Karma Has An Effect On Seether

Thu 16th Jun, 2005 in Features

An impromptu duet leads to an extended tour and a publicity storm keeping them out of the studio. The result: Seether used the road time to write and created an album that turned out to be gutsier and stronger than they hoped. Pat Callahan, guitarist for Seether talks about Karma and Effect and blessings in disguise.

“The album was originally going to be called Catering To Cowards but the name could be misconstrued and some people were uneasy about the name and took offense to it. It wasn’t about anything specific but some people at the label didn’t like it so we decided to change it.” Shaun Morgan, very vocal vocalist for the group has publically bemoaned the additional touring time brought about by the band’s successful duet on the song Broken, with Morgan’s girlfriend Amy Lee of Evanescence, so you can see where the label may have gotten the wrong impression.

“The new name Karma and Effect came around one night in New York. We were in the studio late putting down drum tracks and we went outside with our guitars and stuff to try and get a cab and after twenty minutes there hadn’t been a single cab. Just then this guy had his tire go out so we went over to help him out. He said ‘You guys aren’t from New York are you?’ We laughed and said ‘No were not’. We finished helping him and the very next minute a single cab pulls up and Shaun says; “How’s that for karma and effect?’ and we were like ’That’s an awesome name for a record’ and that is how it came about.”

Seether has had a colourful rise through the rock ranks, formed originally in South Africa by frontman Shaun Morgan (his last name is actually Welmegoed but changed it on landing in the US) and bassist Dale Stewart under the name of Saron Gas, they conquered the South African rock market, winning industry awards as the most promising rock act in 1999/2000 with the EP Fragile. This EP brought them to the attention of Wind Up Records out of Boston (Creed, 12 Stones, Drowning Pool) and was re-recorded, some new songs added and this became their debut album Disclaimer, released in 2002.  Disclaimer was recorded with Dale, Shaun and a session drummer and it wasn’t quite the album they heard in their heads. 

The impromptu duet of the song Broken while Seether was on the same tour as Shaun’s girlfriend Amy Lee and her band Evanescence, lead the boys to their chance to remedy this, re-recording the album with their new band mates Pat Callahan and drummer John Humphrey. Pat was playing in the supporting band at an early Seether show in Phillidelpia and was asked to join and John was recommended by their front of house engineer.

“The recording of Disclaimer was Dale and Shaun with studio musicians so when we re-released Disclaimer we wanted to give something extra to the fans so we re-engineered the existing songs because we weren’t as happy with them sonically and gave them the sound of the band that we are now and added the songs we had provided for some movie soundtracks and the Broken duet which was on The Punisher soundtrack. Disclaimer II ended up with 8 extra songs on it and a DVD.”

The label promoted the re-release as hard as the first and it achieved gold sales all over again. 

The downside of the commercial success of the Broken single, as the band saw it at the time, was the tour the label insisted they do to support it. With a swag of new songs and a hankering to get back into the studio, the tour was the last thing the guys wanted to do. They had been touring this material for over two and a half years and wanted to put down the new stuff.

“Touring with Broken did put us out on the road a lot longer than we initially wanted but it worked out in the end as we got a whole heap of new songs out of it. We came together more as a band and the album is much stronger for it. That’s why we only took three weeks to record it.”

The duet did raise the profile of the band, attract new fans and put them on high rotation on cable and radio programs around the world, paving the way for a broader audience for the release of this album.

“The duet with Amy was a double-edged sword. On one hand a lot of stuff was said about the band, Amy, Shaun that was not true, was unfair and uncalled for but on the other hand it let us into countries and to audiences we hadn’t reached before and brought us a lot of new fans. People know we aren’t a pop band and if they don’t know they soon find out so it has been really positive for us in a lot of ways. We got a lot out of it.”

I asked Pat about the recording of the new album and the final product.

“The album came together well, you know what they say ‘You have your whole life to write your first album and three months to write your second.’ We were lucky that we had an extra year on the road to write songs for the new album as it turns out. We wrote seven new songs out on the road. The recording was really quick, it took three weeks in the studio because there was hardly anything had to be written in the studio, we were all ready to go. We did some pre-production work and then put the guitars and some vocals down in LA, then we had a break for Christmas and met up in New York to put the drums down, more guitars, vocals and finish it up.”

The band collaborated on the entire album, something that wasn’t possible on the first recording of Disclaimer. Shaun has said the “Pat is a great riff writer, Dale brings the bass bits and some vocals, John ties it together”.

“That’s how it happens but not all the time. Sometimes Shaun will come with a riff and we work that or Dale but it is a collaborative thing, we all contribute and it has made the album sound like all of us. My favourite riff would be Never Leave as it is much lighter and slower than the rest. I contributed a lot of the heavier riffs and a lot of the more aggressive stuff and this just sort of came out of nowhere and grew into something. On Karma and Effect there is the heavier, aggressive stuff but you also have the more melodic, slower tunes on there too, both extremes.”

“I get a most of my inspiration from the friends we have around us these days. Bands like Smile Empty Soul and all of our label mates but in my teenage years it was grunge bands like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice In Chains and Nirvana. That’s what really attracted me to the band as a fan was that Shaun was doing that stuff, he had it down.”
 
I was lucky enough to catch Seether in Toronto in 2003 and see Shaun perform a Nirvana song and it gave you goosebumps, so uncanny and creepy was the resemblance vocally and physically.

“We said we should do a Nirvana song since Shaun has the sound and the look and we do You Know You’re Right because it was the last song that Nirvana wrote and recorded and they never got the chance to do it live so we do it for our fans.”

Seether have a repertoire of gut wrenching, emotive powerful lyrics that climb out of your speakers and shake you. To see them perform live is to feel the passion and power behind those same lyrics. Shaun believes that songwriting and performing is his way of purging anger, pain and aggression and that happiness is something that he wants to hold in so doesn’t write about those things.

“Shaun and I definitely agree on that topic. If you’re happy there is no need to vent and to get the aggression out of your system. If you have had a crappy day, you can get up on stage and vent and let out all of that aggression. If you’re happy, you can’t just stand up there going I’m happy, that bores me musically, we’re not a pop band! We are definitely a rock band.”

Early reviews of the current tour definitely support their rock band cred with crowds enthusing endlessly on chatboards and music sites in the wake of every show.

“The new tour has been great. You see the crowds singing the older stuff but now we are seeing the new stuff catching on too and having the new songs sang back at us. Its an awesome feeling. To see it being accepted by the audience is a great feeling.”

“I love touring, when I am at home (in Philidelphia) I’m bored, I don’t have someone at home so I live for touring, it’s the best part for me. We are definitely a road band and it works with the partners of the other guys. John is seeing his family in 4 days, Shaun’s girlfriend sees us throughout the tour and Dale’s girlfriend travelled with us for 10 days so it’s really good for them.”

The first single of Karma and Effect is Remedy, a strong riff-rock throat grabber and the accompanying video features Shaun as the ringmaster in a slightly disturbing circus, so I asked if Pat had seen the Mötley Crüe show to see the other circus that is touring the towns, the Carnival of Sin…

“I heard that Mötley have a whole stage thing with fire-eaters and motorbikes and weird stuff, definitely want to check it out when they come to town.”

I suggest that you check out Seether when they come to town. Karma and Effect is in stores and the tour dates are:

July 20, 2005: Brisbane – The Tivoli
July 21, 2005: Sydney – The Roundhouse at University of NSW
July 22, 2005: Melbourne – Hi-Fi Bar and Ballroom