On June 10th South african post-grunge band Seether was playing the London ULU for what turned out to be an excellent show for a near sold out venue. 15 precious minutes spent on the top of the tour bus with Bass Player Dale Stewart got me knowing the band a little bit better.

You had quite a success with your previous albums "Karma and Effect" first and then "Disclaimer" and "Disclaimer II" on the US chart because they got straight in to the top 10. Did you feel any kind of pressure in making and recording this album given the big shoes that you had to fit?
You know I think there's always an amount of pressure when you're making an album. It takes you years and years of making the songs that you'll put on your first album, and then for your second album you have like a few months to write the same amount of songs! I think there's definitely a pressure that you put yourself under especially if you want to duplicate the success that you had on your previous effort.

I think we did quite well to just focus on the music on this one. We very much focused on that [the music] trying not to think about .... you know .... we were a little worried also cause we took so much time off, and in the music business if you take a year off people forget really quickly about you. We were a little worried about that but it was just kind of put in the back of our minds while we tried to concentrate on the album, and the songs in the studio recording it. I think when the album started to come together we were really proud of what we had created. We were just really confident, and positive. So, when it got released we tried to give it our best shot and head out on the road again.

It even got you an Award in South Africa didn't it?
Yeah we got a South Africa music award for best English rock album. We've been nominated for that a bunch of times before too. I feel there has been a little bit of animosity toward us for going abroad and playing predominantly overseas. So, I think getting this award kinda feels like people are more proud of us now, rather than thinking that we left them and South Africa behind. I think they are more proud now - “those are our boys and they're doing well overseas”.

Being recognized in your own country must be a reason to be proud for you too.
Yeah it's great. Though I haven't been home since we got the award. We go home in 3 or 4 days and hopefully, I'll get to pick my award an then show it to my parents.

Makes sense. The title of the album [Finding Beauty in Negatives Spaces] sounds really intriguing and I have a few questions about that. A) Is there a particular moment when you came up with the title and B) What is the meaning that you try to convey through the album title?
Shaun came up with the title as we left the studio one day driving home. I think that the title is [basically] “try to stay positive” in its essence. It was the year before we released the album and it had been quite a rough year for the band. Our drummer John had a major back surgery, Shaun had been through rehab, our guitar player left the band, and we were at this point where we had been touring non-stop for four years and were all just completely burned out. We needed some time off. Everything sort of came to a head. It was a really rough time you know? I think for us the thing that made it all worth it and the thing that kinda got us through it all was the music that we had, and the album we were going to make. I think the music is the beauty that came out of all the negative.

There's a song on the album called “Fallen” that focuses more on the physical meaning of beauty. What is your concept of beauty?
To me I think beauty is on the inside. It sounds cheesy to say that but I think also that song is about that. We live in Los Angeles [Shaun and I]. There you see a lot of really bad people. On the inside. But they are very attractive, you know? They have plastic surgery, breast implants, lip injections, and it seems these people are trying to mask something that they are ashamed of, or there is something they're trying to hide. I don't think there's anything true there, no honesty. It seems like it's just the culture these days. And it's not just the States, you see it everywhere. People are more concerned about how people look, or what people dress like. Everyone's trying to look like Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan.

Do you think it might be easy though to overcome the concept of beauty from the first look you get of a person?
No it is. It definitely is. At first glance people definitely make an assumption. When I walk into a place people think I'm going to shoplift or something because I look weird. People treat me weird sometimes too. BUT when I step on a stage people are like “Oh my god! You're awesome”

Well different perspectives...
Yeah they have different perspectives and people tend to do that. It's human nature. It doesn't take very long I think to see through that and see people's true colours shining through all that though.

I listened to the album and I found that there's an energy that I've rarely heard in any album. It's all so very strong to me. I was wondering if there's a reason, a theme, a message that might link together all the songs as the energy that produced them and was that energy there for a purpose, conveyed around a theme or a message?
Yeah. I don't know if there's an actual message or something we're trying to say. I think the songs came from a lot of different places. There was a lot of stuff to deal with. Shaun writes most of the lyrics .... all of the lyrics.... and so that's his diary. You can definitely look in there and see where a lot of things come from. As vague as a song can be you can still see where it comes from.

When I listen to the album I it reminds me of that time. I know where we were at that time and how we felt and that certain energy that was around at that time. Bad things inspire good music.

