All bands go through their share of struggles and Seasons After is no exception to that rule. After being sidelined a bit, the band has regained their composure and come out of gates blazing. Their new kick-ass album entitled Calamity Scars and Memoirs is a cohesive body of work that is bound to get the guys back on track as their aspire to climb up to the next level on that proverbial ladder of success. I talked with guitarist and founding member Chris Dawson recently about the band’s new found focus and what was on their upcoming agenda.
Hey Chris, how are things going buddy?
Chris Dawson: I’m pretty good, just busy, busy, busy.
A good kind of busy?
I think so; I’d rather be over whelmed busy than just sitting around watching television. I think my head would explode if that happened.
I don’t have your dates in front of me to reference, but are you guys on the road right now? Do you have a gig tonight?
No, right now we’re just playing some random shows here and there for the time being, kind of getting our feet wet. Then, after the first of the year, we’ll probably start hitting it really hard. We’re trying to do a nice organic build and raise the awareness that we’ve got the new record out. We’re an independent band right now, so we’re trying to see what kind of damage that we can do on our own.
Man, in this day and age of the music industry, I think there are quite a few bands proving that you don’t necessarily have to have that big label behind you to be able to make some major noise.
Oh yeah, in today’s music climate, if you have the resources and a head on your shoulders, you can do pretty much anything.
It’s been a while since we heard from you guys with your 2010 release Through Tomorrow. What have you been up to?
Well, it’s definitely something that I don’t want to go into detail about. You hear a lot of the music industry horror stories with bands and artists and that’s pretty much what happened to us. We kind of had to lie down and bide our time, but we kept on working on music during that time. We knew what we were going to do, but there was a time frame that we just had to lay low. We had a plan and it took a while to get it in place, but thankfully at the first of this year we got the green light to start kicking ass again.
Well, you’re definitely kicking some major ass with this new album Calamity Scars and Memoirs that came out on 
September 26. A lot of bands will choose a song on the album for the album’s title, but I get a feeling there might be a story around this title?
Yeah, you’re right and it’s the concept of the whole record. We went through a very dark period during our down time and that’s where all of our inspiration kind of came from. A lot of the songs are a reflection of what we were going through as a band and with significant others, family and friends. We wanted to put that out there and the best way as an artist or musician to tell your story is through song. We had a collection of 40 plus songs and not all of them were dark, but when it came time to narrow it down to what we wanted to say and put out there, we chose the songs that had somewhat of a collective theme. When it came time to name the record, just as you said, a lot of bands do just grab a track off of it to use. It just kind of hit me that maybe we should title this like a book or something and it’s just that, it’s the calamity, the scars and the memoirs of what we went through.
What has the initial feedback on the new album been like?
I’m still waiting on the haters to come out of the woodwork, but to date it has been nothing but overwhelmingly good reviews. The write-ups have been amazing and the response from the fans has blown us away. I’m sure there will be some negative reviews and responses from fans, but right now we are riding this wave of great responses.
Now, this new record features Tony’s vocal debut with the guys if I am correct?
Yes, it will and he has been with us for quite a while. I know to a lot of people and fans of the first record, he’s the new good guy, but to us he’s family because he’s been with us for four years already. When we separated from the singer on the first record, I had to call and beg Tony to join; he was actually who I originally wanted on the first record. Tony had a lot of stuff going on and couldn’t do it, so we went ahead with Chris (Shlichting), but it just wasn’t for him. We separated from him and I immediately called Tony up and I begged him to do this. We weren’t even two weeks into talking about it and we sent him some music that he tracked vocals to. The first two that he ever did during that down time are on this record. He’s already family and he went through his whole dark period with all of us.
How did bringing Tony into the fold change the dynamics of the band?
Well, I can’t really compare him, but he definitely elevates it and brings it to a whole new level. He’s such a dynamic singer and he’s so awesome to work with. He’s one of those guys who just can’t walk up to a microphone, sing a few lines and just walk away. He’s got his nose in it and he wants to get every little thing right on it; he’s very in tune with what he wants his vocal to sound like.
What’s next for you guys?
Right now, we have some ground work to lay out to get back into touring. We need to continue getting the word out and building awareness with that organic build of the band like we did when we started. We’ll reach out to that mid-west market and let them know we’re here and here’s the record and get that buzz growing. That’ll get us back on our feet 100% and ready to kick some ass. Then, after the first of the year, we’ll talk about radio and possibly bigger tours. We want to think everybody for the support that they’re showing us. Please go check out the album and hopefully, we’ll see you at a show soon.
Seasons After – So Long Goodbye Official Lyric Video
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By Johnny Price, Senior Lead RockRevolt Magazine Journalist
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