{"id":7325,"date":"2015-09-29T15:18:28","date_gmt":"2015-09-29T15:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-seether\/"},"modified":"2018-03-14T19:30:08","modified_gmt":"2018-03-14T19:30:08","slug":"interview-seether","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-seether\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Seether"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"South-African alt-rockers Seether<\/b> first came to major prominence as part of the heavy alt rock and nu-metal explosion in the early part of the last decade. Unlike many of their peers from that time they\u2019ve been able to stick around. The dark emotional depth of their writing and the hard hitting grunge influenced heavy alt-rock sound of hit likes Broken<\/i>, \u2019Remedy\u2019<\/i>, \u2019Fake It\u2019<\/i> helping to keep them consistently prominent stateside. Their trips to this side of the Atlantic have largely been restricted to trips to Download, but this summer\u2019s Reading and Leeds Festivals saw them make a rare UK appearance away from the hallowed turf of Donnington.<\/p>\n

Already Heard<\/b> met up with bassist Dale Stewart at Leeds Fest to talk the band\u2019s longevity, using videos to make fans question portrayals of race and profiling as well as their pride in their fundraising for suicide awareness, using music as therapy and more.<\/p>\n

AH: Are we right to think even though you\u2019ve been around for ages this is actually your first Reading and Leeds appearance, and if so how was your debut at Reading yesterday?<\/b>
Dale: Yeah it\u2019s out first time here and first at Reading yesterday. I don\u2019t know why, we\u2019ve played Download and a lot of the others here. It\u2019s been good to finally play Reading and Leeds in one weekend. Yesterday was great yeah. Our area was maxed out as far as being able to fit as many people in there as possible.<\/i><\/p>\n

AH: Is there a big festival scene in South Africa and were you able to get to events like this growing up?
Dale: There was nothing like this, nothing on this scale. We had a couple of music festivals growing up. There was one big one, a three day thing. You\u2019d go out into the middle of the bush and camp. It was dirty, dusty and shitty but it was awesome. Everyone just got wasted and watched bands for three days. It was a lot of fun but nowhere near this scale. We played it in 2012 and it was one of the biggest they\u2019d done, about 20,000 people. There that was huge, but nothing like these.<\/i><\/p>\n

AH: The last few times you\u2019ve been in the UK has been to play Download, does it seem weird to be playing at a different UK festival?<\/b>
Dale: Yeah I guess it does. But it is nice to be here for a change. Download is awesome and it\u2019s another huge deal, but it\u2019s cool to be doing this. I\u2019m saying that, we haven\u2019t played yet. I might be singing a different tune after the show.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

AH: It\u2019s a little over a year now since the release of your last album \u2019Isolate and Medicate\u2019<\/i>, how do you feel it was received?<\/b>
Dale: You never really know what to expect, but it\u2019s been good. It\u2019s been overwhelmingly positive. At shows the response to the new music has been really good and everybody seems to know the new songs. Almost as well as the older stuff. That\u2019s a good sign.<\/i><\/p>\n

AH: When you\u2019ve been a band as long as you guys have, does it get easier dealing with the build up to releasing new music and how it\u2019s received?<\/b>
Dale: I suppose it does a bit. But we still get a little nervous, that never goes away. You never know what people are going to think so it\u2019s hard. Those few weeks leading up are a little nervewracking, but you try not to think about it and just let the pros at the management and the record label do what they do and put your faith in them. By that time we\u2019ve done our best so we just have to let them do their thing.<\/i><\/p>\n

AH: Probably the thing that stands out the most from this album cycle so far is the hard-hitting video you put out for \u2019Nobody Praying For Me\u2019<\/i> that deals with the fallout from racial stereotyping and profiling. Where did the idea for the video come from?<\/b>
Dale: Wanted to talk about what\u2019s going on, particular in the States right now. There\u2019s lots of violence in general, whether it\u2019s the police or the other side of the scale, and we wanted to get people thinking about it. We weren\u2019t taking sides in any way and we weren\u2019t trying to demonise anyone. But there\u2019s a very real problem. What we want people to take away from it is to think for yourself. Don\u2019t believe everything you see or read, get all the facts and then make up your own mind. Situations can skewed in any direction you want them to be so get all the facts and don\u2019t just take them at face value.<\/i><\/p>\n

