In their almost seventeen years of existence Theory of a Deadman have pushed the musical boundaries as much as, if not more than most other bands. They have traversed the range from country to post-grunge to rock to alternative to acoustic and as such have an extensive back catalogue to draw from for their live sets. While many bands would find it difficult to work these different styles into a set, Theory guitarist Dave Brenner says the challenge is almost as exciting as the performing.
“I find it’s almost not that bad,” he countered. “We try to keep the set relatively similar throughout tours because I think you’re right. You want a set to be cohesive. Not many bands can do what Pearl Jam does and throw down thirty songs and pull them out of a hat and make it work. For us, we almost try to sculpt the set and you figure out works well going into the songs and then you try to replace those songs with like songs… I think that’s one of those things that our fans – Theory fans – really help with is that because there are all these different genres within our music we can kind of play a little bit of everything and we appease a very diverse crowd. It’s almost like while we try to sculpt it and make it a cohesive, at the same time we also wanna cover the spectrum that we do with our music. It’s a challenge but one that we like.”
While definitely being a challenge musically, Brenner says that from a playing point of view it is exciting to have such a wealth of material to draw from.
“Honestly, I almost feel like it’s a selfish thing that we do because it really keeps it fresh for us. I think a lot of times… people always say don’t you get sick of playing the same songs over and over again and I think if the songs all sounded the same I would and I think that’s one of the saving graces in having music that doesn’t all sound the same is that you can keep it fresh within the band as well.”
Tune in to the audio recording to hear Dave speak about Theory’s upcoming first ever Australian tour and how a band prepares for that first visit, an in-depth analysis of their last album Wake Up Call, the reason behind the band shortening their name from Theory of a Deadman, how the band have changed from a musical perspective over their career and more. Also, see if you can figure out just what happens at the end…
THEORY Australian Tour dates:
June 22 – Manning Bar, Sydney
June 23 – Woolly Mammoth, Brisbane
June 24 – Amplifier Capitol, Perth
June 26 – Prince Bandroom, Melbourne
http://silverbacktouring.com.au/toadaustralia
