{"id":5490,"date":"2012-02-11T11:29:21","date_gmt":"2012-02-11T00:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=5490"},"modified":"2012-02-11T11:29:21","modified_gmt":"2012-02-11T00:29:21","slug":"dale-stewart-of-seether","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2012\/02\/dale-stewart-of-seether\/","title":{"rendered":"Dale Stewart of Seether"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n<\/a>“We kept going back and writing new songs and throwing them out and writing new songs and throwing those out and writing new one and working on the ones we had.\u00a0 It was really a work in progress; we had four or five actual recording sessions where we went in at different times to record tracks for the album.”<\/p>\n

Seether are a band that have been around for over a decade now and have given us a number of radio friendly rock songs that you’d probably know, but may not necessarily know they’re by Seether, namely their biggest hit ‘Broken’ in 2004 which became a hit worldwide, and made Seether a name that would still be around for years after.\u00a0 Through line up changes and five albums as a band, with their newest ‘Holding Onto Strings Better Left To Fray’ released in 2011 and in my opinion it’s their best to date.<\/p>\n

Just a few hours before their Sydney show, we chatted to Seether’s bass player Dale Stewart about their Aussie tour, their last album and how one of their most popular songs almost didn’t make it on to the album…<\/p>\n

You’ve played a few shows in Australia already. How have they been going?<\/strong>
\nActually really well, the response has been awesome.\u00a0 Some of the best shows we\u2019ve had in a quite a while.\u00a0 I think there\u2019s something to be said for I guess going away for a while and coming back you know?<\/p>\n

I was going to ask that, it\u2019s been a few years since you\u2019ve been away, what if anything do you feel has changed in that time?<\/strong>
\nWell, we\u2019ve had a line up change as a band, obviously the new album, I\u2019m sure anyone who is a fan of the band hopefully that would be something they want to see.\u00a0 I know as a fan of music myself if a band I enjoy release an album I have to make a point to see them, so I think not having been here for so long, people were excited that we were coming and the turn outs have been great, so it\u2019s been really fun so far.<\/p>\n

For those that haven\u2019t seen you before, what can people expect from a Seether show?<\/strong>
\nYou know we\u2019re just a good old fashioned rock band I guess, we sweat and make noise and kick over beer bottles and just rock out.\u00a0 We\u2019re a three piece now, again, and yeah man, just the three guys making as much noise as we possibly can.\u00a0 We don\u2019t run any tape or any kind of pro tools or anything, just a good old fashioned rock band.<\/p>\n

How hard was it going back to a three piece after having four for a while?<\/strong>
\nYou know it actually wasn\u2019t that hard.\u00a0 We started as a three piece, so it\u2019s always been our DNA I guess.\u00a0 We were kind of flung into it unexpectedly and it was a little bit of a punch to roll with, but the transition was pretty smooth and I think it was something we really enjoyed going back to and it kind of refreshed everything for us and I think we\u2019re definitely going to stay a three piece from now on.\u00a0 It\u2019s definitely more fun, for me at least, to play as a three piece.<\/p>\n

With a number of albums now under your belt, how do you put the set together?\u00a0 Is it almost a greatest hits show at this point?<\/strong>
\nYeah, we\u2019ve had quite a lot of radio song, and it\u2019s good question you know, it is kind of hard to come up with a set list or depending on how long you to have play to figure out what you\u2019re not going to play.\u00a0 There\u2019s a few songs that we can\u2019t get a round playing, so obviously those have to be on there, and we like to change it up a little bit, now and then by maybe throwing in a cover song every now and then for fun, but it\u2019s definitely dictated by what people have heard on the radio and what\u2019s familiar to them and the songs they want to come and see.<\/p>\n

Anything special for Sydney tonight?<\/strong>
\nWe don\u2019t know yet.\u00a0 It\u2019s usually something we come up with right before we go on stage, within an hour before we\u2019ll sort of finalise the set list, so we might decide to throw in something right at the eleventh hour.\u00a0 I guess it kind of keeps it exciting and interesting ha ha.<\/p>\n

Album title \u2018Holding Onto Strings Better Left To Fray\u2019 is a very open title. What if anything does it relate to?<\/strong>
\nI guess it means, at least in this context and what a lot of the songs deal with is basically, letting go of relationships that have a negative effect in your life, be it a romantic relationship or a family relationship or even a friendship, whatever it may be, if it\u2019s something that\u2019s not worth holding on to and it\u2019s better to let just peter out and it\u2019s something that\u2019s ultimately negative in your life.\u00a0 That\u2019s what a lot of the songs on the album are about.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This was also your first album in four years. Did you go into creating this one any differently to your previous albums?<\/strong>
\nYeah, we kinda did, not much though. The main difference being we took a lot of time on this one, which is a luxury we haven\u2019t always had in the past, but on this one we pretty much took almost a year off even before we started and it took another year before everything was completed.\u00a0 We did a lot of writing in that time, we spent a lot of time in Nashville which isn\u2019t home for any of us, so we were out of our element a little bit.\u00a0 It was our first time working there, so I think that definitely put a spin on things, but we spent most of the year in Nashville, back and forth.<\/p>\n

