Saint Asonia Signs with Spinefarm Records
US / CANADIAN OUTFIT FOUNDED BY MEMBERS & FORMER MEMBERS OF STAIND & THREE DAYS GRACE KEY MUSICIANS COLLECTIVELY RESPONSIBLE FOR 17 US ROCK RADIO #1 HITS
RECORDING OF NEW / SECOND STUDIO ALBUM ALREADY UNDERWAY
“OUR GOAL IS TO RAISE THE BAR ON EVERY RECORD,” SAYS FRONTMAN ADAM GONTIER, “THIS IS A GIANT STEP FORWARD”
SAINT ASONIA – featuring vocalist Adam Gontier, guitarist Mike Mushok, bassist Cale Gontier & drummer Sal Giancarelli – have joined forces with Spinefarm Records, a Universal Music Group label, on a worldwide basis.
At the moment, the musicians are gathered in an upstate New York studio working on a fresh set of songs with producer Brian Sperber (Alter Bridge, Staind); the aim is to have all recordings ready by late March, with a view to issuing the full-length album later in 2019.
“We’re very excited to share our new material with the world,” exclaims Adam Gontier. “Plus, we’re super happy to have signed with Spinefarm Records! It’s such a fantastic group of people there, and they’ve got a solid roster of incredible bands / musicians. Additionally, Spinefarm’s presence overseas is amazing, and for us, that’s a really big deal.”
SAINT ASONIA sparked into life four years ago when former Three Days Grace frontman Adam Gontier and Staind guitarist / founding member Mike Mushok (also an important part of the Newsted set-up in 2013) decided to turn their joint ambition to make music that is “raw, real and straight from our hearts” into a new band and a fully-fledged studio outing; the result was their acclaimed self-titled debut, released in 2015, which charted Top 10 in Canada and entered the Billboard US Rock Albums chart at #2. The album was driven by the Top 10 radio tracks ‘Better Place’ & ‘Let Me Live My Life’ as well as the high-concept video to the featured track, ‘Fairy Tale’.
Given the pedigree and profile of the musicians involved (they are collectively responsible for 28 Top 10 US Rock Radio hits, including 17 #1s!), the demand was immediately there for SA to take to the road, and following an inaugural main-stage appearance at Rock On The Range in 2015, the biggest event in the Stateside heavy calendar, the US / Canadian rockers set off on amphitheatre tours with Breaking Benjamin & Disturbed, both in the US.
Over in Europe, meanwhile, they guested on an arena run with Mötley Crüe, visiting the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden & Finland, as well as playing several dates in Russia & Eastern Europe (as a consequence, Adam Gontier has been back to the region for extensive solo acoustic shows).
With Adam’s cousin Cale Gontier on bass (from Canadian band Art of Dying) & Sal Giancarelli (Staind) on drums, the latest SA line-up is now primed for a comprehensive live campaign in support of the forthcoming sophomore release; this will include key festivals and headline shows, both at home and abroad – and indeed with a new deal in place and a new chapter primed to unfold, the four musicians are keen to place as much emphasis on the international arena as continuing to build their success story at home.
Right from the start, Saint Asonia – Loudwire’s ‘Best New Artist’ of 2015 – has been fuelled by a single vision; to put music and emotion first, and to deliver recordings that aren’t overly produced or messed around with. It’s a vision that’s reflected in the very name of the band (derived, with a grin, from the desire to block out distraction and focus on the purely creative – asonia is the term for ‘tone deafness’!), and it’s a vision that very much underpins the latest studio recordings…
Concludes Adam Gontier: “This new album is a giant step forward for us in many ways. Of course, there’s those elements that have always been present in the music, like the heavy riffs and the vulnerability within the lyrics, but there’s also a completely new element that takes things to a different level. Our goal is to raise the bar on every record, so we’re incorporating a lot of different sounds and instruments on this one. For me, this is the best stuff I’ve written since 2005. I guess you’ll have to hear it to judge for yourself!”
