Seizing the day with Seether

June 8, 2005

In South Africa they are legends, and even three years after they changed their name to Seether, they are still known as Saron Gas in their homeland. Now based in Southern California the alt-metal rockers are embarking on a new tour to promote their sophomore release “Karma and Effect” that hit music shops on May 24. The group will make an appearance in Northern Michigan, Monday, June 13 at Streeters’ Ground Zero Nightclub.
Seether is hot right now despite the fact that it has been three years since the band released their American debut “Disclaimer.” So fans have been hungry and all indications are that Seether is serving up a multi-course feast with their new release.
Founder and front man Shaun Morgan feels that there were several factors in the length of time between recording projects.
“Brainstorming record industry executives decided to re-release our album (titled ‘Disclaimer II’) in 2004 with some bonus tracks and the single “Broken” that we did with Amy Lee (Morgan’s girlfriend) of Evanescence,” said Morgan. “Well, sales picked up and we were sent out to tour in support of only one song. It pissed us off because we knew we should be in the studio working on a new CD. After all, we had just come off the road for two years promoting the CD and we had a bunch of new material we wanted to record.”

FRUSTRATING
Then there was personnel issues.
“We had guys in the band who were either looking to move on to bigger bands or they just wanted to get laid,” said Morgan. “It was frustrating because Dale (Dale Stewart, original member and bass player) and I were looking for guys committed to the band. Now with Pat Callahan joining us on guitar and drummer John Humphrey, I know we have guys committed to this project for the right reasons.”
NE: So how did you come to sing a duet with Amy Lee?
“Well, she was a fan of the band and at one of our shows she walked on stage and started singing backing vocals,” said Morgan. “Well, someone liked it and we were asked to record the song as a duet for the movie ‘The Pusher.’ Now don’t get me started about that either because that really pisses me off as well.”
NE: Okay, don’t get pissed but it is such a great song and it was on the soundtrack for the movie, right?
“That’s not the point -- we were totally bullshited. Seether was asked to record the song with Amy for what was going to be this awesome love scene in the movie,” said Morgan. “We were okay with that because we could visualize the song in that type of scene. Then the movie comes out and we are pumped and go to the theater to watch it. The song plays while Rebecca Ramijn-Stamos is listening to a little radio, washing the dishes. We felt betrayed and exploited and it was obvious no one from the movie studio gave a shit about Seether’s credibility or our career.”

FICKLE MEDIUM
NE: So now the new album is out and it appears that at least from your lyrics that you have a lot of rage towards the industry. Was there pressure from the label to follow up “Broken” with a radio friendly album?
“That medium is fickle,” said Morgan. “We had no ambition of having a pop single this time around. We just concentrated on writing a rock album.”
Industry insiders have pointed to the fact that Morgan was asked to tone it down and cut out the swearing that was weaved into the songs. He also titled the album “Catering to Cowards” as a tongue in cheek towards industry executives.
Morgan’s anger and rage seems to have the band on track. “Remedy,” their first single off the new album, is climbing fast on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks Charts, coming in last week at number 11, and is expected to break into the top 10 now that the band is touring.
Seether charted frequently with their debut release “Disclaimer,” as songs “Fine Again,” “Driven Under” and “Gasoline” all charted and helped them to attain Gold record status. Then in 2004 the label released “Disclaimer II” with the bonus tracks and the hit “Broken.” That album went Gold as well and a DVD was released that went Multi-Platinum, selling over five million copies to date.
The success of the DVD and the “Broken” single led critics to point to Seether as simply capitalizing off Amy Lee’s and Evanescence’s success.
“There is no doubt that having Amy on with us has brought us a lot of new fans,” said Morgan. “But we had a lot of fans and three hits before I met her. See, this pisses me off as well. People see the video and they think we are her band. No, get it right, we are Seether and she joined us.”
The collaboration has been a strain on their relationship and the two have agreed for the time being to not record together again. Lee and her band are busy in the studio finishing up an album and Morgan and Seether plan to tour hard during the summer.
Joining Seether June 13 at Streeters’ Ground Zero Nightclub will be JTXperience with their hit song “Party Like a Rock Star,”  as well as Blisstripp and Ra. If Blisstripp sounds familiar it is because they took second place at the recent WKLT Northern Rocks Showcase. The band has relocated to Detroit and is creating a buzz not only in Michigan but also around the country. Keep an eye on these guys as a major label deal is in the cards in the near future.
But in the meantime don’t piss off Shaun Morgan of Seether any more than he already is. Get your rear ends out to the show. For tickets or additional information visit
www.streetersonline.com or call the box office at (231) 932-1300.

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