Theory Of A Deadman: "I Really Think That We Made A Great Record"

Theory Of A Deadman's Scars & Souvenirs hit stores on Tuesday. By the time TOAD's first two albums — 2002's self-titled debut and 2005's Gasoline — hit stores, they had already played numerous shows in support of them. Not this time, however, and frontman Tyler Connolly isn't used to being away from a stage so close to the release of an album.

Although the band are playing a number of radio station promotional shows leading up to the Juno Awards on Sunday, he says the lead-up to this record has been very different.

"Our last two records we were out on the road touring like two months before the record came out, and we've only done one show so far before [Scars & Souvenirs] comes out. I think people want to try to build the momentum and have us go out there when the excitement's there rather than just tour endlessly, which is nice."

Many things seem to be different with this record. Although the band worked with Gasoline producer Howard Benson again on Scars & Souvenirs, some of the songs on the new album are much different in comparison to the band's back catalogue. While the disc features many of the hard rock break-up tracks for which TOAD are known, there are also several love songs that Connolly wrote for his wife. Connolly also wrote "Hate My Life" for the "working class person" stuck in traffic and feeling frustrated.

"Living in Vancouver, I've come to see the road rage and been involved in road rage and had squeegee people or homeless people break into my car a number of times or hit my car," Connolly says. "So 'Hate My Life' really just sums up how sometimes everyone says that once in a while at some point. They don't really mean it, but they're just like, 'Fuck, I hate my life.'"

Despite some of the changes in lyrical subject matter, Connolly says much on Scars & Souvenirs remains the same.

"I think we didn't really do too much differently than we would have on the first two albums. I think it just came down to us focusing on the songwriting and making sure that every song is just perfect to us. I think we did that. I really think that we made a great record and it does come down to songwriting every time, I think."

TOAD are on the road in the U.S. this month and through most of May before returning to Canada for these dates:

May 27 London, ON @ Cowboy's Ranch
May 28 Kitchener, ON @ Elements
May 30 Toronto, ON @ Phoenix
June 9 Winnipeg, MB @ Burton Cummings Theatre
June 10 Saskatoon, SK @ Odeon Events Centre
June 13 Edmonton, AB @ Edmonton Events Centre
June 16 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom