Three Days Grace

Three Days Grace are a band who need very little introduction. Besides having a very successful debut self-titled album with the single everybody knew and loved: "I hate everything about you." They have also toured internationally with the likes of Nickleback (including a visit to Australia) and even appeared in the Hollywood movie 'Raise Your Voice' starring the one and only Hilary Duff. Now, two years later Three Days Grace have released their sophomore full length release 'One-X'. A darker, more versatile and more emotional release compared to their first, I caught up with bassist Brad Walst to have a chat about it all.

"We pretty much had no plans for this album at all. We got off tour and had a break for about two to three months just to return to reality and find ourselves again. Then, when we started writing for 'One-X' we did it all electric and it came out really heavy which wasn't planned but just kind of happened. So, we packed up all our stuff and got away from it all by moving to Ontario in Canada which just has like trees and lakes, not a lot of distractions which was cool. And it was different because Adam [Guitarist, lead vocals] actually wrote most of the lyrics this time, and it actually helped him out mentally as well as providing a lot more raw emotion compared to the first album.

"A lot of the music was actually written on the road but you know heaps of ideas and things like that we would just write down on our laptops or something. In fact, the riff for Animal I Have Become actually came across while we were on tour in Germany. We wrote it in the back of this old crappy, creaky European bus. Lyrically, however, we didn't write anything on tour, we don't really work that way, we like to be away from it all.

"We originally started with Gavin Brown [producer of their debut], but this album was really different, so we collectively decided to move on and use someone new. Howard Benson actually works really differently, like he gave us a lot more responsibility as songwriters and being in charge, it was really cool and so different compared to the last album. I definitely think it reflects musically.

"He would work one-on-one with Adam in one room, then Barry [guitarist] and I would be in a completely different room. Then when Barry and I finished the guitars, it would get fed back to Howard and he would then do the vocals with Adam. It was like one big circle of production. It was so different but it definitely worked for us."

Calling only minutes away from their last show of the tour with Staind and a new band called Hurt in Huntsville, Alabama. Brad informed me that he was having a great time so far.



"This tour is actually supported by Jagermeister, so you can imagine how much fun we are having. It's cool because Staind are a really cool bunch of guys and we know them really well, and it's cool to be able to check out a brand new band like Hurt. It's also especially great to have Jagermeister available everywhere. We have had mud wrestling matches on this tour which is a first for us. In Phoenix this guy actually broke his ankle in a mud wrestling match against two girls which was crazy!

"After this tour, we are on the road with Nickleback and Hoobastank. We weren't actually meant to be on that tour, Chevelle was. But apparently I heard that their bassist cut some fingers off in a carpentry accident, so we were called up. And you know we are pretty good friends with Nickleback so we always have their back and they always have ours."

With all this talk of touring, it dawned on me to ask whether Three Days Grace were going to return to our shores anytime soon.

"Definitely man! We can't wait to get back. We want to play Australia, Japan, Canada and Europe again; but I can't tell you if anything is confirmed yet. However, we want to come back. I also want to play Perth this time, and check that place out, that would be cool."

So with the new album out very shortly and possibly an Australian tour, we have a lot to look forward to from Three Days Grace. Let's just hope none of the members are carpenters or mud wrestlers.

WILL OAKESHOTT

'One-X' is out now through SonyBMG.