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“In Life, as in Dance, Grace glides on
blistered feet.”
Alice Abrams
In the dark you can feel the road
coursing underneath you as the bus plows
ahead into the night. The show is over and
it's dark and quiet now as you lie in your
bed. You're glad it went without a hitch.
Things have died down and everyone is
falling asleep.
The city lights are
somewhere far behind, replaced now with
trees and mountains; the moon passes behind
the trees through the window and it seems
like the next city you have to play is this
far-away surreal destination.
Then you remember the
tugging in your gut, and you think of the
ones you love - your wife and your children
- sleeping in their beds on the other side
of the world, waiting. Home never seemed so
far away.
In those moments the
call of the road reveals the cost of
success.
The heavy, vault-like tour bus door swings
shut. There is a distinct “KR” emblazoned
on the inside of the door. Three Days Grace
front-man, Adam Gontier, is sitting on one
of two leather sofas, lining either side of
the bus, smiles and introduces himself. He
motions to the empty couch and sits back
down. On the couch beside him is an ash tray
and a full bottle of water; two video game
paddles. A flat-screen television flashes
mid-game scores of an interrupted FPS video
game.
It's T-minus three hours until they hit the
stage and the pre-show
intensity shows through a little. The stoic,
determined focus of men with command
presence does not entirely hide that they're
tired, road-weary, the pangs of home tugging
at their hearts.
“None of that matters when we get on stage,”
says Gontier. “To walk on that stage, when
the lights go on and the guitars shine, you
light into a song and the fans are singing
with you - singing your songs. Suddenly you
realize there's a little bit of home every
place you play.”
A generator hums at the back of the bus,
such that you could well imagine the thick
silence that would descend after its
mindless drone is killed concluding a long
day of driving; the tocsin of life on the
road.
“We’ve been at it for a long time,” Gontier
says. “We met in ’94, and moved to Toronto
to try and connect with the music scene. It
was a tough go. After a while we were not
practicing together anymore. Everyone had
day jobs. There was this feeling like we
might not survive as a band. Myself, I was
going to do music of some kind regardless.
It was my sole focus, but collectively we
felt like it was almost done. Then one night
we had some luck. We met a (talent) manager
at one of the clubs we played and he said he
could help us out.”
Via this manager the band was introduced to
Producer, Gavin Brown, who recorded their
first, self-titled album. “It was really
about being in the right place at the right
time. You try to do all the right things
day-in and day-out, and be dedicated to the
craft, but when it’s all said and done the
final element is luck: luck and
relationships.”
“We’ve sacrificed a lot over the years to
make this whole thing work. Family
relationships have taken a beating. We don’t
see our families often and when we do it’s
for short periods of time then we’re gone
again. I also sacrificed my health and my
happiness there for a while,” Gontier says.
From Western Canada, Grace is off to the
mid-west (U.S.) where they’ll hook up with
Breaking Benjamin for a
co-headline tour, with Flyleaf. After that
it's on to Erie, PA.; Albany, New York; and
Wilkes-Barre, PA., arm-in-arm with
Flyleaf, where they'll both hit
the stage with
Chevelle, a band that Gontier
says musically, shares some fundamental
similarity in their style of music. We’ve
played shows with these guys before so we
know a little bit about what we’re getting
ourselves into.”
“Our influences are pretty clear. When we
first started we were really all about
Grunge and the
Seattle music scene in the mid 90s.
Our songs, our writing, is about real
emotions; real life (pathos). We want our
songs to feel real to people.
For many artists writing is a solitary
exercise or, at best, a collaboration
between two band mates who are lyrically
inclined. “When we’re writing songs we start
with ideas – we mix it up. Everyone
contributes. Sometimes one of us will bring
inspiration. Then there are times when
everyone is throwing ideas into the mix and
we have to reel it in a little. It can get a
little out of hand. For instance a while ago
we were working on a politically charged
song about the U.S.. It was called America.
When it came time to make our decision about
what we would bring to the studio this one
never made it. We took a good hard look at
it and decided it was just too much so we
left it behind. We loved it at the time, we
even demo’d it thinking it would make
the cut.
“When it comes time to record, no matter how
much we like or don’t like a song we really
don’t know what’s going to make the album
and what’s not. You end up in the studio
with the producer and sometimes feel like
he's taking you somewhere you don’t
especially want to go. The paradox is that’s
what we pay them to do – to come in and
challenge the way we’re thinking about the
music.”
For Grace, paradox has a name:
Howard Benson. Benson worked with
them on
One-X, and was again asked to
play chef for
Life Starts Now.
“My best studio experience... When we did
our first record we spent some time outside
of Boston at Long View Farms Studios, where
the Stones had come in to rehearse and
record the Tattoo You album in 1981.
It was a big deal for us. This old cat
behind the board at the time was in charge
of all the gear (while Tattoo You was being
recorded). Now though, turns out the guy was
a little deaf and the mix wasn’t really
working for us.” After some conjecture the
band packed up and went to upstate New York
where they successfully completed
Three Days Grace, at Bearsville
Studios near Woodstock.
“One of my favourite records of all-time –
Jeff Buckley’s Grace, was
recorded at Bearsville. For me it was one of
the coolest things in my musical experience
to be in a position to step into the studio
where Buckley recorded Grace.”
Despite living in a time when celebrity
presence in the music world can be fleeting,
Gontier says he hopes history will be kind
to Three Days Grace.
“I don’t like to over-think it though. We
want to make good records and have people
listen to those records. The way we now
listen to classic records – Sabbath,
Zeppelin, Beatles - is different than the
way we listen to music today. I don’t think
it’ll ever be like that again. Now
everything is so incredibly shiny and false.
There was something more real, more tangible
back then. It seems to be all about writing
the single, not the album as it once was.”
“To me there’s a lot more backbone in rock
than the shiny stuff. It’s the toughest
thing to have longevity in this business. We
come from a very real place but when the
entire industry is sort of masked by stuff
that’s superficial, its hard to convince
people you’re real. It means just getting
out on the road and proving you’re a band,
day after day,” Gontier says, looking around
the bus.
“It used to be Kid Rock’s,” he says. Before
that I think it belonged to a few other
touring musicians. I asked them to change
the sheets when I got it!” (laughs)
I picked it up so the family could come
along once in a while, take the pressure off
not seeing each other for so long; to make
that situation a little better. |
