Mudvayne Have Added a New Guitarist

Those who watched the footage of Mudvayne’s performance at the Aftershock festival this past weekend may have noticed something unexpected: a second guitarist on stage joining the band’s long-running core of four.

Loudwire reports that the guitarist’s name is Marcus Rafferty, a former guitar tech for the band who has also worked with Lamb of God, Hatebreed, Saxon, Fozzy and Hellyeah, the latter of which also features Mudvayne frontman Chad Gray. It isn’t clear why Rafferty did not perform with the band at their first reunion show — the Inkcarceration festival last month — but with three of the above other bands touring actively during that period, a prior commitment could’ve been the culprit. Loudwire also notes that Rafferty’s Facebook page, which is full of congratulatory posts from friends, indicates employment with Mudvayne beginning this past April.

The performance marked the second of four planned reunion gigs for Mudvayne after 12 years apart. The first took place on September 11 at the Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival in Mansfield, OH (watch footage here), but their show at Louder Than Life in Louisville later in September was canceled after frontman Chad Gray and “a few staff members” tested positive for Covid-19. They are still scheduled to appear at Welcome to Rockville on November 14 in Daytona Beach, FL.

You can watch some footage of Mudvane and Rafferty in action below.