INTERVIEW: BRAD WALST (THREE DAYS GRACE)

Three Days Grace is a Canadian rock band formed in 1997 by Brad Walst (bassist), Neil Sanderson (drums, vocals) and Adam Gontier (lead vocalist). They were joined by lead guitarist Barry Stock in 2003.

They have released five studio albums, each at three-year intervals: Three Days Grace, One-X, Life Starts Now, Transit of Venus and Human — which was released in 2015.

At the start of 2013, the band announced that frontman Gontier was resigning from the band because of a “non-life-threatening” health issue. He was replaced by My Darkest Days lead singer Matt Walst.

I met Brad Walst before their show at The O2 Kentish Town Forum, and had a chat about the band’s latest album, favourite concerts, as well as their personal musical inspirations.

Hello I’m Margot from The Upcoming, thank you for talking to us, here at the Forum tonight. Let’s start with your record “Human,” can you tell us a bit about it?

Human was recorded last year, it’s our first record with our new singer Matt, who is my younger brother. And yeah, it’s a really great record, we’re really proud of this record. For us it was definitely something that we really wanted to get right. For that we actually went back to our original producer Gavin Brown, who did our debut album and One-X. So really give this kind of old school Three Days Grace sound. And it’s been great you know, we’ve been super busy with Matt. And it’s been three years now so, it’s been non-stop touring and recording. And yeah, we’re really proud of the last few years for sure.

Are you excited to work with your little brother?

I love it. Matt used to be in a band called My Darkest Days before our band, and I hadn’t seen him for five years probably, you know off and on, but little short periods of times so to have him around everyday has been awesome. It’s definitely a blessing when you can get up on a stage in front of thousands of people and play with somebody in your family. It’s pretty cool.

What was your fan’s reaction to the change?

Well you know, they weren’t excited about it. To be honest, everyone felt kind of blind-sided. We never saw it coming. Their initial reaction was… they were upset obviously. You know when you have social media, platforms like facebook and everything, it’s definitely a platform for the haters to come out and tell you what they really think, so we tried to stay away from reading any of that and just kinda try to keep going forward. Luckily for us, we had a Shinedown tour booked, a co-headlining tour across America. Big arenas, you know 10 to 20 thousands people every night. Matt had three weeks to get ready for that. It’s a funny story, because I was literally having lunch with my brother. I got the phone call that our old singer left and I was just like “What are you doing? You’re on break… Let’s go touring.” He was like “Ok, yeah I’ll come sing for a while” but that was three years ago. It’s pretty amazing. It’s unheard of almost. And have the success we’ve had with him as the new singer is definitely a history maker for sure.

So do you feel like this has definitely changed now, all the hate?

Oh yeah, you know it only took about a year. Sure, there’s always gonna be that little group of people who can’t deal with change. But I think this record really proves that we’re still Three Days Grace, we still have that sound. Matt’s no stranger to the writing with Three Days Grace. He wrote on our first record. He was a co-writer. And he was a co-writer on Transit of Venus. He’s been around us for 20 years, being my brother, he’s part of the family. He’s seen our ups and downs. For him it’s really natural to sing these songs because he knows exactly where they’re coming from. He’s been around forever with the band. It was a really easy change to be honest. And the chemestry was immediate. I think from that first show, from the very first song, people realised something special was happening and they really embraced it.

Do you have a favourite song of the album?

I like “I Am Machine.” It’s probably the heaviest song musically on the album. You know we all go through days were we’re not living in the now, we feel like a robot sometimes. For me, I really feel like that some days, so I think that’s my favourite.

Can you tell us a bit more about your influences?

I guess growing up we all started writing music because of the whole grunge scene. And that was, well, the 90s you know… All the Seattle sound like Alice in Chains, Nirvana… I think we still go back to that. I think that grunge scene was very influential for us in a way.

What’s the state of the Rock scene in North America now, compared to when you started your career?

It’s definitely different. Back when we started, I think was near the end of the heyday I guess you could call it, you know, when people were selling millions of albums. I think now it’s more about touring. For us, we tour non-stop. And really that’s kind of where it’s at. You don’t really sell records anymore. You don’t count on selling cds or anything so, t-shirts, touring, if you can get out and see your fans you’re doing ok. But in North America, definitely we tour America more than anywhere else in the world and it’s still strong there. It’s still a strong scene.

And do you see differences between the American and European crowds?

Definitely, yeah I think there’s so much Rock in America, sometimes they might be a little spoilt. They still appreciate it and enjoy it and have a good time but when we come over here, it seems they’re more passionate and more appreciative. Maybe because we don’t come over here that often, or they don’t get a lot of Rock I don’t know. London’s different I mean, they get a lot of great concerts here but we do a lot of shows and for this tour we’re going to Russia. It’s crazy there, it’s like being The Beatles or something (laughs), which we’re not used to. You go to airports and there’s hundreds of people waiting for you with signs and gifts. It’s really overwhelming almost. It’s pretty crazy! We love coming over here and I think it’s gonna be a regular thing.

Well go to France, it’s full of passionate people.

(Laughs) We haven’t done France yet. That’s one of the only countries… It’s weird I don’t know, we should go over there for sure.

You’re playing in London tonight. And then in Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands. Literally everywhere! Do you have a favourite place in Europe?

I like Germany a lot. We’ve been there probably the most out of any European country. I always feel kind of at home there, I don’t know why. And we have a day off in Amsterdam, so I’m sure that will be fun (laughs). It’s always a nice spot to go. And hopefully we all come back from Amsterdam.

What’s the most memorable concert you’ve ever played and why?

For us, I would say Rio de Janeiro. It was a while ago, it was probably close to ten years ago now. And it was our first kind of international gig, so that one just really stands out for us. We’ve gone back to Brazil a couple of times now and it’s just an amazing place for sure.

What’s your dream collaboration?

Dream collaboration? Wow that’s a good question. I don’t know if anybody’s ever asked me that. I’m a big Radiohead fan so Tom Yorke would be pretty cool. Yeah. And I also like Nine Inch Nails so Trent Reznor would be cool. I don’t know. Big Deftones fan. So yeah, one of those three.

Is there a song you would have loved to write?

Man, there’s lots of them. I don’t know, that’s a tough question because I’m such a fan of music that daily, I think of songs that I wish I wrote (laughs), I don’t know, I’m stumped on that one.

You get a joker.

What about you?

Well, I listen to a lot of David Bowie at the moment. I was a massive fan when I was a teenager. And although it’s no one’s favourite, I kinda have a thing for Drive-In Saturday, so maybe this one, but ask me tomorrow and that’ll probably be another one.

Yeah, that’s a good one!

If I had a look at your phone now, what would be the last song you’ve heard? Don’t cheat. It can be Nicki Minaj.

(Laughs) I’m trying to remember what I was listening to last. It was last night. It was probably Bob Marley… I think. It was after-show so we like to chill. So we listen to a lot of Bob Marley.

So what are we going to hear tonight?

Some loud loud Rock music (laughs). Yeah it’s gonna be good. We’re excited to be here so it’s definitely going to be a high-energy show. Lots of sweat and lots of good Rock’n roll.

Is there something special you do before you go on stage?

Yep! We usually kind of meet about an hour before and do some vodka and do a couple tequila shots. Jumping jacks. Push ups. Listen to Rock, listen to loud music and get excited.

Well thank very much. Is there one last thing you’d like to say to The Upcoming readers?

Yeah, we’re just super excited to be here and we appreciate all the support. Absolutely.

Well thank you very much! Good luck for tonight.

Thank you

(Photo credit: Filippo L’Astorina)

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