Interview: Gary Segars of Prosevere
I had a chance to sit down and write some questions to Gary Segars of Prosevere, check out the resulting interview below:
Hey guys, Thanks for taking the time out to do this! How are you today?
We’re great! We appreciate you having us and supporting what we’re doing!
First of all, let’s start off by introducing yourself and your role in the band?
My name’s Gary, and I’m the singer for Prosevere.
I promised to give my good friend, Mark Gossard, a shoutout for you guys, so he has asked me to tell Eric that he was the guy that he gave the “Getcha Pull” bracelet to when he lived in Missouri and, trust me when I say, he promotes you guys all the time! Really a great guy!
Mark’s a good friend of ours and one of our biggest supporters! He recently moved to Texas and he’s helping spread the word about us out there as well. Absolutely fantastic person.
So, you just released your new EP “The Damn Disaster” for free download. Tell us a little bit about the writing process for this EP and your favorite moments during the writing/recording process? (I.E. Who did you work with, what was your experience like, etc)
This 3 song EP was done in our own practice space, recorded completely live, all together, with the lead singer of the band “Devour the Day” at the helm, Mr. Blake Allison. He helped produce these songs with us. The idea was to record it live, because of how much pride we have in our raw, live performances. These songs are dirty and show a different side of us. The side that’s influenced by Every Time I Die, Down, and glassjaw along with Foo Fighters and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
We really wanted to do something different with this. So we sat down and hashed out these songs completely together as a full band. Just got in the room and started jamming out ideas, and this is what came out. It was definitely a different experience, and having Blake there helped us put it all together the way that we wanted: dirty, but jammin.
I discovered you guys about a year before I met Mark and I’ve always wondered, what is the meaning behind your band name?
Our bass player actually came up with the name Prosevere (pronounced pro-suh-veer). Back in 2006, when we were getting this thing started, we had all kinds of different names. We all came out of different bands in the Memphis music scene, and we had all been playing music forever, so we wanted something that showed that we had persevered through all of the bullshit and came together for something better. So we did a spin on words and created our own word: prosevere. We like to think of the “pro” part as us being positive about what we’ve been through. 7 years later, we’ve still got all 4 original band members and we’re still persevering through this crazy thing we call the music industry.
Having done some extensive touring in your short time as a band, do you have a favorite tour you’ve been on?
Y’know, I would think, if not being out with Shinedown this last summer, I believe going out on tour with Bush was probably our favorite. We love Louisiana, and getting to hit up New Orleans and Baton Rouge with them in 2012 was an absolute blast. Every show was sold out, the crowds absolutely loved us, and we were able to party every night because of the short distance between all the shows. Not to mention the fact that Gavin and the crew were some of the nicest people we’ve ever met.
Do you have a dream tour line-up? If so, what is that line-up if you were on the bill and if you were an audience member?
If we’re doing arenas, I’d have to say us opening a bill with Shinedown as direct support for the Foo Fighters would be absolutely amazing. But… if we’re doing clubs and smaller rooms (that’s a whole different beast – people don’t sit down, and they’re all moshing, etc.) we’d want to go out with Sevendust and Papa Roach together. Those are four of the baddest ass live bands you’ll ever see, and they’re all veterans at it. Being out with any of those bands would be an honor and a privilege.
I know you’ve toured with some pretty big acts, including: Papa Roach, Godsmack, Sevendust and more.. Have there ever been any “I must be dreaming” moments when meeting anyone famous or semi-famous?
It wasn’t necessarily meeting somebody, but we did a show with Godsmack, and Sully asked Rocky, our drummer, to get up and help them soundcheck because Shannon Larkin’s flight had not gotten into town yet. Rocky’s been a Godsmack fan for YEARS and he got to play on Shannon’s kit, and play his favorite song of theirs. The band was super nice to all of us. It was definitely a “this is a dream” moment.
What is your all-time favorite Prosevere song to perform live? To record?
