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Poison The Well: No More Sorry
Posted by Scott Heisel on 01-Aug-07 @ 12:38 PM
They paid their dues and made it to the major leagues, only to watch their faith collapse and their hard work get demeaned. Now with a new label, but the same agenda, POISON THE WELL have returned-on their own terms.Story: Ronen Kauffman It's been a decade since Poison The Well first emerged from Florida with their technical, sentimental heaviness-10 action-packed years of career highs and troubling lows. Despite their time in, guitarist Ryan Primack is quick to point out that some things never change. "We still do things within the band the same way we did when we were younger," he says. "Just like it's 1997." That was the year when cynics were writing them off as Shai Hulud- or Deftones-Lite, but the comments scarcely impacted the work at hand. The turn of the century was a big time for Poison The Well: Their first full-length for Trustkill Records, The Opposite Of December, wowed both fans and the press; their second disc, 2002's Tear From The Red, saw the band hailed as the leaders of a new metalcore explosion. The hype was deafening, and Poison The Well had newfound opportunities: Atlantic Records signed the band for their next record, 2003's widely celebrated You Come Before You, a disc fortified by a major-label budget, intended to unleash the band's true potential. But the demands of the big "rock life" are not to be underestimated, and the move to the majors had become a pivotal crossroads for the band. In the wake of You's release, significant changes would come. The first of which was the departure of guitarist Derek Miller. "Coming off of that tour cycle, we got home and everybody was pretty burned out," explains Primack. "We started writing, and Derek just decided that he didn't want to do it any more. So we got our friend Jason Boyer [Target Nevada] for a little while, but he ended up getting married and just wanted to do married life and be home with his wife. Pretty much, that was when it really became just the three of us. We learned to act accordingly." But as Primack, drummer Chris Hornbrook and vocalist Jeffrey Moreira were closing ranks and digging in, the band's relationship with Atlantic was starting to show stress fractures. As time went on, it became clear that the label's stake in PTW was starting to conflict with the very principles upon which the band had been founded. "The way our band works and the way major labels work are pretty opposite," says Primack. "They're concerned. They want to sell a million records-that's their job. That's what they're interested in and that's what they like doing; and there's nothing wrong with that. But a lot of the sacrifices they intended for us to make were just not going to happen. They wanted to make changes to our band for the wrong reasons." While he's hesitant to clearly define what specific changes were being asked of them, Primack's assessment of the situation is clear. "It was just about being more marketable, more radio-friendly-having a song they could really push to mainstream radio. But we write what we write, and that's kinda what happens. There's really no premeditated action as far as songwriting and music-making." Facing incompatible goals, band and label found themselves at an impasse. Months became years, with little official news from or about the band. During the interim, Hornbrook spent some time working with his sponsor, Orange County Drum & Percussion, while Primack worked at a friend's print shop and spent time living with his father, who had become ill. As knowledge of the band's lineup problems and creative disagreements with Atlantic became widespread, speculation abounded. As You Come Before You fell further into the past, lots of folks-especially the band-wondered what the future held for this once-commanding musical force. "There were some pretty hairy times in there," says Primack. "I'm sure all of us questioned whether there was a point to keep on going." Still, they kept going. In 2005, the noise of real life was difficult to block out, PTW focused on their new group dynamic and writing their next record. The challenges were considerable: In addition to staffing changes and other issues at the label, there had been the psychically draining aftermath of You Come Before You and its demanding support schedule. In the middle of all the uncertainty, Primack's father passed away in February soon after falling ill. The guitarist was already feeling burned out and the personal tragedy was too much, The band became his coping mechanism with mixed results: A demo-recording session that took place shortly after his father's death was, in Primack's words, "a mess." PTW soldiered on that summer as a major draw on the inaugural Sounds Of The Underground tour, but by the end, the guitarist's nerves were shot. ("I really fell apart," say Primack. "I'd try to distract myself so that I could avoid grieving, but when we got home from that tour I remember being a total mess.") PTW spent the rest of '05 catching their collective breath, and recovering from a personal and artistically tumultuous period. Want the rest of the story? Pick up a copy of AP 227. Click HERE for the official AP review of Versions. |
