{"id":27215,"date":"2015-06-27T13:50:03","date_gmt":"2015-06-27T03:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=27215"},"modified":"2015-07-25T19:53:09","modified_gmt":"2015-07-25T09:53:09","slug":"shaun-morgan-of-seether-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2015\/06\/shaun-morgan-of-seether-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Shaun Morgan of Seether"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n<\/a>\u201cMusically I think nothing\u2019s changed and I think we\u2019re more comfortable than we were back then, back then it was more of a question of ok we have to find where we fit in the musical landscape, we have to find where we fit in and I think now we just don\u2019t care about that, we just write music we enjoy and we love to play and haven\u2019t really given any thought about what\u2019s going to happen to this album once it\u2019s released.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Release: Having sold over 5 million albums,\u00a0SEETHER\u00a0is the biggest rock act to come out of South Africa ever! From headline runs to festival appearances all across the globe, the band has amassed an exceptionally loyal fan base, and this is a band that ensures every single performance delivers their fans all they could possibly want. Their live shows however are a whole new wall of sound world of thrilling melody, fervent rock rhythms and crunching guitars that shake you by the neck until you emerge exhilarated from the other end of the show. And\u00a0SEETHER\u00a0want to make their massive show something special for fans in Australia.<\/p>\n

On the eve of their Australian tour, we caught up with Shaun from Seether about the upcoming tour, new music, old music, dance music and much, much more\u2026<\/p>\n

Thanks for your time again, Shaun, now of course we\u2019re here because you\u2019re heading back to Australia, a place you guys are never shy of visiting, what can we expect this time around?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m not sure yet, we haven\u2019t been there in a while I think it\u2019s been a couple of years now and so when we come back we\u2019re always excited to play because it\u2019s a bit like coming home for us in a sense, it\u2019s so similar to being in South Africa so it\u2019s something we\u2019re looking forward. I think we\u2019re gonna come, have fun and do our usual get drunk and have a good time with everyone kind of thing.<\/p>\n

With a new album in tow, and as the catalogue grows how do you go about putting a set list together these days?<\/strong>
\nWell it depends, on what people want to her and what we want to play, we try and play tracks people are going to expect as they\u2019re paying money to come and see the show and you don\u2019t want to be the band that gets up and doesn\u2019t play the songs they expect to hear, I feel like that\u2019s kind of a dick move I think in a sense, you almost have an obligation to play the songs that people want to hear especially considering the popularity of some songs, now they\u2019re not always the most fun for us to play because we play them every single time but we tend to throw in songs that we like, especially from the new album because it\u2019s obviously the newer material for us, and it\u2019s still the most fun to play because in the set it\u2019s the least played of all the material we have, so I think this time we might not even come in with a set list, we might kind of go and play it by ear and see how it goes and just call songs out and make sure the other guys know what they\u2019re doing *laughs*. I\u2019ve been a slave to certain society for so long and I\u2019m trying to break free from that right now, so I\u2019m hoping that we can\u2026 it\u2019s just supposed to be a good tenuous rock and roll time, so I\u2019m hoping we can figure out how we can get out there and play shows without worrying too much about a set list or an order or songs that need to be played or not played you know?<\/p>\n

\u2018Isolate and Medicate\u2019 has been out for almost a year, and we spoke around this time last year, so how has the last year been for the band?<\/strong>
\nBusy, very busy we\u2019ve been pretty much going non-stop, we\u2019ve done a lot of touring, I think we\u2019ve been to Europe twice, we\u2019ve done The States now\u2026 wow, I can\u2019t even tell you how many times, I think\u00a0 we\u2019ve done three U.S. tours already and we\u2019ve got two more planned for the rest of this year. Then we\u2019ve got a European tour planned for the end of the year, so I think we started touring in February last year, so I\u2019m trying to figure it out because it\u2019s almost been two years on non-stop touring so I think we\u2019re looking forward to getting off the road at some point soon and beginning to write a new album, because that\u2019s what\u2019s becoming the most fun part for us is getting in the studio and writing and recording because then you take it from a point of just being an idea, a demo to a recorded property and what it sounds like when it\u2019s properly mixed. All of it is exciting, when you don\u2019t stop touring like we have, in the past we\u2019ve had about two months off, so it\u2019s been a lot of work but it\u2019s what we signed up for, and I think this is the part of the tour when you start to thinking you want to get off the road and I want to get into the studio and make new music. We still enjoy it and we still have fun but we can see the finish line now and that\u2019s something we\u2019re all looking forward to now.<\/p>\n

