Seether frontman Shaun Morgan sounds off to JOANNA HUNKIN about everything from former bandmates to Lindsay Lohan
KEY POINTS:
Life on the road can be pretty dull. Cities merge into one another as you play the same songs, over and over. Even if you mix up the set list, you can't afford to skip your big hits, lest you face an uprising of irate fans.
Which is why Seether frontman Shaun Morgan is trawling the internet, searching for "obnoxious songs" to add to the band's changeover playlist.
Topping the list so far is the horrendous rap - and YouTube sensation - What What in the Butt by American singer Samwell.
"It's one of the most ridiculous things I've seen ... When we finish playing it's going to be the first song that starts playing so people know the show's definitely over."
Morgan also likes to test his bandmates by adding unexpected songs to their set. "I just start playing something and they have to remember how to play it. I like to keep it interesting for myself. I hate playing the same set list night after night."
Unfortunately, that's part of the territory when you're a chart-topping rock band. People pay to hear those hits.
Originally from South Africa, the LA-based band are best known here for 2004 hit Broken, with Evanescence's Amy Lee, which peaked at number 2 on our singles charts. Their latest album Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces - their fifth studio release - reached number 9 on our album charts earlier this year.
That profile has led to them playing their first New Zealand concert at Auckland's Vector Arena, before heading to Christchurch to headline the Southern Amp concert. Morgan has heard of Vector - and just how big it is. "I'm a little nervous that it's such a big venue, but hopefully it will be OK," he laughs.
Still, that's nothing compared to the stress caused by former bandmate, guitarist Pat Callahan. Callahan left the band in June 2006, before they recorded their fifth album. "He was a very, very difficult person to keep happy. No matter what we did, we couldn't make him happy. We'd play the greatest show and he'd bitch and moan."
Eventually, the band invited friend and one-time Evanescence guitarist Troy McLawhorn to become Callahan's permanent replacement. Now Morgan feels he and the band are reinvigorated.
"I'm having fun playing music again for the first time in years. I started feeling like I was burning out on the whole thing and I started feeling like it wasn't fun anymore." He also thinks they are creating better music, no longer confined to traditional rock elements.
Certainly the band's latest efforts have taken them up a peg with the first single Fake It becoming their most successful hit since Broken.
While some have suggested the song is a scathing critique of Los Angeles - Morgan's adopted home - the singer says there is more to it than that.
"It was definitely inspired by people I've met there but I think that whole mindset and way of life is starting to leak into youth in general. Kids are obsessed with what Paris Hilton is doing. I don't know why these people are famous. Lindsay Lohan is a terrible actress, yet she's famous. "
The tirade continues for some time, though Morgan is a little less verbose when asked about the rough patch he hit in 2006 when he checked into rehab for alcoholism. All he will say is that he is in a good place now.
"I'm happy, yeah. There's really not much to complain about."
LOWDOWN
Who: Shaun Morgan, born December 21, 1978 in South Africa
What: Frontman of Seether, set to play Vector Arena November 8 with Autozamm, Corvino and Eqwanox.
