Former THREE DAYS GRACE singer Adam Gontier was interviewed by Artisan News last Thursday (January 17) at "Rock For Recovery", a benefit for victims of Hurricane Sandy at Gramercy Theater in New York City. Check out the chat in two parts below.

Gontier last week spoke to The Pulse Of Radio about his reasons for leaving the band he co-founded after 20 years together. The original announcement by the band and his follow-up statement seemed to have conflicting views regarding Gontier's health and his motivations, so The Pulse Of Radio asked him why he made this move now. "For me, I think the thing that broke the camel's back was, I had enough of the money coming before the music," he said. "It's not perfect timing, but it had to be done, you know. For the sake of my own mental health and well-being, I had to do it."

Gontier elaborated on what went wrong for him after playing in THREE DAYS GRACE for two decades. "You know, the music really wasn't coming from the heart," he said. "I can say that on the record 'Transit Of Venus', there's maybe one or two songs that actually do come from my heart, but a lot of songs have been written just for radio and for fans, you know, to relate to. Quite a bit of it just adds up to the fakeness of the whole industry and how you're writing hits for other people and not yourself — and that's really what the band was, has been all about."

THREE DAYS GRACE announced Gontier's departure from the group earlier this week, although he officially resigned on December 21.

The band claims that he told them he was leaving through a letter from his lawyer, with no personal discussion or contact between Gontier and his bandmates.

THREE DAYS GRACE will appear as planned on a co-headlining tour with SHINEDOWN that starts on February 1, with Matt Walst of MY DARKEST DAYS filling in on vocals. The group will announce its future plans after the tour.

The tour is in support of the band's fourth album, "Transit Of Venus", which includes the No. 1 rock radio hit "Chalk Outline".

Gontier plans to begin work on a solo album in the near future.