Seether Are Triumphant Over The Enemies They Made In South Africa

When The Music spoke to Seether singer, songwriter and guitarist Shaun Morgan this time last year, the band had just played a set at Hellfest France in front of some 60,000 punters. Seether had recently released their sixth album, Isolate And Medicate, which debuted at #4 on the US Billboard album chart, managing a more modest #42 on our ARIA Album chart. Not that that would worry them, what with more than 80 million YouTube views and almost four million Facebook fans, a dozen #1 singles included in their 19 US Top Five entries and international touring at the highest level. 

“We’ve had quite some time off actually this year,” he admits of the three-piece that started life in Pretoria, South Africa, back in 1999, taking on the Seether moniker in 2002 when they signed with a US label and released debut album, Disclaimer. “We’ve been touring a lot smarter than we usually have. We don’t just hit the road for six months and play Florida 15 times and Texas eight times and just do the same circuit over and over. We’re doing short bursts of really intense touring, take three or four weeks off and then going back out. This time we’re going to New Zealand and then Australia, and from there we come straight back to the States, land July fifth and our first show is July seventh. That tour runs four-and-a-half weeks, have three days off and then fly to Europe for five weeks, playing some new countries in Europe we haven’t played before.”

"I just think if you gave them enough rope they’d hang themselves, and that’s what happened.” 

When Morgan talks about something he’s passionate about, he speaks a hundred miles an hour — a definite ball of energy, and a ball of energy that, like most bands, knew the band had to get to the US to really achieve their goals. As it happens however, there were also less savoury reasons for leaving home, as the now Nashville-based musician admits.

“We were at a point in our career where we’d hit a glass ceiling in a sense, because there was nowhere else for us to go. We’d made some friends but also made some enemies and unfortunately our enemies at the time, they were the ones that were controlling all the festivals and all those opportunities to play in front of thousands of people. We’d done a couple of those festivals and pretty much done all we could do in South Africa, and then we got signed by Wind-Up Records in New York City, so we recorded there and did so much touring there that it ultimately made sense to make the move.

“I think what happened subsequently, those people that ran those organisations got seen for the kind of people they were, got exposed for their less than stellar work ethic. I don’t wish any ill on them at all — I certainly did back then — I just think if you gave them enough rope they’d hang themselves, and that’s what happened.” 

Sometimes success is the sweetest revenge. Seether triumphantly tour South Africa every two years.