Former THREE DAYS GRACE Singer Talks Going Solo In New Video Interview
Former THREE DAYS GRACE singer Adam Gontier was interviewed by Artisan News last Thursday (January 17) at "Rock For Recovery", a benefit for victims of Hurricane Sandy at Gramercy Theater in New York City. Check out the chat in two parts below.
Gontier last week spoke to The Pulse Of Radio about his reasons for leaving the band he co-founded after 20 years together. The original announcement by the band and his follow-up statement seemed to have conflicting views regarding Gontier's health and his motivations, so The Pulse Of Radio asked him why he made this move now. "For me, I think the thing that broke the camel's back was, I had enough of the money coming before the music," he said. "It's not perfect timing, but it had to be done, you know. For the sake of my own mental health and well-being, I had to do it."
Gontier elaborated on what went wrong for him after playing in THREE DAYS GRACE for two decades. "You know, the music really wasn't coming from the heart," he said. "I can say that on the record 'Transit Of Venus', there's maybe one or two songs that actually do come from my heart, but a lot of songs have been written just for radio and for fans, you know, to relate to. Quite a bit of it just adds up to the fakeness of the whole industry and how you're writing hits for other people and not yourself — and that's really what the band was, has been all about."
THREE DAYS GRACE announced Gontier's departure from the group earlier this week, although he officially resigned on December 21.
The band claims that he told them he was leaving through a letter from his lawyer, with no personal discussion or contact between Gontier and his bandmates.
THREE DAYS GRACE will appear as planned on a co-headlining tour withSHINEDOWN that starts on February 1, with Matt Walst of MY DARKEST DAYS filling in on vocals. The group will announce its future plans after the tour.
The tour is in support of the band's fourth album, "Transit Of Venus", which includes the No. 1 rock radio hit "Chalk Outline".
Gontier plans to begin work on a solo album in the near future.
CHRIS CORNELL On Possibility Of More SOUNDGARDEN Music: 'I Don't See Any Reason Why Not'
Even though it's only been two months since reunited grunge legends SOUNDGARDEN released their "comeback" album, "King Animal", the band's guitarist/vocalist Chris Cornell tells Billboard.com that he is looking forward to making more music in the future.
"I don't see any reason why not," Cornell says. "I think the overall attitude about keeping it going and the way we want to treat it to keep it going is really good. There's nothing stopping us from continuing to make records and continuing to play shows, that's for sure."
"We had a good experience making ['King Animal']," he adds, "and since we've come back together everything has been kind of that way. There hasn't really been any of the tension, specifically surrounding peripheral stuff. And I think that's a simple as us making the conscious decision to not be influenced by anything other than what the four of us want to do and not putting a business version of a timeline on it. Our attitude is that we're doing this because we love it and because it matters to us and not for any other reason, and everything else kind of takes care of itself."
SOUNDGARDEN tapped FOO FIGHTERS frontman and documentary director Dave Grohl to get behind the camera on December 18 and shoot the band's new video for its song "By Crooked Steps". The track is taken from SOUNDGARDEN's first album in 16 years, "King Animal", which came out in November and sold 83,000 copies in its first week of release to debut at No. 5 on the Billboard album chart.
SOUNDGARDEN reunited in 2010 after a 13-year break, releasing a retrospective collection called "Telephantasm" and a concert album titled "Live On I-5".
The band kicked off a winter North American tour on January 18 in Washington D.C. The trek is scheduled to wrap February 17 in Los Angeles.
Video: COHEED AND CAMBRIA Performs 'Dark Side Of Me' On 'Conan'
New York progressive rockers COHEED AND CAMBRIA performed the song"Dark Side Of Me" live on last night's (Monday, January 21) episode ofConan O'Brien's nighttime talk show on TBS, "Conan". You can now watch video footage of their appearance below.
COHEED AND CAMBRIA's latest album, "The Afterman: Ascension", sold 49,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 5 on The Billboard 200 chart.
"The Afterman" is being released in two separate full-length volumes. The first volume, "The Afterman: Ascension", was made available on both physical and digital platforms in the U.S. on October 9, 2012 viaHundred Handed/Everything Evil, and distributed throughFontana/Ingrooves (available in Canada via Universal Music Canada). The second volume, "The Afterman: Descension", is due in February.
A deluxe version of "The Afterman" includes a hardcover coffee-table book with expansive art by Heidi Taillefer and Nathan Spoor with collaborative written work from singer/creator Claudio Sanchez and writerPeter David that creates a song-by-song experience.
The two records follow-up to 2010's "Year Of The Black Rainbow", and feature new bassist Zach Cooper and returning drummer Josh Eppard, who have replaced Michael Todd and Chris Pennie, respectively.
COHEED AND CAMBRIA frontman Claudio Sanchez said of the album: "This is, without a doubt, the most honest record I've ever written. Though all the songs can be interpreted through our main character in the story, they were initially written in a very spontaneous manner. In the past, I've always had a predetermined idea of what the story was going to be when I approached the songs. With 'The Afterman' being a new story within 'The Amory Wars' arc, I allowed the events of my life to drive the concept, and therefore opened up the songwriting to a fuller degree."
Source: Blabbermouth.net
Dave Grohl Says Nirvana Owes Debt to Sound City Studios Recording Console
Back in 1991, Nirvana recorded their breakout album, Nevermind, at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles. Former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl says that he believes Sound City Studios’ analog recording console, the Neve 8028, is directly responsible for the album’s success.
"I consider that board to be responsible for the person I am today," Grohl tells the Los Angeles Times. "Had it not been for that board, who knows what Nevermind would've sounded like. And who knows if anyone would ever have heard of Nirvana."
The Neve board, which Grohl now owns, was the inspiration behind creating his documentary Sound City, which profiles the legendary studio and all of the iconic albums that have been recorded there over the years. "I wanted to talk about the human element in music," he explains. "I wanted to talk about technology and how it's impacted the way we make music and the studio industry.”
While Sound City recently had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, the documentary will be shown in a select number of movie theaters across North America -- for one night only -- on January 31, before being released digitally on February 1. The film’s soundtrack, Sound City -- Real to Reel, will arrive at all the usual outlets on March 12.
