Saint Asonia’s Adam Gontier Reveals Regret-Filled Inspiration for New Song ‘This August Day’
Earlier this year during a studio visit with Saint Asonia, singer Adam Gontier revealed that one of the more personal tracks on their new album, a song called "This August Day," came from a period where he missed the birth of his child while in rehab. With the band's Flawed Design album coming soon, Saint Asonia have released the song, with Gontier offering a full statement on the inspiration.
"Two years ago this August, I went through the single most trying time of my life," says Gontier. "I had gone to a very, very dark place, and, to be honest, I didn't know if I would make it back. Not only me, but people who know me and love me didn't know if I'd ever be back."
He continues, "After a long and very difficult relapse with alcohol and substance abuse, and with the help of some very close family and loving friends, I found myself at a treatment center in Nashville. Not only that, but I found myself in an emergency room, hanging onto life by a thread."
"At that exact moment, on the other side of the continent, my life was changing in the best possible way. My son was being born," recalls Gontier. "Not being physically present the day my son came into this world is something I will look back on and regret for the rest of my life. Albeit I didn’t have a choice. For me, to be the father, the son, the brother, the husband, and the person I want to be, I had to go through that darkness, to finally live in the light. 'This August Day' is about all of that. It’s about that one day in August that completely changed me — forever."
Speaking to Loudwire earlier this year, when asked if he was ready to address and share the personal nature of that experience with an audience, Gontier stated, "Yeah, I think so. That was two years ago, actually coming up on two-year birthday for my son. But it's been two years and I'm in a great place now, and I have been for a couple of years. I think being honest and telling people what this record's about and how it came to be and how certain songs came to be is really important. It's pretty easy to write songs and just say they're about this and they're about that. But I want people to know that they really are about something that means the world to me. Nothing's contrived on this album."
The lyrics for "This August Day" can be viewed below, while the song can be heard in the player at the bottom of the post:
I, I overthink, overanalyze
I try to draw straight every time
I'm always outside the lines
And I, I'm underworked, overqualified
They wanna walk me through the fire
I always find a place to hideEveryone
I was wrong
Burn down
I turn away
The raging fire
This August day
Meltdown
I'm here to stay
The candle's gone
This August dayI, I haven't laid all my weapons down
I don't really know where to run
I'm following the sound
And I, I undermine, over-glamorize
I catch myself every time
Burying the liesEveryone
I was wrong
Burn down
I turn away
The raging fire
This August day
Meltdown
I'm here to stay
The candle's gone
This August dayI'm clawing at my trail
I'm clawing at my trail
I'm clawing at my trail
I'm clawing at my trail(My trail)
(My trail)
(My trail)Burn down
I turn away
The raging fire
This August day
Meltdown
I'm here to stay
The candle's gone
This August dayI'm clawing at my trail
I'm clawing at my trail
I'm clawing at my trail
I'm poring all the nightmares in my headI'm clawing at my trail
I'm clawing at my trail
I'm clawing at my trail
I'm clawing at my trail
"This August Day" appears on Saint Asonia's Flawed Design album, which is due Oct. 25 from Spinefarm Records. Pre-orders for the album are currently underway at this location.
Saint Asonia, "This August Day"