JOHN HUMPHREY of SEETHER: All For The Live Experience
An interview by Sarah Kidd.
Seether is coming back to New Zealand and their fans are rejoicing. Formed in 1999 in Pretoria, South Africa, Seether originally began their career under the name Saron Gas [check out their debut album entitled Fragile released in 2000] before changing it to Seether in 2002 when they moved to the United States.
While they have often been labelled as many different genres – nu-metal, post-grunge, alternative metal etc. – one thing that they can be labelled as is honest, with a huge side order of heavy thrown in for good measure. Having released their latest album Poison the Parish last year- an album that many claim is their heaviest to date – the three piece are back on the road again, this time bringing with them Corey Lowery of Dark New Day, Eye Empire and Saint Asonia fame on guitar to add that extra dose of goodness to their live sound.
I recently caught up with drummer John Humphrey to discuss the making of the new album, what he is currently playing with equipment wise and just why Seether are a band that refuse to perform with backing tracks at live shows…
Your New Zealand fans are very excited about the fact that Seether is coming back to New Zealand!
“Yeah we’re excited about coming back I think we haven’t been there… I think it’s been since 2015 was our last trip…”
Yes, you played at the Logan Campbell Centre – it was a great show!
“We always have a great time there!”
Well Seether certainly has a lot of fans here in New Zealand and of course you just released your new album Poison the Parish last year so they are looking forward to hearing some of that new material live!
“Yeah, we’re looking forward to playing it for sure.”
Alright, so let’s get down to it John and hit you with a few questions [laughs]
“Absolutely! That’s what I’m here for!”
As I just mentioned, Seether’s latest album is entitled Poison the Parish and its being touted as your heaviest album to date. Is that a statement that you would agree with?
“Yeah, absolutely. I think it was a mission statement of sorts you know? Shaun produced the album and there was a real conscious effort to make this album have a bit more edge, have the guitars way more present in the mix than maybe some previous albums. The band is still the band I just think that sonically and musically the guitars are very present.
It was sort of a plan to maybe return to form, something maybe in the vein of Karma and Effect [2005] you know where we had songs like ‘The Gift’ and ‘Because of Me’ or you know ‘I’m the One’ on an album which were heavy but at the same time melodic songs that the band were always kind of known for and everything in between. But yeah with Shaun producing it, it was definitely bring back guitar and really taking things to the edge sonically for the band.”
You mention the term ‘mission statement’ so this was a conscious deliberate move rather than something that grew organically?
“I think it was a deliberate move absolutely, you know obviously with Shaun producing and the band sort of doing it in house, we just sort of looked at each other and went ‘Man we’re gonna make a rock album, a heavy guitar album, the band are known for that’.
We also listened to our fans you know, and hopefully with each album we’ve always grown musically, artistically; but a lot of them are like ‘Man I love Karma and Effect’ or ‘I love the heaviness of that would you do an album like that again?’ So yeah I think there’s absolutely a conscious effort on our part to make a heavier album this time.”
Obviously as the drummer of the band you have a pivotal role in creating the foundations from which songs can be built; what inspires you personally when song writing or creating a new album?
“For a drummer you know my job is to musically sort of stand out of the way – I’m really good friends with and an admirer of Ray Luzier who is the drummer for Korn – and he was talking about a lot of drummers have a real tendency to play to drummers you know like ‘Let me do this cool fill, make this real complicated’ you know?
The job of the drummer for like Korn, or for Ray or for me being in Seether is to frame the song; to make the song the best it can be. Like you said, setting the foundation, making it solid and as the drummer setting up the song, framing the song and basically, quite honestly, sort of staying out of the way.
In laying the groove and keeping it solid, but not throwing in you know fancy fills, drum tricks and things that entertain me. It’s about playing the song and making the song the best it can be; Seether is a song orientated band you know, first and foremost and that’s what should come through. As a drummer I feel that that’s my job.”
I know some of your earliest influences were Keith Moon, Tommy Lee, Peter Criss; but what inspired you to actually first pick up the sticks?
“For me, Kiss was one of the first records I had and obviously seeing these guys on T.V. – but really it was being a band geek at school growing up! I just loved drum core, I loved marching band, I just fell in love with it. I got my first drum kit when I was thirteen and I’d say everything really changed for me when two of my friends – who played bass and guitar – came over to my house and the three of us played together. Like I said I was thirteen, ultimately that became my first band and I’m sure we sounded horrible but to me I was in heaven. And to play music with other guys, creating music, maybe we were doing a cover, or maybe we were kinda jamming on our own riff; little bit of both as I recall but I mean it was just the greatest time I’ve had in this world and that was a game-changer for me, feeling what it was like to play with other humans and creating music, or trying to create music. I knew then – as crazy as it sounds – that’s what I wanted to do for my life and I wanted to sustain that feeling and that was it. That was when it changed.”
