Shaun Morgan
Seether founder, guitarist and frontman opens up about his life in music…
I got my first real six-string
“It’s pretty difficult to find… it was called a Marlin. It had a Floyd Rose bridge, it came in black with this luminous green cracked paint job. I believe it was made by Hofner… Why not start with a Floyd Rose guitar, they’re so easy to tune ha ha! I’ve loved music my whole life. When I heard Nevermind, I would listen to it over and over again by myself. It’s like I felt understood – on some angsty teenage level, there was this guy out there who knew how I felt. Because of that, I saved up some pocket money and bought this guitar for 500 Rand, which is next to nothing in pounds.”
My poor brain
“When I started being able to do right-hand rhythms that were different to the vocals. That’s real left brain/right brain stuff – like a drummer’s co-ordination. I’m so envious of drummers that can do different beats with all four limbs! It took a while to write vocal melodies that were syncopated differently to what my hands were doing. I know a basic C minor scale that I use on everything.”
Blame it on the boogie
“I love my Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier! I’ve tried Duals, all the other Boogies, but the Triple is the key. I don’t even like the red channel – I like the clean and orange channels, they have all I need. I fly with these heads and they get smashed or get dusty, but it’s worth it. I don’t have many expensive guitars, most of it is my Schecter collection. But I’ve always been fond of Strats and Teles, I love that Fender sound. It’s more bluesy and versatile.”
You can go your own way
“Don’t go for lessons! Often what happens is you end up sounding like the guy that is teaching you. Using your ear, listening to albums and using tab books to follow along is much better.”
I wish you were here
“I had this Gibson Explorer. It was so full-on and pornographic, it felt like full Hetfield. I broke it years ago and my brother decided to throw pieces of it out into the crowd. I recorded our original, horrible demos on that thing… it was another big part of our history.”
Twisting by the pool
“Years ago, wewere signed up to do this corporate gig in Dallas. Everyone performing stayed in the same hotel and the lineup that night was Backstreet Boys, Jessica Simpson and Saliva. We went down like a ton of bricks, man. No one gave a shit we were there. Backstage there was a pool, the pop bands were hanging out with all these pop tarts. First of all we made fun of [Backstreet Boy] AJ McLean for not drinking anymore, shouting: ‘You suck!’. Then our [former] guitarist took of all his clothes, jumped in the pool and started clapping his hands like a seal, making noises. We got kicked out...”
Don’t get me wrong
“A lot of our singles are deceptive, they’re often chosen by other people based on what they assume will be more successful. Quite often people notice we’re heavier live. We have a diverse range.”
Seether’s album Poison The Parish is out now on Spinefarm Records. They tour the UK in November.
“we went down like a ton of bricks, man. No one gave a shit that we were there”