No Grace Period in Sight
Three Days Grace doing its best to keep rock alive
By Dustin Drevitch
In its latest issue, Rolling Stone stated that rock record sales have taken an 11.1 percent drop, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Is it possible to say that rock music is dead? We think not. Although it may not be selling as many units as Lady Gaga or Ke$ha (whoever the hell that is), rock ’n’ roll is alive and well in mainstream music thanks to the help of Wilkes-Barre’s very own Breaking Benjamin and their long-time road buddies Three Days Grace.
The two rock bands, along with Flyleaf, are currently pounding the pavement on a winter tour, which will make local stops in mid-February. Three Days Grace will headline its own show at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Feb. 6 (yep it’s officially the Wachovia Arena no more) with supporting acts Chevelle and Flyleaf.
Three Days Grace — Adam Gontier, vocals/guitar; Brad Walst, bass; Neil Sanderson, drums; and Barry Stock, guitar — is hot off the release of their latest record, Life Starts Now, which debuted at No. 3 on Billboard’s Top 200. The album sold 79,000 copies in the U.S. and is full of your typical 3DG hooks along with an impressive vintage sound on many of the tracks.
“We’re big fans of bands like Zeppelin and Pink Floyd where there wasn’t a real lot going on. But it sounds so much larger than life because of the musicianship and the space between the music and the notes and knowing when not to play,” says Sanderson in a recent phone interview with ec/dc. “Even bands like Tool are like that. You could tell it’s a three-piece band and a singer playing, but it sounds massive because they’re great musicians.
“We kind of wanted to go in that direction with the sound of the record.”
Life Starts Now opens up with the driving rock track “Bitter Taste,” on which Sanderson displays “Bonomesque” drum fills as well as huge room sounds which take you back to a simpler time. Sonically, the album is very pleasant to the ears.
“We had a really specific idea going in on how we wanted the record to sound, we wanted to have that big open room, lots of space and really when you listen to the record it feels like you’re in the room with the band,” Sanderson says. “There are so many records out there that sound mechanical, processed and really layered. And I think a lot of bands and producers make the mistake of thinking that the more things they layer on top of each other, it’ll sound bigger or heavier. We don’t think that that’s always the case.”
The album’s first single “Break,” which begins with a “Billy Jean” drum rhythm, peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Rock Songs chart. The next single will be “The Good Life,” an anthem which is close to the structure of “Riot” off the band’s previous record, One-X.
“It’s about trying to capture the moment in the studio and not about making it perfect, just capturing a moment in the connection between musicians, and that’s your best shot at getting a real signature sound you could hear,” says Sanderson.
This isn’t the first time 3DG has hit the road with Breaking Benjamin. For the last couple of years, the two bands have been teaming up to deliver a co-headlining rock show for their fans.
“We’re actually really good friends with all the guys in Breaking Benjamin. We’re actually expecting someone to cook us a turkey dinner when we get to Wilkes-Barre, but we’re getting something out of the deal, maybe have a sleepover or something,” says Sanderson, with a laugh. “I think we share a lot of fans and our fans appreciate anyone who can deliver live, and I know the guys pride themselves on their musicianship so we have that in common.”
Life Starts Now marks the band’s third record following their self-titled debut record, which went platinum in the U.S. and double platinum in Canada in 2003. Three Days Grace yielded the singles “I Hate Everything About You,” “Just Like You” and “Home.” The band followed up with One-X in 2006, which debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and featured the singles “Animal I Have Become,” “Pain,” “Never Too Late” and “Riot.”
“I think it’d be cool to just really continue going internationally. It’s such a great life experience to get over there and have the opportunity to go places you’ve never been and play rock shows,” Sanderson says. But the biggest thing for us, I mean we don’t take anything for granted so just keeping the train on the tracks and having the opportunity to create something and have so many people on this kind of scale be affected by it is everything we need.”
-ddrevitch@timesshamrock.com
www.ecweekend.com/features/story.asp?id=50288
