Seether
Orlando Florida Guide
Seether
Bio
SHAUN
MORGAN - VOCALS, GUITAR, SONGS
DALE STEWART - BASS, VOCALS
NICK OSHIRO - DRUMS
“And my words will be here when I'm gone…” - “Sympathetic”
No one wishes to die without making a statement and having an impact -
especially if they are an artist. For most, this desire is filled with
pretense, but occasionally someone comes along whose intensions are more
humble - to leave the world better than they found it.
Such is the standpoint of Shaun Morgan, singer-guitarist-songwriter of
the South African band Seether. His immediate, cerebral writing saturates
the band's U.S. debut, Disclaimer, producing a compelling illustration
of the communal powers of rock and roll; loud in a very literal and very
abstract sense. “I don't care if no one knows what I look like,”
he says. “That's not the point. The point is to know I've touched
people.”
After forming in 1999, Seether (originally Saron Gas, a name they plucked
from the back of a sound effects CD not knowing its sinister connotation)
quickly gained notoriety in their home country's anemic rock market. The
band’s South African release, Fragile, became one of the best selling
titles of the year, and Seether emerged as a top live draw.
This was no small feat in a land where rock bands
play second banana to indigenous music and pop. Still, Seether's monumental
mongrel rock couldn't help but stand out, and Morgan's words built a bottomless
bond between the band and its fans.
Everyone from disenfranchised teens to incarcerated individuals has felt
his influence, but the foremost example is the impact first single “Fine
Again” had on a family whose daughter overdosed. The song - a stark,
mid-tempo deliberation on life after a bleak period - inspired the recuperating
girl to right her life. The family bonded with the band and reacted emotionally
upon learning Seether was headed stateside.
“They were actually crying. That was the most surreal experience.
They're all standing around and saying, ‘We don't know if we should
be happy for you or angry at you’ and that's pretty cool. It's good
to know we've had such a positive influence on someone.”
Morgan's motivation and inspiration stems from a lack of acceptance. His
parents divorced early on. His Afrikaans mother's devout Christian family
held him in disregard because he was part English on his father's side.
His paternal family shunned him for being into rock music and dressing
the part. The hostile environs culminated in a
defining moment, as Morgan sat with a gun in one hand and a guitar in
the other, facing a choice. “It was suicide or the guitar. I picked
the guitar and got rid of the urge to take myself out.” He continued
sneaking out to rehearse with any band that would have him. “This
was all I ever wanted to do,” he says simply.
Disclaimer, produced by Jay Baumgardner (Papa Roach, Drowning Pool) offers
a brutally transparent glimpse into Morgan's childhood. As he scrubs at
the pain of his past, the singer's scratchy, eerily familiar voice and
his guitar work are cutting accomplices to the catharsis. The sum effect
is as thrilling as it is consuming.
“Pig” picks at familial scabs, asking, “have you ever wished
for fire/to burn away your mind restraints?” “Needles”
rails further, demanding retribution, “Let me stick my needles in/let
me hurt you again/fuck you for killing me!” over a torrid, towering
wall of noise. “69 Tea” mocks salvation in a slow, rolling boil.
“Gasoline” chugs and churns and spits at a woman who could be
a lover or a mother - it's impossible to tell. Therein lies a key to Seether's
appeal: Morgan balks at
expanding on his lyrics, opting to preserve both his own, and the listener's,
interpretation. In his mind, offering one static explanation would dictate
the effect on the listener which is simply unacceptable.
“I'm not trying to be a spokesman, because I wouldn't want to have
a spokesman myself. This is a way for me to say how I feel now and get
it out. Other people will paint something or draw something or dance it
out or whatever. This, I suppose, is the only way I can purge, but it
is therapeutic.”
His convalescence manifests supremely in song and is chiefly evident in
the cautious optimism of “Fine Again” and the plaintive, yet
soaring, “Sympathetic,” in which he sings “And my words
will be here when I'm gone.”
Even at this embryonic stage, Morgan has made his
statement and it bodes well, as the band waits on the cusp of success.
Through it all, he remains the humble craftsman, ego and
expectations in check - words preserved for posterity despite no immediate
plans to depart the planet. Of course, he's happy to know he's made a
difference.
“Even if it's just one or two people that say, ‘Man, it's really
sad that he's gone,’ that's all I wanted to hear."
Visit
the official Seether web site for additonal information.
