On the back of their heaviest album to date, SEETHER are intent on blasting the roof off with equal measures of ferocity and purpose. This is a band that knows how to connect with an audience, whilst delivering all the blood, sweat and sheer musical brutality that transports fans to a state of nirvanic rhapsody. That energy heads down under as Seether bring their world tour to Australia and New Zealand this May, we catch up with drummer John Humphrey to talk about the upcoming shows and their latest album “Poison The Parish”
Andrew: It’s good to talk to you again, we spoke last time when you came over to Australia which was I guess a couple of years ago right?
John: Yeah I think 2015 right?
Andrew: Yeah something like that, how did the tour end up going for you?
John: As I recall, great! It’s funny, some tours become a blur, you play so much but my memories of Australia and New Zealand have always been great shows.
Andrew: It’s always good to see you back in the country again, obviously you have been on the road since the new album came out so how has the tour been going so far and how are the new songs going?
John: Great man! I was just speaking to another interviewer before and it just blows me away after all these years, 15 years for me with this band and putting out albums and going on tour around the world and still doing it after all these years. People care and come out to the shows, it’s amazing and it blows us all away and feel very fortunate. The tour has been great, “Poison The Parish” the newest album is doing great. Two singles from the album, “Let You Down” and “Betray And Degrade” have done very well, been to Europe now and the States and now we’re headed back to Europe, Australia, New Zealand and then South Africa.
Andrew: We’ll get to the tour a bit later but with the new album, I suppose compared to previous material it’s maybe slightly heavier than what you have done before. Is that something that’s fair to say?
John: Yeah I think absolutely. I think that was one goal in mind is maybe mix wise on previous albums the guitars weren’t quite what we had hoped. This was the first album that officially Shaun [Morgan, vocals/guitar] and the band had produced itself, we had worked with some great producers, Brendan O’Brien to name one. Great producers but you fully trust them for the time being for the making of that album as another member of the band and he mixed the two records that he worked on, so great stuff but I think it was a very conscious effort on this album to bring back the heavier side of the band and to showcase that. We always get, ‘Man you guys are always heavier live’, and I think sonically with this album we wanted the guitars to be very present in the mix to make the songs heavier.
Andrew: So because you’ve given the songs more heaviness and given them a more lively feel, has that translated to the older songs as well to give it a heavier tone when playing them live?
John: Yeah I think the band has always sort of had those elements anyway, we have songs like “Broken” that we’ve done for years or “The Gift”, or what have you but the band is also a guitar oriented straight up rock band and we’ve always had that sort of edge so it felt very natural to produce “Poison The Parish” in the direction that it went ultimately. It wasn’t like we struggled to be a heavier band, we are a guitar oriented heavy band and that’s a pretty natural aspect of the band.
Andrew: Yeah and as you mentioned, people have said you do sound heavier live so because of the way you play live, is playing live a big part of the band’s sound? If that’s a big part of what you do, has that translated into the studio when you record these songs?
John: Yeah absolutely. With this album, the material we had never played live prior to recording it, Shaun had written the music and then sent the demos to Dale [Stewart, bass] and I to learn so we would get together and rehearse prior to going into the studio and learn it and you play it just like you would live on stage. A little rehearsal room with the amps cranked, we’re kind of in a cirlce, I’m playing drums, amps are facing me and things are loud and rocking and we’re learning the songs just like from the beginning where you learn a song to take it out on tour or what have you. I think again the band is a touring band, we’re a live band and the album isn’t recorded live per say. We started with the drum tracks and overdubs and stuff but I think it feels pretty organic, pretty natural. There’s certainly musicians playing on the tracks, there’s not a bunch of layering and 85 guitars. I mean really, Shaun is an awesome guitar player and just a couple of tracks doubled, it sounds like Seether and it doesn’t take a wall of guitars. The band, just the three piece or in our case when Clint [Lowery, guitars] was with us last year, a 4 piece, the band is what it is live just as it is on record.
Andrew: When you go out on tour and you rehearse the new songs, how do you go about picking the songs you want to go play live? Do you rehearse all of them or do you know when you record them which ones you want to take out on the road?
