Three Days Grace: Living Or Dying The Dream?
Maintaining any relationship for 20 years is something of an achievement. For a band to stay together for that period of time is near unheard of. With the release of recent album Explosions, THREE DAYS GRACE prove they are stronger than ever. They’re not clear of lineup changes with the introduction of vocalist Matt Walst in 2013 but managing to conserve that brotherhood is an amazing feat in the face of things.
Those things begin and end with the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite being two years in and reportedly on the other side, we still hear stories of albums being postponed or production halted altogether. For THREE DAYS GRACE, it was time to roll with the punches and get to work. “We wanted to make a record and we weren’t gonna let the pandemic stop us from moving forward,” Walst tells us. Explosions began to take shape with the aid of Zoom and cloud recording sessions. As Neil Sanderson [drums] took the helm, what started as a jarring time became an efficient machine which reaped many benefits. “When you’re trying to make a demo all in the same room, it’s kind of hard because you can only record vocals or guitars at one time. Whereas with this we could do multiple things at once. Barry [Stock] could be recording guitars while I’m recording vocals here,” Walst explains.
We catch up with Walst while the release of Explosions is in its infancy. A steady stream of reactions to unheard songs flows through the band’s social media. While So Called Life gave the band their 16th number one single it’s these deeper cuts which present the vocalist with the biggest surprise. “It’s strange because some of the songs that were on the cutting board are now some people’s favourites” he says, “It happens on every record too. Infra-Red was the one from Outsider [2018]. At the moment, Chain Of Abuse and A Scar Is Born have gotten an amazing reaction considering they were cutting block material,” he laughs.
Though imbued with fresh perspective, thoughts of the pandemic didn’t stray too far behind. I Am The Weapon has THREE DAYS GRACE tackling the notion of youth being stolen from generations below ours. Through the power of inference, people can determine their own dementor, whether it be illness, war, trauma, or other ‘world I can’t unsee’. “Kids aren’t getting to live the way that they should be,” Walst starts, “Brad [Walst, bass] seeing his kids going through that compared to when we were kids; it would be very hard to not be able to hang out with your friends and it’s psychologically damaging, what this pandemic has put people through.”
It’s in times of great struggle we reflect on our own lives. Whether we would be able to handle life as a late teen or person in their early 20s nowadays. Each generation has its benefits and downfalls. The age we’re living in now brings us the divisive topic of technological advancements. While THREE DAYS GRACE were able to produce albums remotely, we’ve seen another side to this two-way glass in technological addiction. After telling us his first mobile phone was a Motorola flip phone, Walst divulges he’s happy we didn’t have that technology in the past. “I understand it can be informative and beneficial when you’re trying to learn, but I feel like it’s taken away a lot too. There’s a lot less observation in the world.”
In the sense of observing what’s either around us or to us, Neurotic dives into the addled mind. At times, it’s an uncomfortable listen full of pontifications of being possessed by your demons. The catharsis may come from a negative place but the conversation around the song is nothing but positive. Neurotic allowed THREE DAYS GRACE to renew a partnership between Neil Sanderson and Lukas Rossi [THE HALO METHOD/ROCKSTAR SUPERNOVA]. The track started life in KING CITY, a side project from the pair, and was heavily electronica based. In resurrecting the song, the band were able to put their own stamp on it while still maintaining the nervous energy at its crux. When asked whether the band would be open to doing more collaboration, Walst reminds us of a forgotten gem in his previous band MY DARKEST DAYS. “The first song I ever released, Pornstar Dancing, featured LUDACRIS, Chad Kroeger [NICKELBACK] and Zakk Wylde. I’m such a huge fan of having different dynamics and I think THREE DAYS GRACE is a lot more open to that now.”
“I owe everything to THREE DAYS GRACE,” Walst reveals when we reflect on his decade with the band. Going from watching his brother, Sanderson and Adam Gontier [SAINT ASONIA] rehearse in the basement to leading the band, it can be argued Walst is certainly living the dream of many.
Explosions is out now via Music For Nations.
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