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     On December 6^th of 2008, the night in Hammond Indiana was a cold and blistery 18 degrees, but inside The Venue at Horseshoe Casino, the guys from the band Seether were anxious to heat it up on the stage. They were there as part of a huge bill that included Papa Roach and Staind. I had the pleasure to sit down and talk to Troy, from Seether, about his part in the band and his long road to where he is now.

M.I.N.: How did you become a member of Seether?

Troy: I started in February (2008) with these guys, and I met them out on the road actually. I was in a couple of bands that have opened up for them on tour in the past. So I had gotten to know them by just touring together. They had toured for awhile when their other guitar player had left for about a year, then I saw them out in L.A. and they asked me if I wanted to come out with them.

M.I.N.: What other bands have you played for?

Troy: I was in a band called Dark New Day in 2004 and we toured on one album. I was in a band called Double Dragon before that.

M.I.N.: What’s the band doing now? Are they in the process of writing and cutting a new album?

Troy: No, we are just touring right now. Shaun has talked about getting together and writing some new stuff. He has heard some of the stuff that I have written and I think it’s going to be really cool to be able to write together finally. From the stuff that he has heard that I have written before, I think he feels its going to be a good mix. I’m really looking forward to it.

M.I.N.: How was the transition coming from those other bands to Seether?

Troy: Not that different, I have done all kinds of tours. I’ve done a smaller tour where I was in a club band for years; we bought a 15 passenger van and a Ryder truck. We had our own P.A. system; our entire production we owned. We just go to clubs and set it up ourselves. We had a two man crew and then we moved up to a three man crew at some point. That was big time in club world having a three-person crew. Touring with Seether, we have a bus that’s a lot nicer. It’s good to have a bus because the touring is more demanding, a lot more shows in a year, and smaller breaks.

M.I.N.: Speaking of smaller breaks, Seether is about to start a new leg of its tour opening for Nickelback. What’s going on between now and then?

Troy: This is the last date for us on this tour (12-6-08), and then we go home for a few weeks. Then we go to the United Kingdom with Staind in January. We will be over there with them for two weeks, then we come back and we might do a few of our own headlining shows just to fill in the gap between the Staind tour and the Nickelback tour that starts in February.

M.I.N.: How hard is it to learn a whole new catalogue of songs?

Troy: I’m kind of used to having to learn songs like that. Like I had said, I was in a club band and we used to do a lot of cover songs. We always had to update our catalogue with the coolest new songs. That’s also how I learned to play guitar, by just listening to music and playing by ear. When I started with these guys, I had maybe a couple of weeks to learn about twenty songs on a list that Shaun had sent me that were songs that were probably going to be played in a set. I learned all the songs and went out to L.A. In one short rehearsal, we played maybe five or six songs and that was it. We left for the tour the next day.

M.I.N.: Kind of trial by fire then?

Troy: Yeah, I toured with Evanescence last year and I had to do the same thing for them. They had lost there guitar player and a drummer, so me and my drummer from Dark New Day got the call asking if we wanted to come as a team. We had like a week to learn their whole set, then just go, and play it.

M.I.N.: Was there a Seether song that gave you more trouble than any other when you were trying to learn it?

Troy: The main problem for me was making sure I was playing in the right tuning as they were. I had guessed on a few, and it was more complicated because some of the songs they play in a different key live just to limit the amount of guitars they have to take with them. Some songs are up or down a half step from which they had originally recorded it as. So sometimes before the show, I would have to go over a few of the songs with Shaun in the dressing room, and kind of relearn it in another position.

M.I.N.: So there wasn’t one song that gave you too much trouble?

Troy: I think “Broken” was probably the one that gave me the most trouble. The song has this finger-picking pattern, and I’m really not a good finger picker. Dale had played that on the Album...I had kind of figured it out my way and it was mostly right but thankfully Dale plays it every night on the acoustic so I don’t have to deal with that.

M.I.N.: Were there any hazings or initiations the band put you through?

Troy: Nothing really like that. The only thing you have to be good at when you are on tour with Seether is partying. They’re from South Africa and they do like to drink. It’s fun though because we don’t like to take ourselves too seriously. We take breaks and I definitely need my days off where I can lock myself in the hotel room and just relax.

M.I.N.: So what’s the routine before a show for you guys?

Troy: Typically its interviews in the day, sometimes with the whole band, and sometimes in pairs. Then a meet and greet with the fans and the radio station at around 6p.m. The meet and greets are cool, I love to meet the fans. I know when I was a kid I would have loved to have a chance to meet some of my heroes like that. You have some of the fans that are just shaking and I know that was probably how I would have been if I could have met some of my favorite bands.

M.I.N.: Have you played Chicago before?

Troy: I have played Chicago a whole bunch of times. My old management was from Chicago. I have played The Metro a few times. I actually just bought this Cheap Trick video that they had recorded while playing at The Metro. I’m a big Cheap Trick fan. Unfortunately they were a little before my time so I had never had the pleasure to see them live until about a few weeks ago in Australia, when I was finally able to catch a show. It was awesome.

M.I.N.: I see you are wearing a PRS shirt, is that you guitar of choice?

Troy: Yeah. I’ve played PRS (Paul Reed Smith) and they have always treated me well. Originally I wanted a Gibson endorsement, that’s what I used to play all the time. I could never get in with Gibson. When I was with Dark New Day I needed so many guitars because we had so many tunings on one album that the deal that Gibson was offering wasn’t going to cut it. PRS was more than willing to accommodate me and have been great to me ever since.

M.I.N.: Have you ever had a mishap on stage?

Troy: (laughing) I won’t go to deep into this story. I came off stage one night and like I said earlier, during “Broken” I don’t play. Its just Dale and Shaun playing acoustics...I had to take a piss really bad and the nearest bathroom was on the tour bus. So I ran there and went to the bathroom, and by the time I made it out they were ready to start the next song. Everybody was on stage just waiting for me to be back from my piss so we could continue on with the show.

M.I.N.: Is there anything you want to tell all the Seether fans out there?

Troy: Thanks for all the support. Without them we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. Thanks for buying the records. I know the music business is hurting these days due to downloading and all this other stuff where people just want to buy singles and stuff. But to all the people who buy our album, I just want to say Thanks.

You can catch Seether on tour with Nickelback in late February 2009. They are a band that mixes the hard punch of alternative music with deep and meaningful lyrics. It is a combination I would greatly recommend for anyone to see live at a venue near you. Go to their website here, to see when they are in a city near you.