Three Days Grace: Band Analysis

There are many bands that have changed their lead singers—such as Asking Alexandria, Killswitch Engage, Black Sabbath, and more. Most of the time changes are due to disputes, medical issues, or even death. Three Days Grace lost their lead singer, Adam Gontier, in 2013. The band had been together almost twenty years when the split occurred. Usually when bands have been together for a long time, people think disputes are not the reason for the split up. Three Days Grace seems to be an exception to this thought. At first, it was announced that Gontier was leaving because of a “non-life-threatening medical issue,” which people assumed was a reoccurrence of his previous drug abuse (Kaufman). Just a few days after the split, Gontier announced to

Obviously, Walst had taken over singing songs that were written by the band with Gontier’s input, so everything was sort of up in the air. With Gontier leaving just weeks before their tour with Shinedown, all eyes would be on Walst. When he was brought onto the stage, he sang the songs with a different kind of sound that both gained and lost some fans. Three Days Grace’s drummer, Neil Sanderson, shares his opinion on their first show, “Matt came out guns blazing. He brought this fiery new energy to the band” (“About-Three Days Grace”). Although he brought a new face, energy, and voice to the band, they haven’t really made any changes in how they do their work. As they created their new album, Human, they used the same creative techniques they used while working with Gontier. In an interview, Neil Sanderson reveals that this is actually not the first time they have worked with Matt Walst. In fact, Walst had helped write for the Three Days Grace’s first album (Menze). Matt had practically grown up with the band since he is the bassist’s younger brother. This made working with him quite easy, and is probably why the transition between singers went so

They lined up performances in Europe, and even got the change to tour with Metallica, which is a dream for every rock band. For Fans, the loss of Gontier faced them with the decision of whose side to take—Adam Gontier or Three Days Grace. Some people didn’t understand why the band originally said the departure was due to an illness, when Gontier reported he just wanted to leave and start something new. Neil Sanderson shared his shock and disbelief over Gontier’s decision, “We had just made Transit of Venus, which we all agree is out best record. We were at the top of our game. . .” (Kim). It really is a wonder why he decided to leave when the band was doing so well at the time. Interviewer Dave Kim puts in his own opinion, sharing that he has been a big fan of Three Days Grace because of Gontier’s vocals, but Walst “does an admirable job with his interpretations of the songs” (Kim). It seems that most of his fans think this way also, because they have continued to do well despite the change. Despite the change of their lead singer, Three Days Grace has been able to stay on the charts since Gontier’s absence. Their new album, Human, contains multiple hits “Painkiller”, “I am Machine”, and “Fallen Angel.” Although it might have been a hard for the band to lose working with a close friend, they literally gained a brother with Matt Walst as their new singer. Sometimes change is a good