AH: Growing up in South Africa, you must have experienced so many issues the country had with racism and violence at that time, does it make it seem even worse now seeing similar things living in America which is supposed to be the biggest most civilised nation on the planet?<\/b>
Dale: I don\u2019t think racism ever went away. The dirty end of the stick has been pointed at South Africa but meanwhile it\u2019s been going on everywhere. It just wasn\u2019t made so public. It sucks that we still have to deal with it in this day and age, people should have gotten over that kind of bullshit by now. I think if people are arseholes they\u2019ll find any reason to show it. If it wasn\u2019t race it would be something else. They just want a reason to hate.<\/i><\/p>\n

AH: You\u2019re a band that\u2019s been around a long time, and you\u2019ve managed to outlast a lot of our peers that also broke out in the alt-rock and nu-metal boom in the early to mid 00\u2019s, what would you put that down to?<\/b>
Dale: I don\u2019t know, hard work I suppose. Determination, hard work and good fans who\u2019ve supported us and continued to come to the shows and buy the CDs. Hopefully because we made decent music. I like to think if your music\u2019s decent people will stick with you and go down the rabbit hole with you. It\u2019s a combination of a lot of things. Stubbornness too, we were too stubborn to give this up. We love it, we love music and we love playing.<\/i><\/p>\n

AH: How do you feel about the song \u2019Rise Above This\u2019<\/i> and the message and legacy that has grown around it?<\/b>
Dale: It\u2019s awesome. We have a festival in the states that\u2019s called Rise Above Fest that\u2019s a result of that song. It\u2019s all about suicide awareness and mental illness. It\u2019s awesome to have that platform to make a difference and raise money for a cause that we really believe in. The last one we did we partnered up with a foundation called Save and they were saying that Rise Above Fest is the single largest fundraising event for that problem. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s in America or the world. That\u2019s a little mind blowing and humbling. It\u2019s very rewarding at the same time if we can help some of these kids. It\u2019s another big problem in the states. From bullying and online bullying and servicemen coming back from overseas with PTSD and not getting the treatment they need and deserve. It\u2019s a big problem over there and it needs to be talked about and it needs to be taken care of.
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

AH: One of the things that\u2019s always been a hallmark of your writing is not shying away from subject matter that\u2019s dark and difficult to deal with, is that something you\u2019re proud of?<\/b>
Dale: I think so yeah. Music is therapy. As we all grew up, when something bad happens, the first you do is you put on your headphones and listen to a song. If you\u2019re angry you\u2019ll put on Sepultura or something, if you\u2019re sad you\u2019ll out on Counting Crows or whatever the case may be. So yeah music is therapy and for Sean lyrically it\u2019s an outlet for trying to get shit out of your system. Negative stuff and things that you need to get rid of. Happy stuff you want to hang on to as long as possible but the bad stuff you need to get out. It\u2019s like lying on a couch talking to a therapist, it\u2019s therapeutic.<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

AH: You\u2019ve made it to 16 years as a band, just how long do you think you can keep the Seether machine rolling on for?<\/b>
Dale: It depends how long we can keep ourselves sane. (laughs) We\u2019ll keep doing this as long as people keep listening. We\u2019re touring until the end of the year and then we\u2019ll take a bit of a break. We start work on a new album next year, however long that takes is always up in the air. We don\u2019t have a set timeline. But we\u2019ll record that album and start this whole thing again touring that for probably two years so that takes us up to 2018.<\/i><\/p>\n

‘Isolate and Medicate’<\/i> by Seether<\/b> is out now on The Bicycle Music Company<\/b>\/Spinefarm Records<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Seether<\/strong> links: Website<\/a>|Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n

View more of Already Heard<\/b>\u2019s coverage from Leeds Festival<\/b> 2015 here<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Words by Dane Wright (@MrDaneWright<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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