Man, we’ve got a lot of favorites, but I would say “Shots” is our favorite to play. The crowd always gets amped up for that one, and there’s a lot of crowd response during the song. It’s a faster paced tune, and there are spots that, depending on the night, we even jump out into the crowd during that one. As far as recording, doing Burn the City was really fun because we wrote that one in the studio, just on a whim. The way it came together was pretty incredible. J. Hall, our producer on that EP, is such an awesome writer/producer.
Do you have any rituals that you guys like to perform before touring, recording or playing?
There’s not a whole lot that is routine for recording, or before we go on the road, but before we go onstage at each show, we always have all our crew guys huddle up with us, and we try to always do a blacktooth shot (in remembrance of Dimebag) and one of the band members always says a few words before we count to 3 and close it out by yelling “family” or “brotherhood” or “Prosevere.” Something that keeps our family unit together and prepped for the show.What was the meaning behind the title, “The Damn Disaster” when you chose it for your new EP title?
For a little bit, our band had gotten disorganized and we lost track of what our goals were, and what it would take for us to accomplish any of the things we wanted. Our band, in all seriousness, was a damn disaster for a little while.
We took a short vacation down to New Orleans a few months ago and got our minds right and refocused on Bourbon St. The song “The Damn Disaster” states exactly what happened: “Get back to the roots / Start feelin the soul / We’re finding our way back home.”
Social media is crucial in the music scene these days. Are you active Facebook/Twitter/Google+ users? Do you have a preferred social media outlet?
We’ve always been pretty active in the social media world! It is absolutely crucial, especially as an independent band because, if you’re not out there telling people about yourself and advertising what you’re doing, who else will do it for you? Facebook and Twitter, and most recently Instagram, have given indie musicians a real chance at success that they just didn’t have before. The music scene isn’t any more watered down than it used to be back in the good ol’ days — it’s just that more people have a voice and bands that do have the deals don’t get to hide anymore. Your fans want you to be accessible, and if you’re a prick, people will figure it out and it can hurt you.
We don’t really do video games much, but I do play NCAA Football and Madden on our PS3. I’m a huge sports fan, and football is absolutely my thing. I was raised up on it, and I love the strategy involved with it. I play online quite a bit, but not necessarily with fans of the band, although my username, “ProsevereGary” on the PS Network, has gotten quite a few people to listen to us.
Well, I don’t want to take up too much of your time. Once again, thank you for doing this with us, it was an honor and a pleasure! Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers, your fans and the general public?
We’ve always been pretty active in the social media world! It is absolutely crucial, especially as an independent band because, if you’re not out there telling people about yourself and advertising what you’re doing, who else will do it for you? Facebook and Twitter, and most recently Instagram, have given indie musicians a real chance at success that they just didn’t have before. The music scene isn’t any more watered down than it used to be back in the good ol’ days — it’s just that more people have a voice and bands that do have the deals don’t get to hide anymore. Your fans want you to be accessible, and if you’re a prick, people will figure it out and it can hurt you.
On the subject of social media and interaction with fans: A lot of musicians have taken to gaming as an added way to interact with fans. Are you guys gamers? If so, what is your favorite game to play actively with fans and why?
We don’t really do video games much, but I do play NCAA Football and Madden on our PS3. I’m a huge sports fan, and football is absolutely my thing. I was raised up on it, and I love the strategy involved with it. I play online quite a bit, but not necessarily with fans of the band, although my username, “ProsevereGary” on the PS Network, has gotten quite a few people to listen to us.
Well, I don’t want to take up too much of your time. Once again, thank you for doing this with us, it was an honor and a pleasure! Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers, your fans and the general public?
Thank you for always sticking with us and hopefully you’ll continue to do so in the future! Please go download our new EP “The Damn Disaster” for free over at Prosevere.com and be on the lookout for our new full length record coming out in late spring!
You heard him guys, go pick up “The Damn Disaster” for free and get ready for their new full-length in Late Spring!
