On the night of December 1, 2011, I attended a concert with Adelita’s Way, Art Of Dying, and Emphatic. Where I got to interview Art Of Dying’s manager, T.J. Sagen, and Cale Gontier, who plays bass in Art Of Dying. T.J really wanted to get my questions answered, but knew the band may have been too busy to do it, so he offered to answer them for me. He did his best, though there was a few he could not answer for the simple reason of he is not actually part of the band. Read some of the insight I got from these two wonderful people below. Please keep in mind that the questions were worded for the band, but were answered by their manager, so some questions may appear to be worded strange compared to the response.
What is the “Art Of Dying”? (How did you come up with your band name)? Cale: “It actually comes from a longer sentence, ‘The art of dying is my life to live.’ It means living your life well, and realizing it won’t last forever so make it count.” Who writes most of your songs? Is it just one person or is it a group effort? T.J: “It is a mix of all of them.” What bands have impacted your lives as musicians? T.J. “Three Days Grace, Def Leopard …those are definitely two that have impacted them.” Just this year, Vices And Virtues dropped, and it is a great album. I have to ask, where do you find your passion? You sing every line so passionately, like you’re really into every word. T.J. “I think a lot of their lyrics and passion just come from life experiences.” Are there any tracks that didn’t make it onto the album that were originally intended to be? T.J. “There’s a couple that didn’t make it, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t end up on future albums.” How did you get Adam Gontier into the song “Raining”? Cale: “We hang out all the time, and I suggest he get into it. We actually recorded about eighteen songs, and Adam sung in two of them. We just told him to sing on two tracks, and promised one of them would end up on the album.” I know that Cale is related to Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace, and that he’s featured in “Raining” but has he helped out at all? Lyrically, or in any other way in the music business? T.J. “Adam will show up and sometimes sing live with the band.” What’s your favorite track on the album? Cale: “Tough question. I’d have to go with ‘Raining’, just because Adam’s in it.” While I found it very difficult to pick a favorite, I ultimately decided on, “I Will Be There”. The form of compassion is very rare, and I loved the way its expressed. That brings me to my question though, what inspired that song? Cale: “Johnny wrote it about his girl.” What has it been like touring with huge bands like Avenged Sevenfold, and Adelita’s Way? T.J. “Its amazing. You get to know them, you see them every day. You build a friendship with them, after a while, they sort of become your family.” I personally have not gotten to hear the first album, but how do you feel your second album differs from your debut album? T.J. “A lot of it is the same, actually. It was a demo basically, and once they got discovered they re-recorded some of them for this album. What ones are on both? T.J. “ ‘I will be there’, ‘Get Thru This’, ‘Die Trying’, ‘Sorry’, ‘Inside Its Raining’ (Re-recorded as ‘Raining’. Um…I think that’s it. Look it up at some point, if you can.” I later checked to see if T.J. was correct, or if there was more. Turns out, “Completely”, and “You Don’t Know Me” were also on the original, self-titled album, which came out in 2007. So there you have it, that’s what T.J, and Cale had to say. Thank you so much to Cale Gontier, Art Of Dying’s bassist, and T.J Sagen, their manager, for being incredibly amazing people, and taking the time to do this interview with me.
2 Comments
10/7/2013 04:40:39 pm
I liked your blog and went ahead and created a weebly blog too!
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