Theory of a Deadman
Theory of a Deadman Performs at the ASA Action Sports World Tour in
Minneapolis
Tyler Connolly - lead vocals / guitar
Dean Back - bass
David Brenner - guitar
Theory of a Deadman had a simple but daunting goal for its third album: to make the
greatest record possible.
"I always try to remind the guys and myself that there are 20 bands lined up behind us
just waiting for a chance to take our place," says frontman
Tyler Connolly. "So that
means we had to go in there and make a great record." With
Scars & Souvenirs, the
Vancouver trio has hit its mark.
The balanced 13-track effort is the polished and passionate testament to seven years of
hard work, heavy touring and diligent attention to its craft. From the swirling grind of
"By the Way" to the nasty snarl of "Crutch" to the soaring melodicism of "Not Meant to Be"
and "Wait For Me,"
Scars And Souvenirs is a broad-reaching endeavor that puts Connolly,
guitarist
Dave Brenner and bassist
Dean Back high in the rock pantheon, achieving creative
growth without sacrificing the hard-hitting power that got them here in the first place.
"We really dug hard on this one," Connolly notes. "The longer you're in a band, the more
you write songs, the better you get. We've had such a great opportunity to figure out what
to do better, how to write a better song and keep building and building. That's exciting
for us."
Scars & Souvenirs began taking shape in February of 2007, as Theory was winding down from
touring to support its second album, 2005's
Gasoline, a slump-defying sophomore outing
that launched the hits "No Surprise," "Say Goodbye," "Santa Monica" and "Hello Lonely
(Walk Away From This)." The group returned to Grammy-nominated producer Howard Benson, who
in turn issued marching orders that set the tone for the project.
"Before we even went into the studio, Howard wanted to gear this record up to sound huge,"
Connolly recalls about Benson's "all killer, no filler" approach to the record. "He said,
'You have to go into a record with great songs. You can't make them while you're there.
You can't just go in with one or two great songs. You've got to have 10.' So we just kept
sending him songs until we had the 10 to 12 great ones, and then he said, 'OK, let's go.'"
Theory actually brought about 17 songs to Los Angeles' Bay 7 studios in August of 2007.
Amidst low-key hijinks — Brenner and Back grew mustaches, Connolly sported a fake one in
the name of band unity — the group and studio drummer
Robin Diaz recorded 15 before
choosing the 12 that ultimately comprise
Scars & Souvenirs, which proved an apt title for
the range of emotions Connolly sings about on the album.
"It's the scars and souvenirs of your life," he explains. "The songwriting on the record
is really about someone's past or and present, their relationships and how they shape
everything. It's more metaphorical than physical scars and trophies."
And while Connolly has certainly done his turn as a rock 'n' roll king of pain on
Gasoline
and 2002's attention-catching debut
Theory Of A Deadman, he went into
Scars & Souvenirs
determined to show he could be more than the "callous bastard"
Rolling Stone magazine
called him in an early profile.
Here, Connolly explores broad new lyrical terrain, indicative of his growth as a person
and as songwriter. "For awhile there, every song was, 'Get the f*&k out! I don't need
women! Screw them!' That's kinda how I felt at that point," Connolly says with a
self-effacing laugh. "But I've grown as a songwriter, and as a person. I wanted to write
some different, nicer songs for a change."
He didn't have to look hard for inspiration. He wrote "Wait For Me," with its acoustic
guitar underpinning and rich chorus, for his wife, paying tribute to her fortitude in
being home alone while he's on the road. The piano-laden "All or Nothing," meanwhile,
chronicles their relationship, which began as a good friendship before blossoming into
romance. "It was kind of sick of me writing all these woman-hater songs before,"
acknowledges Connolly, whose mother left his family when he was in high school, providing
rich source material for his earlier work. "People thought I was writing about my wife."
While Connolly's lyrics have taken on a kinder, gentler pallor on
Scars & Souvenirs, the
band continues to keep the knobs cranked to 11.
Connolly also went into
Scars And Souvenirs trying to write some songs that were "just for
fun," and succeeded with tracks such as "End of Summer," an anthem about the
bittersweetness of endings, whether that of a season or a relationship.
But even though the album mines a deeper emotional trough, it charges with the same potent
force of its predecessors. When fans eagerly crank up the likes of "So Happy," "Got it
Made" and "Bad Girlfriend," they'll end up with a set of blown out speakers, thanks to
the firepower that crackles in these rockers, while "Sacrifice" bristles with the kind of
primal, super-charged defiance that has long defined the best hard rock.
"A lot of bands, they grow older and they get grayer and they just can't do the rock songs
anymore," Connolly says. "I don't see that happening to us. Fans are gonna hear our record
and hear some softer stuff, but we're a rock band. I think it sounds bigger than the other
two (albums) we've done."
Which is, not surprisingly, why Connolly, Brenner and Back are chomping at the bit to take
Scars And Souvenirs out on the road. "We really want to take the band farther this time,"
Connolly says. "We want to get out there to places we have not been before - where a lot
of our fans are — Asia, Australia, as well as reaching our fans in North America and
Europe. We're just a hard-working band, man. We want to be out there for a couple of years
and play these songs to everybody we possibly can."
With an album like
Scars & Souvenirs, the fans will be lining up to listen.
Tickets can be purchased at All Ticketmaster outlets Ticketmaster, Target Center Box Office or call (651) 989-5151