John: Yeah that’s a good question. We usually find out prior to a tour what the singles are going to be and we’re in a fortunate position to be in a band for 15 plus years with a lot of singles so it’s sort of a mix. We have a lot of fans that follow us for many years and they want to hear maybe some deeper cuts and then you got people that have waited a long time, for example coming out to Australia and New Zealand, we haven’t been there since 2015, who want to hear the singles or the songs they’re familiar with too. So it’s trying to kind of catch a happy medium, the singles themselves back to back take up almost an hour anyway. So if you’re doing a 90 minute show…again that’s a great position to be in, to have had successful singles that take up almost a 90 minute show, that’s really saying something. So in the case of a new album, OK so this is going to be the single so we learn that but for example one of my favorite songs which we’ve been doing which isn’t a single is called “Stoke The Fire” which is the first song on the album and we’ve been using it as a show opener because it’s a great album opener and that’s a song that’s not a single. So we get out there and we’ll talk about it and we’ll be like, ‘It will be great to do “Stoke The Fire”‘, so we learn that and add that. I always kid that when we record an album, with the marketing and you have to get the wheels turning and get the album ready for release and stuff, it’s funny as by the time you’re rehearsing for a tour, you sort of have to relearn the songs that you recorded. So yeah you’re right, we have to discuss, ‘OK now what, we going to do Stoke The Fire? OK’. So we listen to it and kind of get it back fresh in our minds to practice and play live.
Andrew: Are you ever tempted to really cut out a couple of the bigger hit songs and just throw in some deeper cuts that people may not be so familiar with just for your own sake of wanting to play a different song?
John: We’ve done it on occasion and we’ve even thrown in a cover song which is fun to do, just because that’s how it started. Before we were a band doing Seether, we were in cover bands learning other people’s songs and so we still like to do songs from bands that have influenced us or even currently that inspire us like Thrice which we were doing a song from that band recently. So I mean that’s fun to surprise fans with too but it’s hard to decide to cut out a “Remedy” or “Fake” it Or “Broken” or something, there are certain people that want to hear those songs and expect to hear those songs. So again it’s a tough position but it’s a good position to be in.
Andrew: Yeah definitely. Now you mentioned before about being around for a number of years now and the motivation seems to be the live show aspect, being on tour and seeing the fans. Is that the biggest motivator in keeping the band going?
John: Absolutely. I’ve said it from the beginning, this band has been a touring band and when we go out on any given album cycle, and obviously there will be breaks in between but usually out no less than 18 months on a given tour cycle. So yeah absolutely it’s about playing live, that’s what it’s about personally for me as a drummer and as a musician is that live moment playing those songs and getting the feedback instantly there from the crowd and hopefully no bad shows. Thank god knock on wood we haven’t had any train wrecks or anything, live but we’re human too, we get tired or homesick or sick literally just like anybody else who is out and working and doing their thing. But for the most part we have a lot of fun and love travelling and very fortunate to do what we do.
Andrew: Just before I let you go, do you have any advice for people making that long trip from Europe or the US to Australia? Because it is a long flight obviously, how do you deal with that kind of thing?
John: That’s a great question! I’ve flown a lot and for me to pass the time, I still have an iPod classic, the older one and it’s loaded with my music collection. I’m a huge music fan so I love listening to music or audio books just passing the time, obviously with technology it’s really great to be able to communicate with my family be it phone or skype or whatever. I have 2 kids back home and so it’s tough leaving them behind but again thank god for technology I’m able to keep in touch with them. But yeah just audio books or music on the plane passing the time and hopefully keeping your sanity! We have fun man, we crack up a lot, we laugh a lot and that’s what it’s about.
Andrew: Yeah definitely. Well it’s been great chatting to you today as always and we’re looking forward to seeing you back in the country. Thanks for your time and we will see you in May!
John: Looking forward to it, thank you!
Australia & New Zealand May 2018
Wednesday 23rd May – Sydney, Metro Theatre
Friday 25th May – Melbourne, The Forum
Saturday 26th May – Brisbane, Eatons Hill
Monday 28th May – Christchurch, Isaac Theatre
Wednesday 30th May – Wellington, Shed 6
Thursday 31st May – Auckland, Great Hall
Tickets from: www.davidroywilliams.com/tours/seether-2018/
