Guitar World
Cover Stories
Some rockers seem to be afflicted with the “Tommy” syndrome, in which every bit of media contact becomes an opportunity for the world to “See me, hear me…”
Shaun Morgan, the singer/guitarist at the heart of Seether, takes a slightly
different view. “I don’t like to have my photograph everywhere,”
he says. “So far, people have been hearing the music and liking it for
what it is. I mean, if I came out and was a 90-year-old man, that shouldn’t
make a difference.”
Morgan, of course, isn’t a 90-year-old man; he’s a young South African
who made a big name in his home country before moving the group—which at
the time comprised just him and bassist Dale Stewart—to Los Angeles. Disclaimer
(Wind-up), Seether’s U.S. debut, is hard and raucous, the work of a serious
power trio (drummer Nick Oshiro now rounds out the group). But the album doesn’t
take any particular stylistic course, drawing on everything from metal to grunge
to thrash.
There’s a similar sense of diversity to the album’s cover—or
covers, since there are 10 in all. Morgan isn’t visible on any of the versions,
naturally; instead, they feature various anonymous people holding up signs,
on which they’ve inscribed their darkest secrets or deepest hopes.
The cover concept comes with its own web site, peoplewithsigns.com. “What
you do is send a scanned photo of yourself, and it will superimpose a sign on
you with anything you have to say on it. Or you can superimpose a sign on a
silhouette. So people get a chance to get up there and say, ‘This is my
inner fear,’ or ‘This is my deepest confession,’ or whatever.”
Morgan came up with four lines that appear on the covers; the rest, he says,
are collaborations between the people in the pictures and the photographer.
“I like that, because it’s real,” he says.
And it doesn’t involve his face.
-JD Considine
AXOLOGY
Guitar: Schecter 006 Elite
Amp: Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier
Currently Listening To: Alien Antfarm - ANThology
All Time Favorite Album: Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine