Interview: Theory of a Deadman Test Boundaries on “Savages”
When Theory of a Deadman bassist Dean Back first came into contact with the songs for what would be his band’s next, Savages (available 
today), he was excited. He noticed that the lyrical work of frontman Tyler Connolly had reached new heights, and that the subject matter had shifted.
“We wanted to write more substantial songs…something with content,” explains Back in an interview with Riffyou.com. “For Tyler, a lot of the theme on the record is what’s going on in the world today and everything that’s wrong. Before that, he wrote a lot about breakups and girls, so I think he wanted to explore some different avenues.”
Loyal fans, don’t fret too intensely. Despite the more blatant attempt at lyrical diversity this time around, there are still many songs about the ladies…how they can be loved, and how they can do men wrong. “With Scars & Souvenirs and The Truth Is…, they had much more lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek songs,” adds Back, noting that the band – which also includes Dave Brenner (guitar) and Joey Dandeneau (drums) – wanted to get back to the more aggressive “original Theory sound.”
Amidst the desired extra aggression, Theory of a Deadman also explore many different avenues with this, their fifth full-length. There are a couple arena-targeted power ballads and pop-friendly rockers interweaved within the album, along with “Livin’ My Life Like a Country Song,” a straight-up country track aided by the vocal and production work of Rascal Flatts’ Joe Don Rooney.
“We wrote the songs that came to us. The album does have a bunch of different styles on there, and the label was a bit concerned about that,” admits Back. [They’d say] ‘this song doesn’t really match with this song.’ But that’s who Theory of a Deadman is. We have so many outside influences, so our sound has a broad range of styles. All of our records have shown that.”
One of the cooler moments on Savages is the presence of rock legend Alice Cooper on the title track. After Connolly performed the songs rant within its breakdown, the band decided that it needed a different voice for that part. Fortunately, some industry contacts led the band to 
Cooper, and Connolly on a flight to Phoenix to work on the collaboration with the shock-rock pioneer.
“Having someone like him on a record definitely helps,” says Back, who wouldn’t mind such partnerships leading to the addition of new fans.
Famous music industry partnerships aren’t anything new to Theory of a Deadman, having been ‘discovered’ by Chad Kroeger of Nickelback in the early 2000s. Arguably one of the most debated and disliked figures in rock today, Kroeger signed the band to his label (604 Records) and had a bunch of writing credits on the band’s Self-Titled debut. Since that point – in the minds of some – Back’s band has been continually lumped in and/or associated with the “I like the dirt that’s on your knees” hit makers.
When asked about this, Back says that the Nickelback conversation comes up way more during Canadian interviews than American ones. He hasn’t rationalized why people are so zeroed in on this topic, noting that Theory of a Deadman has done its best to earn success as opposed to obtain it through piggybacking.
“I haven’t personally seen [Chad] in about 10 years,” explains Back. “We’ve carved our own niche in the rock n’ roll scene.”
He concludes: “People put us near that Nickelback thing, but we’ve made a conscious effort to try and get away from that since the beginning. We’ve been asked so many times to tour with them, but we didn’t do that because we thought it might look like they’re holding our hands. We just thought that for the longevity of our band, to get where we are today, we needed to prove to people that we could stand on our own.”
-Adam Grant
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