Well they say that it is like that. When an artist is going through a bad time that's the moment where the best art comes from
Yeah that's where most of the inspiration comes from. If something really bad happens, the first thing you wanna do is to pick up a guitar, play something really heavy or scream or whatever. You wanna just realease that somehow ... it's like... if you're really happy...

You go and enjoy the happiness...
Yeah you go and you know that it might not last very long, but you know... the bad stuff - you wanna punch a wall, write a song, and it's a way to getting it out of your system and dealing with it. Getting through it and then you feel better. I know people that write it down and it's just their way to get it off of their chest. I think that fans that come to the shows - they jump up and down, and bang their head and they scream and when they leave all that frustration has been released. That's what music does.
What is your relationship with your fans? What's been the reaction so far here [in the uk] and what do you except instead from a crowd like the one you'll have at the Download festival which won't be just your own.
Yeah we're playing Download and I'm not to sure what to expect because I've heard that they throw a lot of stuff onto the stage. We're a band who likes playing live and we've been doing this for a long time. It's just the case of picking the best set and trying to rock out on the stage and hopefully people will like it.

We just did a big German festival , Rock am Ring, and we weren't sure what was gonna happen but it was great! We had an amazing response. Hopefully that response got us a little bit more confident for the Download show. I mean if anything we've played more here [UK] than anywhere else in Europe.

How do you think the crowd here will react tonight then?
We have always had amazing crowds! I think tonight is going to be insane. There's going to be a lot of South Africans. There are a lot of South Africans living in London so I am assuming half of the crowd will be South Africans and the rest will be just crazy kids. It's gonna be awesome! I've never been disappointed in London. There will be flags, a lot of patriotic support. It's cool, I'm actually looking forward to tonight.

Ok... back to the album and about the graphics. Did you have any input yourself at all about the artwork that was used?
Yeah. We actually took care of all the artwork as the band. It was cool because the label said “ok what do you guys wanna do?”. We found an artist online, his name is David Ho and he created the little girl -her name is Candice- and he created the concept of this little girl. We contacted him saying “Hey we would like to buy a couple of your pieces and use them in our CD booklet". He replied and said “Sure just let me know which ones you want”. We made a deal with him and put the artwork together. It's kind of dark but not overly dark. We didn't want a middle cover but it's still a little unnerving, cause she's a skeleton underneath, but it's kind of beautiful at the same time. We just thought it was such a striking image. That's what we try to go for when we do an album, something that you can recognize in a cd shop like “Oh! That's the one with the little girl on it”. You know it's probably one of the most recognizable covers ever.

So you actually took part in the whole process, it wasn't just the record label
When you start out as a band the label has a lot of say because you are a baby band and they put forward all the money. You pretty much have to do what they say. As you get more success and have built a career selling albums, you get more say. For example “The ball is in your court now” where in the beginning it was mor like “Well we're paying for this so we want you to do this and that and you'd better deal with it!”. With each album we regained more and more power. Our label has always been cool, it never really bullied us in doing something that we really didn't want to do.

What about singles? Did you have any say in choosing the first 2 ["Fake It "and "Rise Above This"] and have you any idea about what the next single will be?
Hmmm.... the next single we're not 100% sure but it's probably gonna be a song called "Break Down". I think that's probably gonna be the next one if I had to guess.

How did you came up with the choce of the first 2 singles?
We actually had no idea about the single and the label said “We want to release 'Fake It ' as a single”. We agreed cause it's a catchy song but we didn't know. We tried to chose singles in the past and the ones that we chose have not done really well at all. We respect the decisions about this. We went for Fake it and it did really well. Good choice. We probably would have never picked it as a single ourselves. I knew it was a catchy song but I didn't know if it was good for a single. That's probably why I'm in the band and I don't work in A&R for a record label.

Is there something that you've always wanted to tell your fans and that no one has ever asked you?
Ummmm... that... I.... used to be a fisherman.... no one knows that. Flyfishing. My dad used to own a tackle shop and I used to work with him. I quit my job to start the band and my parents were really worried about it. “Are you sure you wanna do that?”. I was like “Well I'm young, I wanna give it a shot now and then if it doesn't happen I can always fall back on my feet". But it worked out! So now they're really proud!