Seething at our superficiality
DURING a busy schedule for Seether, the band is making a quick turn to Shaun Morgan and Dale Stewart’s home country of South Africa. It’s been almost six years since the band last performed their signature power rock show here and, on May 20, the band will take over Marks Park in Emmarentia (Joburg) as they give the first live performance of songs from their new album on African soil.
Poison the Parish is the multiplatinum selling band’s seventh studio album and was released in May 2017 – debuting at number one on Billboard’s Hard Rock Albums chart and number 14 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart. Recorded at Blackbird Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, it marked the first album produced entirely by front man Morgan and was released through Morgan’s newly launched label imprint, Canine Riot Records (via Fantasy.).
So far, the album has spawned two top rock radio hits, Let You Down, which reached the number one spot for four consecutive weeks and the top-five rock radio hit, Betray and Degrade.
Seether is Morgan (vocals/ guitar), Stewart (bass/vocals) and John Humphrey (drums).
Speaking to Tonight, Morgan said the band was excited to be performing in the country once again.
“I’m excited. I like performing in South Africa. The last time we were there was Oppikoppi.
“There’s always a sense of pride when we perform there. This time, a lot of the excitement is also around the venue – that it’s bigger,” he said with a chuckle.
At the time of our conversation, tickets to the performance were almost sold out and this is something that Morgan said made the band feel good.
Poison the Parish, their latest offering, which has some of the music that the band will perform live on Sunday, was titled after taking a hard and conscious reflection of the society around them.
“We came to realise that we live in a society where the preachers to our children and the youth are celebrities and reality television stars. Many people just want to be famous and make money,
“You find cases where people sign million-dollar record deals with zero talent. So the parish is the kids who are so gullible and open to suggestion. These preachers of social media are doing our society a disservice, so basically that’s where the idea came from,” he explained.
The response to their sociopolitically charged album from their audience has, according to Morgan, been encouraging.
“The response has been positive. In fact, we’ve seen more interactions from this album. I feel like I don’t care about what you choose to do with your life.
“I respect that people will make their own decisions and live in whatever way they choose, but don’t expect me to pay attention to your life because it makes you feel better about yourself,” he said.
Morgan added that he was proud to have entirely produced this album with this message, but he also admits that parts of that process had been nerve-wracking.
“I have often seen these big name guys come in and say, ‘well, this is what’s wrong with your album’.That’s the idea I had of what a producer does. I think I was quite cynical. They come in and help you shape your music, they guide you in a certain direction. I wanted to give it a shot myself. It was a nerve-wracking experience. I didn’t know what to expect, but I’d been in studio so many times before that it felt natural.
“It was a lot of responsibility, a lot of pressure on my shoulders, but I felt I’d learned enough in the 20 years I’ve been doing this for, that I could go in and give it a shot. I do feel that for the first time I’ve created something that sounds like it did in my head, so I’m quite happy to see these ideas manifest,” he said.
This album, he added, reinvigorated him, as he’d started losing faith in music, and from start to finish it’s something he felt proud of, especially because this time he’d been very close to its creative process. It’s something he’s been close to emotionally.
About the concert on Sunday, Morgan said their fans could expect a two- to three-hour set that takes the audience on a journey from the beginning until now.
He added that while the band would consider coming back later in the year to perform at other cities, this performance has a time constraint.
“We’ll try to do as many of the songs people know and love. I’m looking forward to it and because it’s just the one show, we want to make it special,” he said.