Originating from South Africa, Alternative rockers SEETHER recently released their 6th studio album titled Isolate & Medicate. DAVEY RINTALA spoke with bassist DALE STEWART about the new album, working with famed producer Brendan O’Brien, touring and changes with the member’s hair styles.
Congratulations on your new album Isolate & Medicate. It debuted on the US Billboard charts at #4, selling 45,000 copies in its first week. Can you talk us through the writing and recording process for the album?
Yeh thanks man. The writing normally takes the bulk of the time for an album, and we did the writing over the course of a couple of months. Then once we had all the songs, and had everything down, we went into the studio and literally knocked the album out in just a little over two weeks. That is actually the quickest we’ve ever made an album, it was a good, streamlined process.
So you had Brendan O’Brien on board as producer for the album. He has worked with many big names such as Bruce Springstein, Pearl Jam and Korn just to name a few. How did working with Brendan influence the recording?
Yeh we wanted to work with Brendan originally because his history of making great albums with great bands. We had never actually met the guy but we were fans of his work. We got in contact with him, and he was just as keen to work with us, as we were to work with him. We felt privileged by the fact that he wanted to work with us. You know, he can work with whoever he wants. So to be on this list of amazing bands that he has worked with is very exciting for us, and a huge compliment.
Working with Brendan was great, he’s really professional, has a great team of guys, and he likes to get the job done. There is no screwing around, keeping productive, refining songs, and we share that same work ethic. We love to get things done.
The new album definitely has the signature Seether sound, however, is also very different to earlier albums. One thing that really stands out among many contrasts are the high vocals on the track ‘Same Damn Life’. Could you tell us a little more?
It’s just kind of quirky, very much a pop song. It just seemed right to throw in some falsetto type vocals in there. I think it just adds to the quirkiness, and the poppiness, for the tongue-in-cheek vibe of the song.
You have a new guitarist in the band, Bryan Wickmann, who has been the band’s guitar tech for some time. How did you guys come about choosing Bryan for the role?
We’d been talking about getting another guy for the live show on stage for awhile now. It’s a question of “Who do we get? Needs to be a good player; and a guy that we can live with.” Bryan was the logical choice. We’re good pals, we use to train together, we’ve been on the road, and we get along. It’s been working out really well. He is having a ball, he’s really enjoying being out on stage, and not behind the scenes, on the stage rocking out and he gets to headbang. It’s cool to see how much fun he is having, and it makes me have more fun playing, and then we can interact and screw around on stage. A great energy onstage, a cool vibe, it’s been a lot of fun.
You guys are about to do the Uproar Festival Tour in the US, after that you head back to Europe for four weeks of headline shows, including two shows in Russia. Can you tell us a little more about these two upcoming tours?
Yeh we’re doing Uproar with Godsmack, Skillet and a few other bands, which will be very cool. Then Europe… we only just got back from Europe. I guess we feel like we’ve neglected Europe a little in the past, so we’re trying to make up for that now. I’m slightly worried about Russia, with all the political unrest and things, but I’m sure the Russian dates will be ok.
When is SEETHER planning on returning to Australia?
I really, really wanna come back to Australia! I don’t know if we’ll have time this year, but further into the tour we’d love to come back and play, it’s been three years since we’ve been there. It’s high time we get back there.
Bit of an interesting question, that no one has probably asked you. Any chance of a radical new hair style from you? Lead singer Shaun has cut his hair, and drummer John is now sporting long hair, what’s in the works for you?
(laughter) Actually, I don’t know what I’m doing. I had a Mohawk for a long time, and now I have stopped spiking it up, kind of combed it over to the side, it’s this weird comb over thing (laughter). Someone else asked me “What’s happened to the Mohawk?” I told them when you put an orca in a tank like at Seaworld, it’s dorsal fin kind of flops to the side like it’s broken. That’s what happened to my Mohawk, being on the road so long. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. (laughter)
Thank you so much for chatting with us at Reverb today Dale. Best of luck with the album and the tour. We look forward to seeing Seether in Australia soon!
Hopefully! Cheers
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