I had the pleasure a few weeks ago to speak with Aaron Lewis, best known for his role as the frontman for Staind. What’s interesting about Lewis is that he not only pulls off the frontman role, but he’s also an extremely talented songwriter, singer and rhythm guitar player. It’s this combination of talents that lead him to embark on a solo tour without all of the electric instruments you would normally associate with a band like Staind.

“It’s kind of a stripped down show,” Lewis told The Loop. “These shows are really about the lyrics. It’s rather rewarding.”

There are not many rock songwriters that could pull off an acoustic set, let alone an entire concert, but making it about the lyrics is working for Lewis. He just finished up his 32nd sold out show in a row at one venue — quite a feat for any band.

Despite having so many sold out shows, Lewis hasn’t put out a solo album. Taking his existing songs and bringing them back to the basics is still working quite well for him. More importantly, Lewis said he’s having a great time playing in a more intimate atmosphere.

“If I screw up, who cares. They are right there with me — I’ll laugh about it and roll with it,” said Lewis.

That’s a credit to the way Lewis writes his songs in the first place. He puts very little pressure on himself to write and flows with what’s in his head.

“Take ‘Tangled Up In You’ — I wrote that song during a sound check,” said Lewis. “All of the words just came out and when I was done, my tour manager asked what record that was from. I told him, I just made it up.”

That’s not the only song that was written that way. Lewis said the song “Outside” was written while he was on stage in front of 14,000 fans.

Like many guitarists, Lewis is a collector. While he said he has a “very well rounded collection,” he still looks for guitars all the time.

“This is my stock portfolio,” said Lewis. “As long as these guitars are sitting in the humidity controlled walk-in vault that they all live in when I’m not using them, they will never depreciate in value.”

However, Lewis isn’t one of those collectors that never uses his guitars. In fact, they all get used, quite a bit.

“They all go out on tour with me,” said Lewis. “My two main guitars onstage are a 1957 Goldtop and the other is a 1958 ES-355 and there are only 10 of those.”

While looking for guitars to add to his collection, Lewis said seeing “Gibson on the headstock is very important.” That’s going to be easier for Lewis these days since Gibson recently honored him with his own signature model.

The Aaron Lewis Southern Jumbo Series comes in a variety of finished options, including one that is aged and signed. That guitar sells for $17,198 from Gibson’s Custom shop.