With their sixth studio album, Wake Up Call, Theory hit the reset button, diving into a new sound, a new approach, even a new location. The more melodic, intimate style that defines the project is a bold move for one of the leading rock bands in the world. Since forming in British Columbia in 2001, Theory of a Deadman have placed nine songs in the Top 10 on the US rock charts, including the Number One hits “Bad Girlfriend,” “Lowlife,” “So Happy,” and “Angel.”
To celebrate the success of Wake Up Call and the heavy radio play of the lead single Rx (Medicate) The Canadian Rock Powerhouse Theory are headed to Australia for the very first time. We talk to guitarist Dave Brenner about the latest album and the upcoming tour as well as share our mutual love for Alice In Chains.
Catching Dave while on tour across the US, it was a little rough where he was in Connecticut where some serious storms were brewing but Dave reassured us that everyone including himself was safe. “Apparently we’re in some serious weather conditions but I’m in the venue now, a little noisier but we’re safe from tornadoes“, Dave says scrambling from the tour bus after warnings to move inside. My initial reaction was that he must be on tornado country maybe near Oklahoma or something but apparently not. “We’re in New Haven, Connecticut. I didn’t feel like that was tornado zone but there’s some big storm swell or something so there’s all kinds of warnings going on.”
Despite the weather, the band continue on as they currently tour North America in support of their latest album “Wake Up Call” as Dave tells me when asked if they are on the road before they hit Australia in June.
Dave: We’re trying to tour as much as we can always, we got 2 weeks left on this run and then 2 weeks off and then back out for 7 more weeks starting in Australia!
Andrew: Yeah it’s exciting and I believe this will be the first time that you will be heading to this part of the world as well.
Dave: Yeah it certainly is, we’re very excited. Everyone always says, ‘Where do you want to go?’ and I think all of us say the same answer – anywhere we haven’t been. So it’s exciting to be coming to Australia, it’s one of the great perks about being in a band and touring the world is you get to go to places you maybe wouldn’t get the chance to so I’m really excited.
Andrew: Sure and what have your colleagues or other bands have been telling you about what it’s like to play in Australia? Have you heard much at all?
Dave: Yeah we have a bunch of buddies in bands who have toured and done shows there and we always hear people say it’s a rock market, like they love rock music in Australia. People always tell us, ‘You gotta gotta go there!’. Our buddies Black Stone Cherry toured there, we hear good things about the people and for me that’s what it’s about. Seeing the people and what the culture is about and trying to experience the country, for us we’ve toured a lot in North America so it’s nice to experience something a little different to keep it fresh for us.
Andrew: When you go to new territories or countries that you don’t normally go to, do you try to check out the local stuff or the tourist type stuff?
Dave: Yeah it all depends of course on the schedule and we always hope to do as much press and promo work that we can. If we’re going anywhere and playing shows we always hope that we can be working as well to try and promote our band and our music. So you try to prioritise that but after that a few of us are, Dean our bass player especially is the kind of guy where he is up at the crack of dawn and walking wherever he can get to and exploring. The rest of us I think every time we go somewhere new, you definitely try to get out and take it in and see what it’s all about.
Andrew: Speaking of promotion, the new album that you released last year “Wake Up Call”, how has it been going so far? What kind of feedback have you been getting from the fans and critics?
Dave: It’s been great! I don’t read too many things online or anything as far as critics go but I think we knew going into the process that some of our fans would be surprised by the product at the end of the recording process. But I think it’s something that a lot of fans also look forward to, is growing with bands and we always feel it’s important that we do progress as a band and this record personally I think was the biggest musical progression we ever had. Some of the best songs we’ve ever written so for the most part our fans have been right onboard and loving it.
Andrew: Yeah this album does have quite a different texture and sound to what you’ve done previously, what were some of the reasons on why you wanted to go in a different direction like this?
Dave: I don’t know, I think you almost feel like you plateau at a certain point in the genre. You could put out another record like you’ve done again but it’s like, what are you doing? Are you just trying to recreate something you’ve already done or do you want to create something new? And so I think really it just comes from just trying to always be fresh, the music business is changing and while we love our loyal fans, we also want to be interesting and fresh to maybe young people as well and not disappear as time goes on. So I think a lot of stuff kind of drives you in the direction of it but those are some of them.
Andrew: I suppose the real test of what people really think is the live shows and the kind of feedback you get there, how are these songs translating to the live shows and how are they fitting in wth the older material?
Dave: That was something we were wondering as well, right now we’re playing maybe 4 songs from the new record in the set and I think they sound amazing. We’re doing some different stuff and just the recordings themselves are a little more bare and I think because of that, the songs sound so huge live. Tyler (Connolly, vocals) has been playing some piano and stuff like that live which I think brings a new visual element as well which I think is really cool and I think the songs have really helped the set flow and I feel it gives us a new, fresh sound and look. Everything works well with the old stuff, we had some piano on some of our old songs so it’s not like he’s only playing piano on the news songs and it’s kind of cool for people to get to see that as well.
