Few weeks before the release of Seether’s new album “Poison The Parish”, RockUrLife met Shaun Morgan, the singer of the band to talk about this upcoming album and the next tour.
It’s been nearly four years since the last record. What happened to the band since then?
Shaun Morgan (vocals/guitar): We’ve been on the road for a while and then we took year to write, record and take a step back. Because when you’re touring for like 18 months or two years you’re getting really tired and you just want to go home, so that’s what I did. After that we started recording in September, mixing in October and now we are waiting. Sorry we are not the most exciting people in the world, we are getting to old for crazy shit like that. (laughs)
You’re never too old for Rock n’roll, look at The Rolling Stones!
Shaun: Yeah man, they are like 70 years old, still doing shit and having kids… But that’s right I will try to remember that, thanks man
“Poison The Parish” is the first album you will release on your own label, Canine Riot, why? Do you plan to release all your following albums on it?
Shaun: I wanted to start a label for quite a long time, it wasn’t my idea at this moment, it was actually Concord’s one, the real label, which is really cool we would never have expected that from them, to let us do that! We will use it to help other bands, I have already signed two bands and that’s a good way to help them, we are a more fairly not the like other labels which take a lot of money and give a smaller part to the band, we are not like that.
What is the story behind the title “Poison The Parish”, and what about the artwork?
Shaun: It’s not religious because I’m not. But Iwanted it to be something that was provocative, in a sense, when you look at it, it looks kind of religious and for some people blasphemous, which is fine. But for the artwork I just wanted an image that fit with the title. But the whole point behind that, is that the preacher of today are the social media and the reality TV shows. For example, the fact that the people from the “Jersey Shore” are famous and wealthy by being pieces of shit and send the message ”let’s be a piece of shit nigga, you can be rich and famous” makes me want to stab myself in the dick. I mean, “16 And Pregnant”, “The F*cking Kardashians”, “Real Housewives”. None of them say “hey let’s go outside and try to find a cure for cancer” but “hey let’s get drunk and pregnant! We are rich and famous!” it’s the worst message ever! Anyway, sorry this makes me angry all the time. I mean, I have a 15 years old daughter who takes the social media quite seriously, like what the fuck man, it doesn’t matter how many thumbs up you have or likes or whatever the fuck it is these days, it doesn’t make you a good or a bad person, it doesn’t reflect your fucking values. And when you see how upset some people get when they do not get those likes I’m like “f*ck off dude!”
So you want to poison those people?
Shaun: They are fucking poison to themselves man! All the media like MTV, E Channel, they are poisoning these kids and using those fucking false idols. F*ck! I don’t give a shit what Kim Kardashian does everyday, sometimes I read some of her stories when it comes to my newsfeed because it just blows my mind, and one time I saw that she took a selfie every minute, God I hate that word! Who the fuck like themselves that much? It must be awesome! Anyway.
How was the writing process of this album compared to the previous ones?
Shaun: It’s just the same as I always do. I’m sitting at home in my own space and I keep writing until I think it’s good, I wrote about 45 songs for this record, so much shit that didn’t make it. I do quite everything, the other guys are far away, and after 8 or 9 months of writing we get back to the studio and we start recording. Recording was fun, because it is in Nashville where I live, I didn’t had to go to fuckin L.A., I hate that city. So I just have to drive 15 minutes and I can start working. Some bands usually leave the studio at 8pm or 9, but when I work I can leave it at 8 in the morning, because that’s my fucking job, that’s what I live for. So we recorded 15 tracks in 17 days, which is awesome.
“Isolate And Medicate” (2014) was a little bit “pop” for a Seether album. After listening to “Poison To Parish” we can feel that you’re going back to your roots, is it true?
Shaun: “Isolate And Medicate” came out when we signed with Concord, we didn’t really worked with them on the record, that’s why there is a difference with “Poison The Parish”, because our former label was just trying to make money. They tried to change the band, for example they thought that if you were creative and christian it would be a sold out album, so they tried to make everyone christian, but we are not christian! That’s just fucking bullshit! So they tried to push us to some kind of alternative, to the pop radio side. And now that we have our new label, they just don’t give a shit, they are like “just fucking do what you guys do” so like you said, we get back to being a rock band and not give a fuck about whereas radio are gonna like us or not. That’s why I’m happy with this record, we were focused on music and who we are. I got inspired again, because there is no one breathing on my fucking neck saying: “Hey… Hey… Can you change that?” now it’s more: “Whenever you’re ready let’s do this!”
Is there a track upon the other on the album?
Shaun: One of my favorite is “Stoke The Fire” because that’s a heavy song. I like them all, but let’s say that the one that are heavy are my favorites on the album because I can scream again! And that’s how I fell deep down. (laughs)
What would you say to convince someone to listen to this album?
Shaun : I would say that it wasn’t influenced by dollar sign. I think that for someone who has listen to our band for a while, it is like the old stuffs when we were still sure of ourselves, and where we were going before we were killed by guys in suits. It’s a return to something that’s pure, angry and honest!
The first music video of the album for the song “Let You Down” was like a horror movie. Do you consider to illustrate the rest of the album like the next chapters of the movie ?
Shaun : Interesting question. I just wanted the first video to be a cool art piece, something creepy because I think there is creepiness to the song, and the rest of the album as well, I do not want positivity. (laughs) And again, when we came with the idea of the video, the label were cool about it, and said it was great. But I think it represents the song well, it doesn’t need a storyline to follow, it just needs to make you feel like “what the fuck!” like a nightmare.
You will be back on the road. Will the set up of the stage be like a horror movie?
Shaun: Oh, no! We’ve already figure it out, the lights are set up, the stage as well. But we are not a horror band, we just like horror movies. We are not bands like Slipknot, Ghost and all these bands we just want to play and have a good time. We don’t want to be dressed as Ghost, fuck that dude! (laughs)
It’s not quite easy to see you here in France. Last time was in 2014 at Bataclan. You’re getting back in October in the same venue. Do the tragic events that happened motivated you to play there?
Shaun: That was one of the worst thing that ever happened to anybody, like any band, any people that were there; it’s fucking brutal man. It’s like you don’t want to be afraid of something for the rest of your life. When they told us that we would play there, I told them: “Let me think about that” because I wanted to be respectful, but I feel that in some ways by playing there it will be a tribute and a way to say fuck bad people, this place will live on regardless to what happened before, I think it will be an emotional show. But like I said I don’t want to be afraid of something.
Now that you have your own label, do you plan to be on tour more often?
Shaun: On tour more often? Fuck no! I want to be on tour less. (laughs) The label is to help other bands, if they can be on tour and me at home that’s cool. I like to work with other bands, help them with their career so they can be independent. Yeah I’m getting old man, I’m not Mick Jagger old, that guy is a freak.
What’s the next step for Seether? What can we wish you?
Shaun : Just touring, that’s not very exciting, that’s what we do, we will be on the road until December 2018 and then we go home and we recover, write another album and start the circle again as long as we can do it because a lot of band can’t. We will maybe play in new countries, maybe Asia, or go back to South Africa I don’t really know what we will do after that.
Last question: as our media is called “RockUrLife”, what rocks your life Shaun?
Shaun: Oh fuck dude. This album I guess? I’m pretty boring man, I used to be more exciting a couple years back. But the fact that I have now control over my life, being able to get out of my bed without pain is an awesome thing, not destroying myself with shit like drugs anymore, I mean I got pretty bad for a while but now I’m OK, I’m not sober because I like drinks (laughs) but I don’t do drugs and shit anymore, so that’s rocks my life!
Thanks Shaun !
Shaun: Thanks to you.
Website: seether.com
