SAINT ASONIA's ADAM GONTIER: 'I've Always Been Pretty Transparent As To What The Songs Are About'

Australia's Keen Eye 4 Concerts recently conducted an interview with SAINT ASONIA frontman Adam Gontier. You can listen to the entire chat via the SoundCloud widget below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the songwriting and creation of SAINT ASONIA's sophomore studio album, "Flawed Design":

Adam: "Specifically 'Sirens' was a song that we co-wrote with Dustin Bates from STARSET. He's a great songwriter and early on in the process Mike [Mushok, guitar, also of STAIND] and I decided that we wanted to sort of branch out and think outside the box a bit a little bit and do some co-writing with different guys. So, Dustin was one of those guys who brings a really different element. In his music, he's got a lot of electronic type of stuff and that sort of thing. He had this idea for 'Sirens' and he sent it to me and I just loved it. Some of the melody and stuff was already there. We just worked on it back and forth and it became something really special. I knew when I first heard it that it was really something special, for sure. But we worked on it and worked on it and it ended up being a really, really cool song. That was one of those songs that came together after a little bit of working with somebody outside of the normal group of people that we would. The record as a whole is just a collection of stuff that I've been through over the past couple of years; a lot of personal things happened in my life over the last two years that I wanted to write about. The entire record is pretty personal. It's a look into the last couple of years of my life."

On whether leaving THREE DAYS GRACE affected writing songs in SAINT ASONIA:

Adam: "I've always tended to write songs from the same perspective. I've always used songs and music and songwriting as a way to sort of let feelings go. I've always been pretty transparent as to what the songs are about and that sort of thing. That hasn't changed at all. I left THREE DAYS GRACE in 2013. It was just a different thing entirely. There were a lot more people writing in that band. It was a different thing. This time around, there's a lot more creative control even though we write with different people. It is a different scenario. Really, for me, I write songs about the same thing and that's the things that I go through and the feelings I have. That hasn't changed."

On whether there's any consistency between his new SAINT ASONIA output and his time in THREE DAYS GRACE:

Adam: "Like I said, I've always written from the same angle. I've always written about stuff I have gone through. My influences haven't changed from when I was writing songs back in the day in THREE DAYS GRACE and writing songs now. There's going to be similarities, for sure, but I would say that as the years go by and as I keep making records, my goal is definitely to evolve with each record. For me, when I started with SAINT ASONIA a few years ago, it was like starting fresh — it's a newer band. This record, 'Flawed Design', is definitely an evolution from the first SAINT ASONIA record. I try to get better with every record. I believe I did that while I was in THREE DAYS GRACE and I believe that I'm doing that now with SAINT ASONIA."

"Flawed Design" was released on October 25 via Spinefarm Records.