Adam Gontier Discusses Saint Asonia Tour, Collaborations + More

A few days before Saint Asonia hit the road with Skillet and Theory of a Deadman for the second leg of the Rock Resurrection tour, Adam Gontier caught up with Chuck Armstrong on Loudwire Nights (Oct. 17).

"We're all really close and we've been friends for years," Gontier said about Saint Asonia's touring partners. "We're really, really thankful and grateful that we're able to go back out again on the second leg."

The three bands launched Rock Resurrection earlier this year and had such a good time, that they decided to expand the tour into the fall.

"Everybody got along super well. The crews got along well, it was just a very, very seamless tour. The crowds were great and people were in there early every night to watch us play."

Why Adam Gontier Likes Collaborating With Other People

As Saint Asonia continue riding the high of the release of their two latest EPs, Introvert and Extrovert, Gontier admitted that he's often looking ahead and writing new music.

"I've always got some ideas floating around," he said. "I mean, when I'm home and not touring, that's kind of what I do, just sit and write riffs and ideas and that sort of thing ... I'm always kind of working on new stuff so that when we get to a point where it is time to go in the studio, we're not scrambling for new stuff. It's always nice to stay working and stay busy, especially writing music."

One thing Gontier has long done is co-write with other musicians and artists — something that, as he explained to Chuck, gives him a lot of life.

"It's fun, just getting into the studio with somebody that you don't normally hang out with or write with. It's a great feeling to sit and create something together. Part of the reason why I moved to Nashville is for that, to be able to write with people and sort of just get out of what I normally do — which is just sit in my studio alone and write music."

Gontier has collaborated with several peers over the years, including Daughtry, Seether's Shaun Morgan and Breaking Benjamin. There are a few artists out there that he has yet to work with, but he'd love to change that one day.

"I grew up a huge fan of Pearl Jam and all of the Seattle music scene," Gontier said. "To be able to work with somebody like Eddie Vedder or Jerry Cantrell or someone like that would be for me, it would be huge. I've actually never met Eddie but I've heard so much about him and I'm just such a huge fan."

There's one artist that Gontier and his former band, Three Days Grace, almost worked with, but it didn't come to fruition: Deftones' Chino Moreno.

"When we were recording One-X with Three Days Grace, we reached out to Chino's people and we were pretty close to having him guest on the song, "Riot." We were in L.A. recording it and they were pretty close by. I'd always wanted to work with him and we were just such huge Deftones fans. We still are. We reached out to his management, asked if he'd be into it and he was, but for whatever reason it didn't work out."

After Gontier shared that, he told Chuck that he'd add Moreno to the list of dream collaborations.

"I would love to try to make it happen sometime down the road."

What Else Did Adam Gontier Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

What the chances are of working with Three Days Grace again: "We've talked a lot about the future and what is out there and what we can potentially do."
The weird — but awesome — part about co-writing with other people
Why he enjoyed releasing two EPs in one year rather than a full-length album