Seether Help The Kids

Life's been rough for Seether frontman Shaun Morgan. For those with long-term memories, he used to be the boyfriend of Evanescence's Amy Lee before their breakup (and her consequently penning the not-so-oblique single "Call Me When You're Sober"), and then there was a stint in rehab over a year ago for substance abuse. All these experiences are the kind of things that add fuel to Seether's angst-ridden grunge rock, but then came an even sadder turn of events: Morgan's brother Eugene committed suicide last year.

Fortunately, Seether have decided to create something positive out of the tragedy. Using their newest single from last year's album Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces, "Rise Above This," the band have collaborated with Kids Help Phone to provide charity donations whenever someone views the song's video here. In the meantime, Morgan is open to chatting with ChartAttack about the song itself, the direction of his band and the paradox of songwriting as a private diary.

ChartAttack: A lot of today's popular music is filled with aggressive, selfish messages, but then you guys have a song like "Rise Above This," which is very unselfish and positive. Do you think the kids will hear that message?
Shaun Morgan: I really didn't think about that too much. For me, it was just a thing of having been through an experience like that, and I figured that we have the platform to do something positive. It gives kids a voice, if that's the right way to put it, and at the same time, it's letting them know that they're not alone. I personally felt that the best way to deal with the situation I was in was to write a song for myself.

The thing is, popular music right now is so misogynistic, and I think a lot of the time it's even racist. A lot of the time, it has no substance — it's all about, "Yeah, get drunk, go to the club, get some hos and take them home," you know? It's a really negative message. I have a daughter, and I don't want my daughter to grow up listening to stuff like that. You can't really imagine any woman with self-respect listening to stuff that demeans them. The day my daughter starts listening to rap, I'm gonna start loving rap so she'll hate it and listen to something else. [laughs]

Are you getting a lot of feedback about the track from people over the internet or at your concerts?
I stay away from the internet because all our old hardcore fans are saying that we sold out and the song is too poppy. They don't care what it means to me and they say that the song sucks, and I'm like, "OK, that's your opinion and you're entitled to it."

But I think the feedback from the people at the shows — just from seeing their reaction to the song and then speaking to people after — it's definitely been positive. There's been a few songs throughout our career where people have come up to us and said that it got them through a divorce, a death in the family, a drug addiction, things like that.

So I think the point for this song, and for me, was that you gotta get up and get back on your feet. Life has to go on. You can allow yourself to become miserable and dwell on it, but I think it takes more courage to say, "OK, something horrible has happened, but I need to move beyond this and carry on with my life." It was time for it, you know? I'm not always gonna be an angry guy, so things really had to change over the years.

You've got millions of people listening to your songs, so how personal do you feel you can make your songwriting when you're putting yourself out there to everyone? Do you pull back, or do you let it all go?
No, I don't pull back. I learned how to say things a little more vaguely, you know? Well, maybe not vaguely, but in a way that's not to the point. For example, "Rise Above This" is about something, but it's not at all obvious from the song. The song doesn't say what it's inspired by, but I think it does create a mood, and certainly whatever I wrote for the song lyrically helped me through that situation.

So yeah, songwriting's always been a personal thing — it's like a diary. It's the one place where you can be honest and vulnerable, so you can feel like, "OK, no one can touch me."

For me, though, the irony is that my songs get played for all these people! But it's the only way for me to deal with my problems, so I couldn't write songs and not be honest. That doesn't feel right to me. It feels like I'm putting on a facade. But I can't listen to my music myself with someone else in the room, because I get really embarrassed — they might as well be reading my diary! It's kind of a strange irony.

What's the main message you hope people come away from after listening to "Rise Above This" or watching the video?
I hope they feel like they're not alone. It's always possible to turn negativity into something positive. And I hope it can be something where people can go out and think, "Look what he did with a situation like that," because there's no reason why anybody else can't do it themselves. Really, I hope it's inspiring, because it's supposed to be an arm-around-your-shoulders type of feeling.

So hopefully that's what people get out of it, and that's what will help people get out of their situations. Maybe they'll watch the video and know that they're not alone. If my music can make someone feel that, then I've done my job.