Seether |
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Thu. March 06.2003 1:17 PM EST |
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Seether: South African SeattleFierce new band talks about rough childhoods, rock therapy, and the lessons of Ozzfest. by C. Bottomley |
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Seether (Publicity) |
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When most people think of South Africa, they visualize Nelson Mandela's multi-colored shirts and hear the wondrous township jive that filled Paul Simon's Graceland album. Seether may widen that view. With songs like the raging "Gasoline" and
Like his hero Kurt Cobain, Seether frontman Shaun Morgan did not enjoy his youth. His dad was English and his mom was Afrikaans; when they divorced, his mother's family all but disowned him. Dad didn't understand his son's love of rock 'n' roll. So Morgan ran away from home, and put together a series of bands. As each fizzled, he fell further into a dissolute life of drinking and fighting - at one point he considered things hopeless enough to contemplate suicide. Fortunately, Morgan gave rock one last chance. In 1999, he formed the ominously named Saron Gas and began making music rooted in his love of Black Sabbath and the Deftones. Call 'em a hit: Gas' Fragile became one of South Africa's best-selling albums in 2000. Ever restless, Morgan first moved the band to Europe and then New York, where they were quickly wooed by Wind-Up, the label that's home to Creed and Drowning Pool. Re-dubbed Seether, they released Disclaimer and headed out to show Middle America rock fans just how explosive they could be. Working the U.S. has its drawbacks: guys miss their families and the taste of South African beef jerky. But they've wowed crowds on Ozzfest, rocked David Letterman's show, and have begun developing a rep as a ferocious live act. Morgan and bassist Dale Stewart played some songs for VH1, spoke about Vanilla Ice, inflatable sheep, and why rocking out trumps therapy. VH1: Shaun, why did you originally run away from home? Shaun Morgan: My Dad wouldn't let me play in a band, so I ran away from home to cut a demo. I lived in friends' cars, then I lived in some guys' houses. Their parents didn't know I was there, so I had to sleep in the garage. I went to live with my mum and started playing in a band again. Three years later I stopped playing music, because the demo I ran away from home to record didn't do anything. I used to drink a lot, fight a lot. I'd go to rock clubs and beat the crap out of people just because I had nothing else to do. I didn't care if I got beat up. [Watch Clip] Watch a live performance of "Fine Again". VH1: So If 50 Cent came in right now looking for a brawl, could you take him? Morgan: Well, I'm not gonna say I can kick his ass. I don't know how big he is. VH1: How did you discover grunge music? Morgan: I heard Nirvana's Nevermind when I was about 12 years old and my parents were in the middle of a custody battle. It was the first thing I connected to on an emotional level; it made me think about the lyrics and the music. I had been listening to Metallica and AC/DC and Snow and Vanilla Ice. When I heard Nirvana I thought "That's what I want to do." VH1: Was the Seattle grunge movement an underground thing in South Africa? Morgan: It was a time when America was sanctioning the country, so we had to find out from friends who had gone overseas and brought back a copy of an album. Now it's a lot easier to hear American music, but we still heard about Korn three years after the rest of the world did. VH1: You purge yourself in many of these songs. Is listening to Disclaimer a difficult experience? Morgan: I don't listen to it in front of anybody I don't know, because it's embarrassing. I probably listened to the album two or three times since we finished it. I should listen to it again ... Watch a live performance of "69 Tea". VH1: How does performing the songs live differ from listening to them, then? Morgan: It's fun. Everyday you get an hour-and-a-half to relieve all the frustration. It's a hell of a lot cheaper than sitting on someone's couch. It's better than being the dick that runs around looking for fights. If I wasn't playing every night, I wouldn't be alive any more. VH1: Do you feel a responsibility towards the fans when they respond to the songs' emotional content? Morgan: I couldn't write any of the lyrics until I convinced myself that I was doing it for me instead of someone else. I'm not trying to save anybody's life. I'm trying to save mine. If people identify with that, that's cool. If anything, it's for those kids that are social rejects, like I was. Watch a live performance of "Driven Under". VH1: Has touring the United States matured you as a live band? Morgan: Yeah. It was a good start to hit Ozzfest and see all those bands. That's a great learning curve. You start doing different things when you watch another band perform. You try to make every show you play better than the one before. Because if you have one show that sucks, then people go and tell other people that you sucked ... which sucks. VH1: While you were on Ozzfest, did you touch the hem of Ozzy's garment? Morgan: They shut down the whole backstage area so we couldn't even watch when Ozzy played. He wasn't hanging around at that point. He was flying in and out of shows, because Sharon was sick. But we got to meet System of a Down and Pantera's Phil Anselmo. The Mushroomhead guys were really cool, too. VH1: Did any of them tell you how to impress American audiences? Dale Stewart: We just watched their show and stole with our eyes. There's no substitute for experience. You've just got to watch and learn from these bands that have been doing it for a million more years than we have. Morgan: Dale learned to shower less! Stewart: Personal hygiene is very low on my list of priorities. VH1: How do you stay sane while on the road? Morgan: We play a lot of Playstation. We drink a lot. I read. I'm into Terry Pratchett and Stephen King novels. I'm currently collecting little dolls. Every truck stop we go to, we buy a pair of sunglasses for some odd reason. We do stupid things to amuse ourselves. Lately, we've started picking on the opening bands. VH1: What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever given a band? Morgan: A blow-up sheep in Portland, Oregon. It's like lamb-sized, with bleating accessories. Stewart: It burst. Morgan: In Dale's bunk! Stewart: The life of a blow-up sheep on the road is a hard one. Morgan: We don't have many weird people giving us weird stuff. People give us brownies and lasagna. VH1: We always hear about fans giving rockers food. But can they cook? Morgan: Yeah! Anything's better than McDonald's, man. Last night we got green beans, we got lasagna and these little cupcakes. Stewart: We're not picky. We'll eat anything! VH1: Are audiences crazier here than in South Africa? Stewart: We have more injuries in South Africa than we did here. One show we had three broken noses and two broken ribs. We were in this big tent and this guy climbed this pole, dived off and no one caught him. So he smashed his nose and broke a rib. Morgan: What a fool. He was having fun, though ... Stewart: Up until a point, he was having fun. [Watch Clip] VH1: Shaun, since making the record, you've gotten married and had a kid. Will the next album be about mowing lawns and changing diapers? Morgan: No, the next album will be about not seeing them for more than ten weeks a year, and the strain that puts on you. There's always stuff to write about. You'll meet some guy in a store who thinks his band is cooler and heavier than yours and wants to know why you're signed and he's not. Each song is like a diary entry and everyday something happens. VH1: Speaking of opening bands ... you're on tour with Socialburn, and they're coming into the studio. What should we ask them about? Morgan: Dusty's their bassist. Ask them why he was threatening to rip off his penis two days ago! Two women turned him down in one night. He's got a Jiminy Cricket tattoo on his arms, so he's like the cute little guy. He never gets shot down. And he got shot down twice in a row. So he was in this bus and he was literally trying to pull his d*ck off. VH1: Maybe he just has an extreme method of pleasuring himself. Stewart: Either way, that's the most romantic story I've heard. [Watch Clip] |
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