Interview: Three Days Grace

Voor het eerst sinds zes jaar tijd was Three Days Grace terug in Nederland om een uitverkochte show te spelen in de Melkweg. Wij spraken nieuwe zanger Matt Walst en drummer Neil Sanderson over het nieuwe album, dat terug zal gaan naar de oude Three Days Grace – harder en agressiever.

It’s been a while since you’ve been here. How does it feel to be back?

Neil: It actually feels amazing to be back. This is one of our favorite places in the world so far. People are very friendly and our show is sold out tonight, which is a pleasant surprise. It’s gonna be a lot of fun.

What do you think is the nicest thing about Amsterdam?

Neil: I just like the freedom, you know. I like how everything’s kind of laid back. The laws are a little bit more lenient and the people are just more chilled.

Matt: This is my first time here, so I just walked out for the first time. It’s actually really cool, because my whole family is from here. My dad was born an hour away from Amsterdam, so it’s nice to finally be able to see it.

Last night you guys played a sold out show in London. How was that?

Neil: When you sell out a venue in London, it’s always something to be happy about, but the show was good too. Our journey from London to here was a bit inconvenient though. We took the ferry to Amsterdam and we ended up being locked at the top area of the ferry pretty much all night. They wouldn’t let us go back to the bus, so we had to sleep on chairs.

Matt, you’re the new singer now. How’s the response been so far?

Matt: It’s been great. At first I was a little freaked out, but the crowds have been awesome. If you give them a lot of energy, they give you a lot of energy back.
Neil: He’s right. There’s really a lot more energy on stage now. Matt brings a new vibe to the band and the crowds keep getting bigger and more energetic.

Adam quitted the band 3 weeks before tour started. How was it for you to prepare in such a short period of time?

Matt: I pretty much locked myself into my basement for 3 weeks. I practiced the whole time. It was a little scary, but the first song we played just felt right.

When did you decide Matt was not just a fill-in anymore, but the permanent new singer of the band?

Neil: We pretty much knew right away Matt was gonna be our new singer, but we wanted to take our time with it. We just wanted to be on tour and give people the time to get used to it. Brad, our bass player, and Matt are brothers, so we grew up together. Matt actually co-wrote on the first three albums too. It just felt natural. We’re family.

What are your plans for the rest of 2014?

Neil: We’re going to Russia after this, to play 13 shows. If we make it back from Russia we’re gonna finish our album, which will be out in march 2015.

Can you tell me something about the album?

Matt: It’s actually almost done. We’ll be finishing it in Toronto.

Neil: We have a single from it coming out from in two weeks called ‘’I Am Machine’’, which we are really excited about. We’re also going back to the sound of our first album. It’s gonna be a little more heavy and aggressive.

Usually bands take two years to bring out an album, but you guys like to take a bit longer. Is there a reason for that?

Neil: We just enjoy touring so much. Playing live shows is our favorite thing to do. We genuinely tour for two years and it takes us like a year to make an album. We’ve tried to hurry up, but it has always been three years.

Matt: Maybe it’s just because there’s a ‘’three’’ in the band.

Neil: I guess so.

Last but not least: any chance you know when you will be back here?

Neil: After our album comes out, we’re really gonna focus on trying to make it back to Europe. We’re probably gonna play some festivals here, but we can’t say anything about that yet.