Are you the kind of band that can write while on tour, or do you wait until the cycle has finished to do so?<\/strong>
\nI try to write some stuff, it\u2019s hard because we try and sound checks, but when you get downtime you\u2019re trying to think about it as little as possible *laughs* because you do it all the time, all day. So I think for me it\u2019s easier to have ideas but I feel like it\u2019s better to have an idea of where my head is at musically, so when to comes to being off the road, and as fate has it, when we get off the road everyone will want an extended vacation *laughs* and I would be happy to get down to the studio and start the whole thing again. So I do have little snippets on my phone that I record, I used to carry an older tape recorder, so I don\u2019t normally have a lot of things that I\u2019m finished, but at least I have some sort of basis for when I\u2019m done, so when it comes time to start writing music for the album, I can look back at stuff I deem was worthy or recording or that I knew was interesting enough to keep for a later date. I think there\u2019s about thirty to forty ideas, so it will make it a bit easier at the end of the tour, but yeah, man, it\u2019s just difficult to write, you constantly have somewhere to be or someone to talk to or a show to play, and afterwards you get a couple of drinks into you and try to go to bed. So mostly it\u2019s written after the tour, I always have the best intentions *laughs* and I find that it\u2019s more difficult without all the distractions around, it\u2019s got to be in a situation where you can write and that\u2019s all you\u2019ve got to worry about.<\/p>\n

Six albums in, how do you keep the studio and making records interesting after so long?<\/strong>
\nWell it\u2019s interesting because you\u2019ve got a batch of songs, you don\u2019t know what to expect from them and you don\u2019t know what they\u2019re going to end up sounding like. For example I go in with a demo and I don\u2019t even know what the song is going to sound like because I haven\u2019t finished it yet, it\u2019s almost like you walk in with a bunch of works in progress, a bunch of sketches and in the studio you fish them out. That\u2019s what keeps it interesting, you don\u2019t go in with an idea that\u2019s already done and it\u2019s just a mechanical process of rerecording it and making it sound better, that is one way to keep it interesting. Every single time you just challenge yourself and try different ideas, different tunings, different riffs and you try new production techniques, there\u2019s so many things you can try, even new pedals you can try out. So we\u2019re never at a loss for new things to try, so as long as we\u2019re open to trying them and ultimately when a song is done, that\u2019s when it\u2019s ready to record.<\/p>\n

Looking back to \u2018Disclaimer\u2019 in 2002, what for you has been the biggest and most notable evolution that you feel has taken place within the band?<\/strong>
\nThe biggest change\u2026 maybe just the thirteen years that\u2019s gone by and the toll it\u2019s taken on us physically I think *laughs* we\u2019ve been a really hard touring band for a really long time, and when you start out you don\u2019t realise that you\u2019re not going to be able to do it as you could when you were twenty one years old, and I think that that is nature running its course, and don\u2019t get me wrong, we still have a good time, we still have a couple of drinks and we still rock out, but you tend to drink less now because the hangover takes longer to go away *laughs* stuff like that. A couple of us have got issues, as far as physical issues after years of playing and how much we put into it, so you come off the road and you need to go see a chiropractor *laughs*, usually you come off the road an you go on vacation. Musically I think nothing\u2019s changed and I think we\u2019re more comfortable than we were back then, back then it was more of a question of ok we have to find where we fit in the musical landscape, we have to find where we fit in and I think now we just don\u2019t care about that, we just write music we enjoy and we love to play and haven\u2019t really given any thought about what\u2019s going to happen to this album once it\u2019s released. Obviously you have to think about that because you want to keep building your fan base, but by the same token I think that when I was twenty one years old and writing songs and I was a pissed off teenager, now I\u2019m just a pissed off adult and there\u2019s a difference. The way you approach things is very different and I think your outlook is very different, so you try to express yourself in a smarter way and less straight forward, and I think maybe I just want to be a little bit more poetic at times and have a little bit more of a song structure and be a little more creative. I think as far as all of that has gone, in my mind this is a very simple album, very straightforward whereas years gone by the albums had become a little more complicated, lyrically and or musically and sometimes not both at the same time, we concentrate on making music so that the lyric can be more complex or that the music can be more complex, or other times we just make things more interesting. That\u2019ll be for me the biggest changes in that I\u2019m comfortable with what I do with music , I mean you always need validation because you\u2019re always going to be insecure about things, it\u2019s such an introspective thing, but you need someone to say \u2018oh that\u2019s really good\u2019 because if you don\u2019t hear it you feel like you\u2019ve lost your touch. So I\u2019ve grown accustomed and capable to what I\u2019m doing, so as long as I\u2019m making myself happy and keeping myself interested, then that\u2019s all I\u2019m concerned about right now.<\/p>\n