We made a point not to just rush something out or get something out or write music for the sake of releasing an album, you know get twelve songs that we think are Ok and put them on there.\u00a0\u00a0We kept going back and writing new songs and throwing them out and writing new songs and throwing those out and writing new one and working on the ones we had.\u00a0 It was really a work in progress; we had four or five actual recording sessions where we went in at different times to record tracks for the album.\u00a0 It was kind of a spread out process and I think as a result of that we only tackled four songs at a time, so it really allowed us to give those songs the full attention that a song needs to be good.\u00a0 Working with Brendan O\u2019Brien was great, he\u2019s a very talented producer, so I think it all came together and we\u2019re very happy with the outcome and we\u2019re very proud of this album.<\/p>\n

Working with Brendan O\u2019Brien as producer on this album, did he bring anything to the record you hadn\u2019t envisioned?<\/strong>
\nYeah, I think anyone you work with brings their flavour to the album, which is a double edged sword, we\u2019ve worked with producers in the past we\u2019ve felt just rehashed what they always do with which ever band sets foot in the studio.\u00a0 Certain guitar tones and little tricks they use and it ends up sounding the same, and that\u2019s what sets Brendan apart, he\u2019s got such an eclectic sort of I guess discography, he\u2019s worked with everyone in several different genres and he approaches every project differently, there\u2019s no preconceived notion of how you want it to sound.\u00a0 He was almost like an extra band member, doing pre production in the studio and he\u2019d come in and sit down and he\u2019d grab a guitar and we\u2019d sit down and jam and bounce ideas off each other, it was great, he definitely brought a lot to the table and you just learn a hell of a lot from a guy like that who\u2019s been doing it for so long.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re just about to release a Remixes EP? What were the thoughts behind doing this?<\/strong>
\nYeah, we just thought it\u2019d be interesting, and it\u2019s something we\u2019ve never really done before.\u00a0 We thought it\u2019d be fun to hear someone else\u2019s, or a couple of people\u2019s takes on the songs we\u2019ve written, so we picked a couple of our favourites and we\u2019ll be releasing that.\u00a0 It\u2019s just something different again, electronic music is big right now and I do enjoy electronic music, certain electronic music, so for me it\u2019s kind of neat.\u00a0 The more we can release the better.\u00a0 It\u2019s just fun to have something way different to what people have done before out there.<\/p>\n

With the album out for a little while now have you already been working on new material?<\/strong>
\nNo, not really.\u00a0 It\u2019s tough on the road, because the only time you really have is maybe in a sound check to really jam as a band with your gear, unless we might come up with one or two acoustic ideas just noodling around for fun, but all the real sort of writing that we do for albums is done basically after we\u2019re done touring and getting ready to go into the studio and pre production.<\/p>\n

How much longer are you out in support of this album?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s kind of open ended right now still.\u00a0 After this little world run we\u2019re doing now we\u2019re going to go back to the States and do a run with Nickelback and I think there are one or two more things in the pipeline, nothing set in stone yet.\u00a0 They\u2019re talking about dates for us in January already, so I would reckon we\u2019ll be touring well into next year mid next year I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll be touring up until then before we start working on new stuff, so it\u2019s going to be a while.<\/p>\n

The single Tonight is a great tune and my favourite song on the album, is there a story behind it & how did this song come about?<\/strong>
\nYeah there is, that was the last song to make it onto the album, it actually almost didn\u2019t make it at all, it was basically a rough idea, Shaun had put the vocal over the musical idea and he hadn\u2019t played it for us and we already thought the album was done, we were finishing up odds and ends and we\u2019d almost packed up everything and I guess his iPod was just on shuffle and it came on while we were driving to the studio and we said \u2018Man what\u2019s that?\u00a0 That\u2019s great!\u2019 \u00a0We went into the studio and said Brendan you\u2019ve got to hear this, we think this is a really strong potential idea and he heard it and said \u2018Oh yeah we\u2019ve got to record this right away\u2019 so we literally set the drums back up right away and started recording and recorded the song and it almost didn\u2019t make it.\u00a0 It\u2019s actually my favourite song too and I\u2019m really glad we ended up hearing it and playing it for Brendan.<\/p>\n

As a band for twelve years or so now, is there something you want to do that you haven\u2019t done yet?<\/strong>
\nYeah I mean, we\u2019ve got to do more than we\u2019ve dreamed, but for me I\u2019d like to go and play in South America, just to see and you always see these stories about these huge festivals there and I think that would be really fun and really different.\u00a0 I mean, I think another thing for me would be to play with a band like Pearl Jam or something, a band that I really enjoyed as a kid growing up and one of the few bands from that sort of era that are still doing their thing.\u00a0 So I think that would be pretty cool.<\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/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> www.seether.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest release:<\/strong> Holding Onto Strings Better Left To Fray – (Wind Up \/ EMI Music 2011)<\/p>\n

Check out our review of Seether’s Sydney concert here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

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