Disclaimer (album)

Background and release

A great deal of pre-production took place in South Africa with supervision from a Wind-Up representative. It continued in New York City before the album recording sessions began in Los Angeles. Veteran session drummer Josh Freese filled the role in studio before an audition took place at Leads Rehearsal Studio. Among sixteen others, Nick Oshiro auditioned and joined the band in 2001. Seether would also enlist guitarist Patrick Callahan in fall that year after performing alongside his then current band in Philadelphia.

Disclaimer was released with ten different cover variations. These feature images from the "Fine Again" music video with people holding signs depicting a negative outlook or a poor situation in life. The concept to implement it through the album cover was headed by the video's director, Paul Feeder. According to bassist Dale Stewart:

"[Feeder] came up with the idea of the people bearing their souls and holding up the signs and we thought it was a good concept. It's kind of like a thread that runs through the whole album, the fragility, or whatever you want to call it, you know in people. People are always screwed up about something, even if they act like they're not."

In regards to recording and single output, the band allegedly faced a considerable deal of label pressure compared to future albums. According to a reflective Shaun Morgan in 2005:

"...With Disclaimer, we were still pretty green and all the say-so was made for us. We really didn’t have much and most of those decisions, I felt, were bad ones. Last time around we had a manager from South Africa. She wasn’t very good at what she was doing and she was letting [the record label] walk all over us."

Seven of the tracks that appeared in their previous album Fragile appeared remastered on Disclaimer. The seven tracks remastered for Disclaimer were: "69 Tea," "Pride," "Fine Again," "Driven Under," "Your Bore," "Pig," and "Gasoline."

Musical style

Disclaimer gained comparison to grunge acts of the early 1990s, particularly the angst vocal styles of Shaun Morgan and Nirvana's Kurt Cobain. The album features an overall moodier approach than future Seether albums which would be decidedly heavier.

Touring and promotion

Seether began extensive touring in promotion of Disclaimer in July 2002. They performed alongside the likes of Our Lady Peace into the following year.

Beginning with the sorrowful "Fine Again" in fall 2002, a total of three singles were released from Disclaimer. The lead single was followed by a similarly melancholy "Driven Under" in early 2003 and finally the more aggressive "Gasoline" later that year. Each song also had a music video which gained substantial airplay on MTV2.

Track listing

All tracks written by Shaun Morgan and Dale Stewart.

Personnel

Shaun Morgan – lead vocals, lead & rhythm guitar

Dale Stewart – bass, backing vocals

Josh Freese – drums