lewis has continued to freely express his right-wing political beliefs, even when it comes at a cost to his career. Lewis has frequently used his live performances and his songs as a platform to express his political beliefs.
Though he tends to save his more radical beliefs for his solo country career, Staind‘s live shows have also seen his politics creep in. Over the years, Lewis has also been known to traffic in conspiracy theories as well, railing against the deep state and the Ukraine as well as touching on the fentanyl problem and more.
Despite the result political fallout, he has also found success with some of his more politically pointed pursuits, including landing a gold record for his right-wing anthem “Am I The Only One“. Lewis‘ latest solo album cycle has seen him continue to ratchet up his political expression, including the release of politically-inclined merch and divisive partisan live bookings. Expectedly, he’s also recently issued singles that cater to right-wing ideals.
In a new appearance on One American News Network‘s ‘Real America With Dan Ball‘, Lewis spoke further about why he continues to mix his political beliefs with his art. He replied:
“Because it’s my responsibility at my age to now be the steward of this country, just like everybody else my age. If you’re in your 50s, guess what? It’s now our responsibility to step up and make sure that this country is handed to our children and our grandchildren in a condition that’s better than the way that we found it. And that’s how I was raised. That’s how I was brought up. You always leave things better than you find them.
And this is our responsibility as citizens of the United States of America. We have the most amazing country because the scales are tipped in our favor and not in the government’s favor. And I’ve been lucky enough to travel all over the world and see what it’s like everywhere else, and I always kiss the ground when I get home.”
Lewis further went on to explain:
“I’ve been alive to see how much destruction has taken place in 30 years, just slow enough so that we don’t quite pick up on it. Through 30 to 40 years of slow indoctrination of our children, where we send them off to school and they come back a different person than we sent them off to. And we entrust these people to instill the same moral values and the same ethic into our children that we’re trying to instill in them ourselves.
It’s just so unbelievably blatant at this point. If you can’t see it, you’re not looking. And how much destruction has taken place literally in the last 30 or 40 years compared to the 250 years of this country, or the history of man in general, how close we are to destroying everything. And not just the United States — the civilization, the world.”
Lewis‘ new solo album “Give My Country Back” will be arriving on July 17th, while Staind have a new album in the can with plans to release it in 2027. In other news, Lewis recently picked up some interest on social media after the booklet for his aforementioned unreleased new solo album showed up as shredded packing paper in a recent unrelated purchase of Taylor Swift music made online.
You can watch a confused Taylor Swift fan unravel that below, with Lewis stating on social media of the clip: “Oh look, there’s my new album, that hasn’t even been released yet, shredded as packaging paper in Taylor Swift merch. Ain’t that some shit.”
[via Blabbermouth.net]