Andrew: Is that something we can expect in Australia as well then?
Dave: I think so, I think we want to try and do what we’re doing here and try to get the piano involved as well. That’s a big part of the new sound and that’s what we want to bring there, not just the past but the present as well.
Andrew: Alongside with the new sound that you mentioned, you have also abbreviated the band name to just Theory. Was that part of the new phase of the band or was there a different story behind that?
Dave: Personally I think it’s been a long time coming and it’s not necessarily that we’re saying don’t say Theory Of A Deadman, we’re not shying away from the past. It’s more like a Chili Peppers, Red Hot Chili Peppers thing, a lot of our fans say Theory anyway so we try to shorten it and get onboard with that but I also do think that we did come to the table with a new sound and we’re trying to get our label onboard with it in saying treat us like a new band. I think that’s a part of it too like, ‘Hey we’ve been Theory Of A Deadman for a long time, let’s let people know we’re embracing the change’.
Andrew: Is that also difficult not from a logistics point of view but from a legal point of view, has that caused any headaches at all with say management or even with new fans who are just starting to get into the band as well?
Dave: Not that I’ve been made privy to, I don’t pay attention to a lot of those kinds of details so I haven’t really noticed any fallout from that kind of thing.
Andrew: So take us back to the beginning of your own personal career and how you got into music. Who was some of main influences that got you into playing guitar?
Dave: From Vancouver I was a big Seattle music scene fan, I loved Alice In Chains [who] was my favorite band growing up so Jerry Cantrell was my big guitar influence. But my Dad played guitar too growing up and I think it was always in the house, my Dad used to have his buddies over to jam and drink beers and smoke cigarettes and I always loved that environment just from when I was a kid growing up to have my Dads buddies over and jamming. So it was something that as soon as I was old enough to play, it was something that I loved to do with my buddies and eventually it became something that you hope to do for the rest of your life and then somehow one day it actually happened and then you just try to keep the dream alive [laughs].
Andrew: [laughs] I guess it’s something that not everyone has the luxury to have, to go out there and do something that you really enjoy as a career. I suppose it takes a lot of hard work and you gotta be passionate about what you do to be able to do that.
Dave: You can’t take it for granted either. I think we’re all pretty blessed to be where we are at and the fact that we can do this but also you don’t want to waste it so you want to take some risks and take some chances and at the end of the day when your career is over you can say that you tried to do some stuff and not just take the easy road. You worked at it and so I think we’re all pretty happy with where we are at.
Andrew: Yeah definitely. You mentioned Alice In Chains as being a major influence, especially Jerry Cantrell, have you been following what they’ve been doing in more recent times with the new singer?
Dave: Yeah of course I followed them right after Alice In Chains kind of stopped and Jerry did his solo stuff. I’ve seen Jerry a bunch of times with his solo and he would tour with a band called Comes With The Fall and that really was William Duvall’s band and Comes With The Fall would back Jerry so anytime he would do any Alice In Chains songs, William would sing all the Layne Staley parts even back when Layne was still alive but just not touring. So for me it was awesome as I was already comfortable with William singing those parts and of course nobody could ever replace Layne, he’s my favorite but I always think about the other guys in that band and like, ‘They might want to play together’. Why should they not be able to play together! That’s how I look at it, yeah Layne is gone but those other guys made some good music together. Let’s not discount them, let them get in a room together and see what they can do.
Andrew: For sure and I suppose a dream would be to do a tour together with those guys.
Dave: Yeah we done a couple of festival type shows every now and again and I always make sure to get the opportunity to get up there and watch.
Andrew: Yeah great band live, I saw them once before a few years ago and even with William on the vocals they just still have a great sound and even the new stuff they just put out recently is great stuff.
Dave: Yep well I always thought Jerry just wrote good music so I still think he does.
Andrew: So before I let you go and before you come to Australia, do you have any words for the Aussie fans ?
Dave: I guess while you have expectations of us, we’ll try and deliver but we also have expectations of you guys too. We’ve heard from some of our band buddies that Aussies like to rock so we’re expecting it, we’ll see you guys there and we’ll bring it and you bring it too!
Theory Australian Tour Dates 2018
Friday June 22nd SYDNEY, Manning Bar
Saturday 23rd June BRISBANE, Woolly Mammoth
Sunday 24th June PERTH, Amplifier Bar
Tuesday 26th June MELBOURNE, Prince Bandroom
Tickets From: http://silverbacktouring.com.au/toadaustralia/