Now for all the New Zealand drum disciples – and we have quite a few of them in New Zealand – a bit of a technical question for you. Are you still a Sabian Cymbals guy?
“Yes, I play Sabian Cymbals, I’m endorsed by Ludwig Drums – that’s my drum company – I play Evans Drumheads and Vic Firth drumsticks.”
So you’re with Ludwig now because didn’t you use Crush Drum Kits previously?
“Yeah I was with Crush for a while, but those guys broke off from another company called ddrum; and those guys formed Crush. It’s a smaller company and it’s a great company, but I had been with Ludwig before and then I just returned to home basically.
And nothing against Crush but you know what can you say? Ludwig man, it’s just a legendary name, it’s been around forever – Jon Bonham, Buddy Rich, Ringo Star – I mean it’s freakin Ludwig, that’s home for me so I went back home!”
Fair enough – and thank you, up and coming musicians always like to know what their favourite artists are using!
“My oldest son is in a music school; and there are just so many talented kids you know? Musicians, singers just it seems like so much more than when I was starting out, there are just a lot of talented kids in the world, it’s great to hear.”
I think in some ways the digital age has made music more accessible to the younger generation and it’s inspiring a hell of a lot more of them to try their hand at creating something musically…
“Yeah absolutely – and at an early age too. It’s amazing!”
I read quite a while ago that you were offered a scholarship to Berklee College of Music when you were younger – which you actually declined?
“Yes, I did. I was actually in another band at the time which – well we didn’t make it – but this is how you are. I would say I would change my decision if I could go back in time, but ultimately you know I ended up here, so what can you say?
Yes that band didn’t work out but all these years later I’m very fortunate to have landed as the drummer for Seether. I can’t say that I made any wrong decisions other than – yeah I was scouted and offered an initial scholarship at Berklee and didn’t take it. So I guess in some ways it looks like ‘God, what a fool!’ It’s such a great school; but you know, here I am, Seether, I’ve been with them for fifteen years so luckily that panned out you know?” [laughs]
I don’t think you’re a fool at all; you had to follow what your gut was telling you at the time. But what interests me is that they headhunted you. Do you believe this was a combination of natural talent and practice or the fact that you practiced every single day? Because you strike me as being that sort of kid at the time!
“That’s it! I worked really hard at it – you know some things came naturally, I think to be a musician it comes easier if you have a certain amount of natural ability – but I definitely worked really hard at it.
What actually happened is I was scouted a year or so before I actually graduated high school. I had played a musical – I had been in marching band like I mentioned, jazz band, concert band all through my middle school and high school years – but I had done a musical with a college with college students. They had lost their drummer and they needed me to quickly set up and fill in, so I did these run of musicals. Just being the sophomore in high school… and so a scout was there you know unbeknownst that a young drummer was going to be filling in; so I think that said a lot about my work ethic and my ability obviously at such a young age. It was a pretty cool sort of circumstances!”
You once also stated that the 2011 album ‘Holding Onto Strings Better Left To Fray’ was your favourite Seether album to play on so far – do you still feel the same way? Or has Poison the Parish exceeded that for you?
“You know it’s so tough – yeah I’m very proud of the latest album, I think the songs feel very natural and the album came together very organically. It took us not a lot of effort really to record, we did this old school. We got into a practice place, Shaun showed me and Dale all the material, he had given us demo’s to rehearse; we came together and just made it Seether’s. Seetherised it if you will and then it was just about getting into the studio and capturing the performances. So I’m proud of this album, you know I guess a lot of bands or artists would say their latest album is their best – but you know I have a lot of favourite moments throughout my career with this band.
I have an interesting perspective in that the only album I’m not on is the first one, Disclaimer [2002] but I had to learn that inside and out – talk about work ethic – to audition for the band. I went out and bought that album literally and then sat and learnt every song, inside and out, backwards and forwards in preparation for my audition.
So as a fan, not having been there to record that album, that’s one of my favourites just because I look at that one as an outsider. And we still play songs like ‘Gasoline’ and ‘Driven Under’ to this day and it’s still one of my favourites and I’m not even on it you know? But there are a lot of highlights for me; ‘Remedy’ is one, ‘Fake It’, ‘Country Song’ off Holding Onto Strings Better Left To Fray and ‘I’m The One’ off Karma and Effect. There are a lot of highlights you know?
‘Careless Whisper’ which was a complete fluke; to do that cover for an iTunes thing that ended up being a very successful sort of remake for us, that was a lot of fun and that was a complete fluke! I think it turned out great; we recorded that at Electric Lady Studios in New York City – a legendary studio. And that’s a highlight for me as well so I have a lot and just the same I am proud of Poison the Parish.”
Yes I think ‘Careless Whisper’ caught a few people off guard! [laughs]
Yeah! And certainly the band you know? Certainly the band! We just did that for fun, just having fun, we’re all eighties kids and we wanted to just … and the damn thing took off! It just did great, and I’m proud of it, I am!”
