This band is a little bit strange if you ask me, because what's that old joke?
What's the last thing the drummer said before he was fired from the band?
Hey, guys, I wrote a song!
But, Sean Meyers of Gates to the Morning not only plays the drums and the guitars, but he also writes the songs.
You can stream a couple of the songs from their upcoming debut album on BANDCAMP.
While you're taking in that check out how it's all starting...
1. Is there an event you can point to you that made you say, wow, that's the instrument I want to play? Not like guitar or drums, but the reason why you play the model you do?
Yes. The drum set I played on for the recording of “Return To Earth” is a Pearl Masters Studio Birch Kit. It was strange, about 13 years ago I saved up for a Pearl Masters Studio kit with the setup of a Bass Drum, Snare, and 5 Toms.
That was the exact setup I "needed" to have, I was dead set on it. I was ready to custom order one of Pearl’s website but then a week later I walked in to my local guitar center and the exact kit I was going to order was just sitting there. The color was slightly different from what I was going to order but it was close enough.
The guy who sold it to me was a black metal drummer, I think the band he was in was called Amorte, I remember it so well. He encouraged me that it was a great kit and we talked about black metal and blast beats for awhile, it was very cool.
Needless to say I’ve been playing on it for all these years and I love it, I will own that kit until I die. It especially shines in the studio. The guitar I used to play on “Return To Earth” is a 2016 Gibson Les Paul Studio. My Uncle was the owner of the guitar. I received it from my Aunt after my Uncle passed away this November.
Guitar was a hobby for him but he knew good guitars, and it is a beautiful one. It is completely effortless to play, I love it. I received it under sad circumstances but I am sure my Uncle would want somebody to be playing it, and I put it to very good use, recording the entire album with it. I like to think I am playing all the notes he did not get to play, may he Rest In Peace.
2. How do you write a song?
The writing for this project mostly took place on guitar. I sit down when I feel something coming up and I video record immediately. If I didn’t video record myself, the whole “Return To Earth” album probably would not have happened.
Sometimes its piece-meal and it takes time to kind of “Frankenstein” things together. Other times things just flow and I get almost a whole song done in one shot.
This particular project I would often have these moments of “oh shit! here comes an idea” and I’d grab the camera immediately. I basically wrote half of the album in one day and the other half throughout the next year and a half, slowly adding things and jigsawing parts together.
However, sometimes the vocal parts, guitar leads, and extra layering wouldn’t come until days before I had to record them, or right on the spot. The studio really brings things out of you and makes things come together, especially if you work with good engineers, which I was able to.
3. How many concept records do you own? Could you ever write one?
The record I am releasing now , "Return to Earth"' is a concept album, actually! I have always loved concept albums. I love the idea of sitting down and committing to listening to an hour or more of music that tells a story and is musically and thematically cohesive.
I wrote "Return to Earth" with the intention of it being a concept album lyrically and musically. There is very much a storyline to the music and lyrics , but also all the tracks can stand on their own individually as singles, which was important to me too. Still I think "Return to Earth" is best listened to from start to finish as a concept album.
Some big concept albums that inspired me are a lot of the Pink Floyd albums obviously. Opeth's "My arms, your hearse" has always been a favorite. I'm a big prog fan and a lot of those bands wrote concept albums, it would be exhausting to list them all. I'm not sure if Led Zeppelin's “Physical Graffiti” is technically considered a concept album, but that had a huge impact on me from a young age.
4. Who's influence is most evident in your music? The least?
I really wear my influences on my sleeve, so I’d rather leave that up to the listener to determine or guess. There are too many to list anyway. As far as the “least," I think that’s a funny question so I will give a funny answer.
I would say Jimmy Buffett has the least musical influence on me, I can’t stand his music, hahah! Sorry, he’s probably a great guy, I don’t know, but I would say there is absolutely no influence from Jimmy Buffett in my music….or is there???
5. Which one of your songs is the one your the most proud of?
It’s a tough choice because all these songs are like my children now, but at the same time it’s an easy choice. The answer is the title track of the album, “Return To Earth.”
That song, which is basically just one riff with different themes and variations on it, was the first thing I wrote and I decided I would want to record it, even just as a single. Then about a week later I unintentionally sat down and wrote the better half of what would be "Return to Earth” in one day.=Over the course of the next year and a half I would keep adding material to it piece by piece until I went into the studio.
“Return to Earth” is the first song that I wrote, yet the last song on the album. I knew that it would be the grand finale, so the rest album was written to build up to that point. The song features Meg Moyer on vocals who captured exactly what I had heard in my head, she was the perfect fit for the song and so awesome to work with.
The song has a lot of personal meaning. It was a song about saving my life, even before I wrote lyrics for it. Somehow I knew what the song was about the minute I wrote it. It gives me hope and my wish is that it also gives hope to others.
6. Sum up your latest record for us.
I think I unintentionally answered that in the previous questions, so see questions #2, #3 and #5 for the answer to that. I will add it is being recorded at Backroom Studios in Rockaway, NJ and engineered by Kevin Antreassian and also Mikhail Marinas.
This record sums up the journey of the last 11 years of my life. From a musical and personal standpoint it was a disembowelment, a total spilling of my guts. It feels great. I am grateful for anybody who takes the time to listen. Thank you!
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