Interview With Three Days Grace
Posted: 24 October 2004
Contributed By: Jay

October 23rd: Caught up with Barry and Brad from Three Days Grace in Brussels, Belgium, in the midst of their European trek with Hoobastank. Two really cool and really laid back guys. The show itelf was amazing, the band really blew me away from start to finish. And if you've never seen the guitar played with a power drill, you're missing out...

TuneLab Music: How's the tour going so far? How long have you been on tour in Europe?

Brad: What's it been, two and a half weeks now?
Barry: Yeah, we got here on the 1st and we go home on the 1st. Pretty much the whole month of October.

TL: You had a US tour that lead right up to it?

Barry: Yeah.

TL: How long have you been touring non-stop now?

Barry: 18 months.
Brad: Yeah, been a long time.

TL: You guys got any plans to stop and see anything while you're in Europe? I know you have a day off in Amsterdam...

Brad: Yeah, we're having a day off in Amsterdam.

TL: You guys have on Tuesday [October 26th] a limited edition CD/DVD coming out. What are we gonna see on it?

Brad: Basically a bunch of... we've got all the videos, behind-the-scenes videos, got some Brazilian footage from when we did the Rock in Rio stop. We got some acoustic stuff...
Barry: We've got some interview stuff, it's a pretty hearty DVD.
Brad: We've got a bonus track, a b-side called "Are You Ready." It's gonna be cool.

TL: Just the one song that didn't make the original album?

Brad: Yeah.

TL: For those who haven't seen you... I've never seen you, this will be my first time tonight... What can we expect live? What's a live show like with you guys?

Barry: We're pretty high energy, we're pretty aggressive live. What we all tend to do in this band, what we all have in common is we all take music as a (inaudible) event. You know, that's why we seem aggressive. We're like that live, though. Very hyper and lots of energy... we're just pretty mellow the rest of the day so just take all our pent up energy and have at 'er live.

TL: How'd you get picked up by Jive? You wouldn't normally see this type of band on Jive...

Brad: When we were shopping for a deal, there was about ten big labels. I don't know, Jive just seemed right. At the time, they were independent, and they didn't have any rock acts. And they just seemed to care the most. They seemed passionate about what they were doing. And they only sign like four bands a year, so... Whereas other labels are like machines, they just take band in and throw them against the wall and see who sticks. They've been really cool. They've been really attentive and take care of us.
Barry: The label came up in a blizzard just to see the band.

TL: Up to Canada?

Barry: Yeah, from New York, drove up through a blizzard to Peterborough.

TL: What part of Canada is it?

Brad: Right outside of Toronto. It was actually in Peterborough, Ontario.

TL: What is harder to get labels to come up there or get any recognition?

Brad: Yeah, we got asked to come down a bunch of times to the States and to some showcases, but we said you know, if you're not gonna make the trip up here, then what's the point? And they did, they flew up, and drove like three hours in a blizzard, showed up to this small gig in a this town, and that was pretty cool.

TL: What's the music scene like up there? Is there a lot of rock bands?

Barry: There's a lot of rock, there's a lot of everything. It's kinda large, especially lately. Over the last few years it seems there's been more stuff. I think we're just getting more recognized in places like America. You know over the last few years, looking at Canada more. So you're starting to see a lot more of it.

TL: How's recognition been over here [in Europe]? Do you guys see any figures for albums sales?

Brad: Well the album's coming out in Germany November 8th, Belgium I think it's the 1st...

TL: Oh, so it hasn't even been released here yet?

Brad: No.
Barry: No.
Brad: I think it's released in Denmark maybe? Or was it Norway?
Barry: I'm not sure.
Brad: It's very new.
Barry: That's kind of us being here right now...

Editor's Note: Both I and they didn't know it then, but the album is in fact out in Europe. It just came out recently.

TL: Setting the stage?

Barry: Yeah, setting it up.
Brad: Yeah, we didn't know what to expect and the crowds have been really cool.

TL: Pretty high energy?

Brad: Yeah, I think at first they really don't know what to think, and then three songs in they're all jumping around. It's good.

TL: Crowds here... put US crowds to shame...

Brad: (laughing) They do, yeah. They watch more, they're more into it, I don't know. More appreciative.
Barry: More of them clap along, and they know the parts and stuff.

TL: Your latest single "Home" was released a few weeks ago in the States. Do you know how that's doing at all?

Brad: I think it's doing ok, I don't know.
Barry: I think it's doing really good.

TL: Do you expect it to do pretty good?

Barry: It looks like it's doing good in its class in the charts.

TL: When "I Hate (Everything About You)" came out, after a couple of months, it was all over the radio and I think everybody was expecting [in anticipation] something more from you. Can you talk about "Home"? The song, what it means?

Brad: Um, I think it's pretty straight forward. I think everybody's been in that type of situation where you're stuck in a place. And usually it's, you know, for us it was home. There's lots of neglect and feelings you have at home. They neglect us, it's pretty straight forward.

