Q&A: Seeker Preaches Passion, Bows to Pantera
From a frosty tour stop in Quebec, metalcore act Seeker is far away from their warmer, majestic state of Texas, showcasing material from their debut sonic assault, 2013’s Unloved. Featuring 10 potent tracks that speed along like a freight train and vocal tangents that can’t be misconstrued as subtle, everything, like Texas, feels bigger here.
Comprised of Bryce Lucien (vocals), Chris Keasler (bass), Justin Edgerton (guitar), Andy Torres (guitar), and Alex Curry (drums), Seeker hasn’t been on the scene that long, but has managed to already score label backing from Victory Records and emerge from a state that’s metal heritage arguably begins and ends with Pantera.
Riffyou.com managed to pull Keasler aside to discuss the band’s bombast, as well as the overwhelming presence and influence Pantera, despite its ended history, still has.
RY: Seeker formed in 2011 and you already have a label deal. How did the band get to this point so quickly?
Chris: “Honestly, it’s because of the hard work from our lead singer Bryce. He was managing and doing all of our booking in the early days and writing all of the music – had he not done all of that, we wouldn’t be where we are.”
RY: Considering how new you are to the music industry, do you find it challenging to handle all that comes with it?
Chris: “It’s not too terrible – you just have to roll with it. We’ve all been other bands before, so it’s not necessarily a new feeling.”
RY: Did other labels apart from Victory Records approach you?
Chris: “We had other labels interested, but Victory was the last one I even thought of and when they hit us up, we thought: ‘wow, this would be pretty cool!’ So it worked out.”
RY: What I got from Unloved was this huge force of relentlessness from beginning to end. Metal takes many forms, so I wanted to know why you chose to go toward the mind-crushing metal format?
Chris: “We wanted to be super-abrasive and chaotic. I enjoy the chaos. I like the passion of it – you can tell that there’s a lot of heart behind it. You get a lot of metal bands now that have no fucking emotion and it’s just dudes on stage looking pretty for these girls who are coming out to watch them. It’s nice to play music with emotion and heart.”
RY: With as heavy as your sound is, is there any concern at all that you may be driving certain metal fans away because they can’t handle it?
Chris: “If they can’t fucking handle it, then they’re posers and they don’t need to listen to my band anyways.”
RY: Fair enough. Now, being from Texas – the land of Pantera…
Chris: “Absolutely, Pantera is amazing. Phil Anselmo is God. Actually, Phil Anselmo cannot be God, because Phil Anselmo is real, and Pantera is real.” [laughs]
RY: How has Pantera affected you as a musician?
Chris: “Well, honestly I just want to be that big so that we can have dressing rooms and do front flips off of tables and break all of the bottles…and set things on fire. That would be really fun!”
RY: Is it tough for bands from Texas to emerge from the shadow of Pantera?
Chris: “Texas is definitely serious about their metal. But, it’s hard being a Dallas band, knowing that Pantera’s from there and you’ll never be as good as that band.” [laughs]
RY: Has anyone from out there come close to Pantera?
Chris: “To Pantera? No one will ever come close.”
-Adam Grant
Seeker plays Quebec City tonight, Montreal on Thursday, before shipping down to Toronto on Friday night. Click here for the band’s full tour itinerary.