It’s a great song – not just your cover of it but the original as well. It’s a classic! I think a lot of your fans though would have been like huh? With all the covers you could have chosen to do…
[laughs] “Right! And then you get someone younger that had no idea that it was even a cover … that cracks me up when a young one be like ‘Oh I didn’t know, you know my mom played me the original, and I’d never heard it! I thought that was your song!’ that cracks me up!”
Speaking of the new album – and you just touched there briefly on the creation of it – Shaun sort of creates the base or the seed of most songs and then he passes it on to you guys, correct?
“Yes exactly, and in the case of this latest album, he had put together demo’s and songs at his home studio and he – at the time – had sort of a keyboard set-up where he could simulate drums and at least give an idea of the beats and kind of an idea of what he wants for the song – to frame the song.
And then he gives it to Dale and I to humanize it and make it sort of our own, to own the parts so that we’re comfortable with it and any ideas that we wanna interject, well we’re open to that to, Shaun’s a pleasure to work with and we’ve created a lot of music together and it’s been a lot of fun.”
For you now it’s been fifteen years with the band hasn’t it?
“Yes fifteen years this year.”
Does it honestly feel like fifteen years?
“No! I mean it really doesn’t; I can’t believe it. As a musician I’m very fortunate to have been with this band and to have this kind of time and to still be doing what we started out doing together in 03’, it’s pretty amazing, it blows me away!”
Shaun stated that it’s about ‘Having honesty in your music’ and I personally think this is a great statement that sums up who Seether are as a band really well…
“Yeah, absolutely I mean that’s one thing we are; you don’t go chasing trends you can’t do that. You have to be honest with yourself, to yourself and with no pretence and I think Seether does that. I mean the music that you hear comes from three guys on tour – in this case four guys on stage – we play with no track which is a rarity now. It’s just the four guys up there making the music live. But yeah I think lyrically, musically, stylistically the band is truly what you hear and what you see, you know that’s being honest. And that’s definitely Seether!”
It’s interesting that you mention that – it is a thing for most live bands to play with tracks – so why do you choose not to?
“I mean we don’t really need it quite honestly. I mean we come from the school of the live experience is different from the album. Maybe the songs aren’t replicated to the tee of an album but you know that’s what it is, what it means to be a musician, at least to me.
Every night the experience; you have good nights, you have bad nights but at least they’re real, I mean it’s about the human experience; it’s about interacting with people. It’s about looking out into the crowd and how that makes you feel and how that makes you play – mistakes and all, warts and all! That’s about being a musician and playing it live to live. Otherwise that’s air-drumming, that’s air-guitaring when you’re out there and doing tracks… and you’re not really singing it’s all track, you know that’s not performing, that’s not being a musician, I don’t get it at all. That’s karaoke [laughs] that’s not even that! It’s just a weird concept and that’s not why you get into this to do that you know?”
I wholeheartedly agree, that’s the beauty of live music. Speaking of music, just out of interest, what is your favourite track off the new album then?
“It’s the first track for me, it’s ‘Stoke the Fire’ which we have been adding to the set. In Europe it was the one that started off the set. ‘Gasoline’ has been the lead off track to start any show for many years. It’s really hard to find a song to replace that one – we tried other songs in the past but finally, I think we’ve found a song that’s done that and that’s ‘Stoke the Fire’. I just love that track, it kicks off the album and it’s right now kicking off the live shows so… ‘Stoke the Fire’ is right now at the top of my list, favourite song off the album!”
And with this tour where you play three shows in New Zealand – which is fantastic for the fans – what can we expect? A mix of old and new? Maybe some deeper cuts?
“All of the above and we might even throw in a cover – that’s how you start out right? You start out a cover band… we haven’t forgotten that, and there’s still songs, even new songs with a band like Thrice for example one of our favourites – you know ‘Black Honey’ is a song we do by them.
So we’ve been known to throw in a cover or two even during the show, but yes exactly, we’re kinda in a fortunate position; like I said for me fifteen years on you’ve got singles, a lot of singles over the years, but you know it’s a lot of fun to play the stuff that aren’t singles like mentioning ‘Stoke the Fire’ which isn’t a single per say but it’s a great live song, so yeah you can expect a great mix of old and new, singles, deep cuts and maybe even a cover!”
Well if you throw in ‘Careless Whisper’ I would be eternally grateful [laughs]
“Well we’ve got Corey Lowery who’s with us on this tour, great producer and musician and he’s a guitar player for us on this run and so maybe we could do that. It’s been a long time – and I hear ya, I’d love to play it live again too!”
Seether are playing two more shows in New Zealand this week, TONIGHT (Wednesday 30th May) at Wellington’s Shed 6, and tomorrow at Auckland’s Town Hall. Tickets to both shows are still available from DRW Entertainment, but get in quick as they’re selling fast!