You’ve been doing this for quite some time, what’s the biggest thing you learned about the industry that you didn’t feel would be a part of it all when you started the band?<\/strong>
\nI didn\u2019t think that EDM music would be such a big thing, I didn\u2019t think record stores would be gone, so those are two massive changes and I didn\u2019t understand it. You know, and I shouldn\u2019t say this is lack of foresight but I never imagined being able to walk through the city of New York, or Manhattan and trying to find a CD and not being able to find a CD store to buy one in, and that happened a few years back, maybe two or three albums back, we were actually in the city and usually it\u2019s a good luck thing when you go out and you buy the CD on the day of its release and I remember we were there a couple of years ago and there was nowhere to buy one, the only CD stores you could find were little Indy ones that had hard to find music or hipster music, it wasn\u2019t like the old Virgin\u2019s used to be, to Tower Records, so that was a huge loss to music, and I think the pop culture itself, I think the second part to see how it almost became a homogenised version of itself over the years and then kids have no problems stealing music but they also have no problems taking a whole bunch of money and spending $300 – $400 to see the same fucking song for three days in a row *laughs*, I just didn\u2019t imagine that\u2019s what it would become. So it\u2019s interesting, I find that I listen to most musical styles and I try to find things that are not completely annoying about everything and there are certainly some enjoyable elements about that kind of music, but I never for the life of me thought in this day and age that we would be talking about guys with laptops and that\u2019s it, there\u2019s no instrumental skill at all, I mean having said that, I know it\u2019s horribly generalised, but they\u2019re not musicians, they\u2019re good with computers, and that\u2019s just my opinion but I find it kind of stupid because when I was growing up the coolest thing you could do is be in a band, now the coolest thing you can do is have a laptop and you can make electronic noises come out of it, it\u2019s just bizarre to me. *laughs*<\/p>\n

Lastly, let\u2019s predict the future, so finish this sentence for me, by the end of 2015, Seether will?<\/strong>
\nBy the end of 2015, I will be 37 years old and hopefully a lot less jaded than I\u2019ve been, I guess that\u2019s the best I can do *laughs*<\/p>\n

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Catch Seether in Australia at the following tour dates:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Monday 29th<\/sup>\u00a0June\u00a0\u2013 Perth \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Capitol<\/p>\n

Wednesday 1st July \u2013\u00a0Adelaide<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong>The Gov<\/p>\n

Thursday 2nd<\/sup>\u00a0July\u00a0\u2013 Brisbane \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Eatons Hill Hotel<\/p>\n

Friday 3rd<\/sup>\u00a0July\u00a0\u2013 Sydney \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Metro Theatre<\/p>\n

Saturday 4th<\/sup>\u00a0July\u00a0\u2013 Melbourne \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Forum Theatre<\/p>\n

Grab your tickets HERE<\/a>\u00a0– Presented by Metropolis Touring<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> South Africa<\/p>\n

Band members: <\/strong>Shaun Morgan – vocals, guitar Dale Stewart – bass, vocals John Humphrey – drums<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> http:\/\/www.seether.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest release:<\/strong> Isolate and Medicate (Out Now \u2013 Caroline Australia)<\/p>\n