Tahoe Onstage photos by Tony Contini
Review and photos by Tony Contini
Saint Asonia is a supergroup that melds Three Days Grace’s singer, Adam Gontier, and Staind’s guitarist, Mike Mushok.
Three Days Grace put out an album earlier this year, but Aaron Lewis and the gang haven’t recorded since 2011. Since, Lewis has been singing about pot and creating acoustic renditions of his tunes, while Mushok has been band-hopping with the greats, including James Newsted of Metallica.
At an Oct. 24 appearance in the Reno Knitting Factory with headliner Seether, Mushok showed that he hasn’t missed a 1/16th note. He still rocks a baritone guitar, masters natural harmonics, plays intricate, sludgy riffs and can solo at ridiculous speeds. His addition to a project similar to Three Days Grace is paramount.
Gontier was constantly conversing with the crowd and sang into a clenched Terminator hand mic stand. He said the musicians constantly get asked if they “cover their old songs.” He made is perfectly clear that they don’t play covers, but often play the songs they themselves wrote a while back.
The band played favorites such as “Mudshovel” and “For You” from Staind’s heyday as well as “Animal I Have Become” and “I Hate Everything About You.” I guess we didn’t need Lewis’ whining that much after all, although I’d pay money to see another human attempt the main riff from “Mudshovel.”
It split their opener timeslot with older originals and cuts from the self-titled 2015 release.
It’s either a blessing or a curse to have an opener set the bar so high. Seether then came out in costumes and sealed the deal.
Shaun Morgan was some sort of cute chubby bear, but he sang muddled and grungier than ever. Their bassist, Dale Stewart, was Where’s Waldo and played flashily around the stage.
The Mesa and Harke amps that lined the back of their set had to be Guinness-worthy. If not, they certainly turned up to 11. Because it’s louder than 10.
The mic stands were covered in holiday lights, baby dolls and antlers. I doubt the decor was holiday related, that’s just the kind of dudes they are.
Seether touched back to its debut 2002 release, “Disclaimer,” within the first three songs. “Gasoline” sounded just like it did in high school: Morgan’s voice maintained. The group pulled from its five albums and kept the crowd thrilled.