TL: How do you guys write? Do you do lyrics first, or do you just start playing something?

Brad: We usually just start playing something and do lyrics later, but we do it as a group. Everybody brings stuff to the table and we go from there. Lately we've got a little studio set up in the back so we can go, plug in and record it, and it's pretty cool.

TL: Well the one thing about your lyrics, and especially with "Home", but on the entire album the lyrics really seem like they're telling a story that you can visualise. Are they [the lyrics] based on personal experiences, or do they just kinda come from nowhere?

Brad: I think, like we said, we all kinda come together, so I think definitely for some people it's personal and we came from a small town, so we got to see a lot of things up close. And we had a lot of friends that went through a lot of shit growing up, and everybody goes through shit. But I think in a small town everybody knows your business, so it's know. Like, Jimmy down the street's getting beat by his dad, and everybody knows it.
Barry: The same shit goes on in a big city, you just don't really know about it. But when you're in a teeny little community everybody.. there's just nowhere to hide from it. You know, if you're in a fight or an arguement, you have to solve it. It ain't gonna go away. It's not like a big city where you can just get away from your problems.
Brad: So I think a lot of it came from that. Just growing up.

TL: What do you guys do when you're not touring? Do you like to hang together or what?

Brad: We just split for however long. Then come back. We go hang with our families.
Barry: We're together a lot.
Brad: Yeah.
Barry: It's not that we don't get along, we all love each other, but when you get home after living in a tube together for a long time...
Brad: We do laundry, lots of laundry.
Barry: Laundry. Cut the lawn, I never thought I'd miss cutting my lawn. You know what I mean? (laughs)

TL: Have you guys been writing stuff for a new album or are you thinking about it at all?

Barry: Yeah, we've been working on it for a bit. Again, we all have means of recording our stuff... (inaudible, their bus driver coughed)

TL: Do you have any timeframe for the album?

Barry: It'll be the spring or summer of next year. We're on tour until December 23rd with Hoobastank and we'll take a couple weeks for Christmas and probably do something in January... probably take February and March off to start recording.

TL: What type of music do you listen to? What's the last album you bought?

Barry: The last albums I bought were The Used's two latest albums. I just recently bought both of them. I like a lot of stuff, and 70's stuff too. A lot of Led Zeppelin.
Brad: I don't even remember the last album I bought. I don't buy too many.

TL: Do you see any trends in music now? Like something's getting big now, something's gonna die off soon... Think music's gonna get better or worse?

Brad: It's hard to say, I really don't know.
Barry: I think it's gonna get better. You know, for a long time the record companies would focus on just the one hit and that was it. It got to a point, where it got so bad that everybody started downloading it. Who's gonna buy a record with one song on it? Now I'm starting to notice there's a lot of cooler bands coming up and I think the record companies are finally starting to realize that that's been the problem all along. That one three-minute song isn't gonna work, it's gotta go back to the old days again with the bands of the 70's. Used to guy but a Zeppelin record or whatever and open it up there would be artwork, there was the music, everything kinda was a big picture. They don't do that anymore. Where the record is good from beginning to end... they used to develop bands back then. Put money into bands and develop them into something. You know? And that kinda went away, but it appears me it seems like it's coming back. There's a lot more bands now that I think lately that are really cool. Not necessarily just the three-minute pop song or something. You know bands like The Mars Volta is more progressive, and it doesn't have to be just a three-minute whatever. So, that's just my opinion, I hope it's gonna be better.

TL: When you talk about the total package of the music, what do you think of the growing trend of iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster, etc.?

Brad: I think if you create an album with artwork, and treat it like art and it's good, people buy it, no matter what. And that's the problem, what [Barry] was saying It's just one or two song, people just get those songs...
Barry: Again, that's what's been missing. Again, you have a song that's on the radio, that's their one hit. The rest of the album's crap, and there's no artwork that has any meaning to... know what I mean? It's just like they were selling a song. And people can see right through that... it's the same reason I download. I'm not gonna go buy a record for a song, that's ridiculous, that's stupid. You know, it's the record companies' fault, they're the ones who gotta get their shit together and develop bands with a good... tell 'em a story. Again, you go back to... I refer to a lot of older music... because that's the way it used to be. You'd develop bands back then in the 60's and 70's and, you know, and crave every time a record came out, you were painting this whole picture. It had cool art, it had cool songs that sort of fit in somehow... Now, that's lost. So I think that's what does need to be done. These people have to get focused on that a little more. And not just sell the song, but again go back to selling the band. You know, a group of characters that you can market to the people. You know, they're interested in them, want to know those people. "What are they thinking with that artwork, where are they going with that?" Substance.

TL: Do you see videos as a way to portray the band and the art to kinda draw people into maybe wanting to check you out?

Barry: I think all aspects are good, you kinda have to take every piece of it and put your thing in to it. Like you have the Internet, you have your website. I think it's important between that, to your record cover, to your songs, to your videos. You know, if you have everybody else doing your shit for you and you have no input, well then again... In our case, we're a band that has input into everything.