Saint Asonia: Redesign, Rebuild, Reclaim

Of all the demons that can plague a human being, addiction is one of the cruellest. Even at its least problematic, it can send lives spiralling into despair and, when the individual has seemingly recovered from their issue, can pull them back in quicker than ever. A phrase used by some who battle for long periods is that, despite perhaps years of sobriety, they are still an addict; just non-practising at that moment. It’s an ideology that Adam Gontier of THREE DAYS GRACE and SAINT ASONIA agrees with, although he is adamant that this time his enemies are gone for good.

“I know that addiction is something you battle with for not necessarily your whole life, but definitely for points when it takes hold,” he explains. “If you’re an addict or alcoholic and you never change that aspect of it, you’re always an addict and when you’re actively engaged in addiction at the time it’s always a battle, for sure. But thankfully for me at this point, I’m in recovery.”

Adam tells Distorted Sound that the seeds were first sown when he was at high school, although then it was just the teenage practice of drinking a bit and smoking cannabis. He is honest and open that he didn’t think it was affecting his life in any sort of negative way until about 15 years ago, but despite numerous attempts at getting clean he would always fall back into his old ways. Then, two years ago, a moment happened that will be considered watershed for him; whilst he was in hospital, his life hanging by a thread following another relapse, his wife was the other side of the country giving birth to their first born child. Missing what is considered such a special moment in life was the eye opener Adam needed to stick to the straight and narrow once and for all.

“Throughout the years, I’ve gone through treatment here and there, but this time it really affected me. Not only in the sense that my son was born but that I was in an emergency room in Tennessee, real close to not making it through. Once I did come out the other side I realised that, whilst I had had big eye openings in the past, this was one I had never experienced before. So, yeah, my life changed pretty quickly in a short amount of time there in August.”

That singular moment would become That August Day from SAINT ASONIA‘s second album, Flawed Design, an emotional alt-metal journey that, following Adam’s recovery, began to centre wholly around his experiences. “We were working on a lot of the songs before I went into recovery, but when I got back when I started refocusing on all the tracks because I had a lot to draw from. There was no lightbulb moment where I realised this would be the theme of the new record, but life changed so drastically that it was easy to write about that stuff. I’m really proud of the entire record and a lot of the song stand out for different reasons.”

Adam is also complimentary about hearing it back for the first time, knowing what he had poured into it, although not entirely. “It was definitely gratifying because we spent a long time working on it, but at the same time there’s always a part of you that when you put so much effort into making a record, you want it to be perfect. So, for me, and I’m just speaking for myself, I listened back and there’s so many little things that nobody else would notice but me personally, I’d like to change this or change that. You’re always your own worst critic, and that’s kinda the case with this record, you know. 80% of me is really happy, maybe 90%, and there was a small percentage that wanted to change a few things but by then it was time to move on.”

That moving on will be touring in the early part of next year, with as many places as possible covered; Adam is confident that this will include Europe at some point as well. As the call finishes, one can only admire him for his honesty about his struggles. Here is someone who saw the light at the darkest point in his life and began to fight back, which has led him to where he is today. In line with this, Flawed Design is a truly incredible listen, one that will speak into the hearts of many and, perhaps inadvertently, give a person who is in a similar place the courage to reach out, knowing that it’s okay to not be okay and get the help they need to right themselves.

Flawed Design is out now via Spinefarm Records.

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