7 Seasons Deep
An interview with Shawn Anthony Brown and Jayme Poster from 7 Seasons Deep
by Mike Huberty
May 2016
7 Seasons Deep - Jayme Poster on guitar and Shawn Anthony Brown on Vox
photo by David Luciano
Using 90s-style grungy hard rock as their launching point, 7 SEASONS DEEP is the result of former LAST CRACK singer Shawn Anthony Brown and RAPSCALLION guitarist Jayme Poster joining forces with Madison music scene stalwarts, drummer Tim Schmitt and bassist Denny Carney.
We took a few minutes to talk with singer Brown and guitarist Poster about their upcoming June performances as well as the new record which they’ve been recording with producer Paul Schluter (also former LAST CRACK rocker and current axeman in GOOD MORNING V) at Megatone Studios in Madison.
They’ve already released a video for a track from the album called “On The Floor Dying” on their website and the new record is called Nowhere Land. Brown isn’t afraid to get into the personal tales behind the tracks. “Most of the songs on the album are true stories of things that have happened to me in the past.”, he says. “The music allows you to portray things from a different angle, from the person that’s in the pain.”
As to the new songs, Poster feels “The first record came out in a hurry. The difference is now that we’re a little more comfortable with each other than we were on our first album. We’ve taken a lot more time on it.”
According to Brown, “Nowhere Land” is “about a friend of mine that committed suicide.”, the singer shares. “He was heartbroken by a woman that said she’d marry him, but when he got on his knees and proposed, she laughed at him. He turned around and got a shotgun and went back to the place we all hung out and he blew his brains out in his car.”
Keeping to that theme of finding beauty in loss and tragedy, another is called “Battered Soul”, a song about one of Brown’s Vietnam Vet friends who “had his legs blown off in Vietnam and never felt accepted when he came back from the war. I got into his head or into his heart and he would open up and talk to me. And he wouldn’t get ten minutes in until he started crying. I would ask to hang out with him and he would say, ‘I wanna drink until I leave this world.’ He lost everything and comes back and gets no love. That song says ‘I want to thank you before you go. You gave up your soul.’”
Jayme’s favorite track off the new record is “Deadwood”, a track loosely based on a breakup that Brown went through. Jayme says, “It’s just the mood of the whole thing and Shawn’s whole melody and there’s a violin that really adds a little something there.”
The band’s name has it’s own story. As Brown describes, “I was sitting right here on the sofa watching The Voice. We heard the country singer guy, Blake Shelton say, ‘Hey, I’m in this 5 seasons deep now.’ I just thought that was kind of cool and I looked up at the wall on my staircase and saw some pictures of all my band stuff going all the way back to LAST CRACK and I’ve been in about seven really good bands. And 7 SEASONS DEEP just sounded good and eventually just rubbed off on everyone.”
And even with a new album on the horizon, the band keeps writing. As Poster says, “Sometimes it falls out of you at practice, and people say ‘What’s that?’ and we work on it.” Brown continues, “Tim is so creative and always is trying to do something different. Usually Denny jumps in with the bass and I just start singing and next thing you know we’ve got a brand new song.” And you can hear his excitement as he talks about their new music, “‘Wound Up’ is our new song and it’s got an STP-kinda vibe. We’re definitely be playing it in every set we play!”
When it comes to the live set, Brown describes it as “Really raw. Jayme is a great showman. He jumps around, plays awesome, looks good. I try to jump around and move, but I’m concentrating on my
performance. I think I jump around pretty well for a fifty-year old cat, ” he laughs,“but I’m very one track-minded.”
For the future, Poster keeps it simple, “I just wanna have fun with the whole thing and see where it takes us. Myself and the rest of the guys, we have such a good time just playing. But if we can entertain a whole lot of people, that’d be great.”
Southern Wisconsin audiences have a chance to see 7 SEASONS DEEP on June 11th at the Back Bar in Janesville, June 25th at the Bacon, Brew & BBQ Fest in Sun Prairie, and June 26th where they’ll be opening for hard rock legends, KING’S X, at the High Noon Saloon. Their website 7seasonsdeep.com also has a brand new store where fans can get shirts, bumper stickers, and other merchandise.
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CD: Nowhere Land