Brad Walsh of Three Days Grace joins me, and we get right into Explosions, their latest record—one that took a little longer than planned. “Usually we’re about three years apart between records, and I think this year was four,” he says, blaming, of course, the lockdowns. They had to piece this one together remotely, with Barry in LA, Neil in one studio, Brad in another, and Matt turning his closet into a DIY vocal booth. “It was definitely weird,” he admits. “We’d never written this way, and at times, it was like, ‘Whoa, that’s out of left field.’” After spending too much time alone with their parts, they had to reel things in. “We all kind of played too much, just in case,” he laughs. “At the end of the day? I don’t think I’d want to do it again.”
Despite that, the album still carries the signature Three Days Grace sound—one soaked in frustration. “We don’t really think about what we’re writing at the time,” he says. “Then we listen back and go, ‘Oh man, yeah, that was an angry time.’” The pandemic didn’t spark any feel-good reinventions here. “Sitting at home, staring at a computer screen all day? Yeah, there was some frustration.”
One standout track, “I Am the Weapon,” came together quickly with Simon Wilcox. “Barry had the riff, and we just started talking—about our kids, actually. They’re always glued to their screens, swiping through whatever platform. It got us thinking about how different life was for us at that age.” The song grew into something bigger, about algorithms and control, but at its core? “It just rocks,” he grins. “Gonna be killer live.”
One of the album’s most personal connections is to Mayfield, Kentucky, where they shot the video for “Lifetime” after the devastating tornado. Barry, who lives just north in Indiana, saw the aftermath firsthand. “One day, he’s watching clothes fly by, the next, family photos are on his lawn,” Brad says. They decided to highlight the destruction and put a dollar from every ticket sold toward relief efforts. “That’s just the world now—one day, it’s big news, the next, everyone forgets.”
Now, somehow, Three Days Grace is celebrating 25 years. “Yeah, 1997,” he says, as if realizing it in real time. Does a new album have to acknowledge that history? “Absolutely. We don’t stray far from our roots, but we’re always pushing forward.” Some songs still have that old spark. “We’ll write something and go, ‘Man, that sounds like the first record.’” He laughs. “It’s been a journey—and it’s still going.”
Watch the interview above and then check out the videos below.
