The four members of Canadian alternative rock band Default remained good pals over the five years since spitting up in 2013 after a solid run of 14 years, with four albums and a number of top industry accolades, including a Juno win, under their belts.
In recent years, there had been discussions of a reunion, one done on their own terms and one done with the intent of re-establishing the band and the brand that was both operating well on the business side, but also personally fulfilling for band members Dallas Smith, Danny Craig, Dave Benedict and Jeremy Hora.
There was lots of talk, in fact, but little action. What was needed was an ‘a ha’ moment, an event or offer that would spur the lads from just talk to action. So, thankfully for the band’s legions of fans, that moment came earlier this year when they were offered a chance to be part of a cross-Canada tour by two of the biggest alternative rock bands to come out of the U.S. in the 1990s and 2000s – Stone Temple Pilots and Seether.
Needless to say, the band said yes and that meant that the talk of a Default reunion became a bona fide reunion, bringing together the now country sensation Smith back with his old band, and back out on the road alongside the two big U.S. acts as well as Canadian rockers Age of Days.
The tour began in late October in B.C. and starts up in Ontario on Nov. 6 in Sudbury, followed by shows in London, Peterborough, Oshawa, St. Catharines and Kitchener before heading to Laval Quebec and Moncton New Brunswick, wrapping up in that maritime city on Nov. 16.
“It’s been incredible, just incredible. It feels like home again for the three of us who haven’t been on the road as much as Dallas over the last seven years or so. It’s great and all the bands on the tour are amazing. We’re all STP fans and not only playing with them but hanging out and getting to know them has made for a pretty badass tour so far, man. And I tell you the reception from the audiences has been amazing. We prepared pretty thoroughly for the tour with rehearsals and stuff, but we’re just firing on all cylinders at the moment. The shows are really power packed, and the feedback has been fantastic,” said Craig, the band’s drummer.
“It just worked out that one of the guys that had a big hand in promoting the tour was an old friend of ours and the stars just aligned for everybody. It worked out for Dallas’ schedule, it worked out for all of us. I think it’s the right time. We have been talking about this for years and years as to how we could do this. Because we never broke up per se. We just ended up playing our last show and that was it. Over the years we remained really really close the four of us. We knew it was inevitable and now happened to be the time.
“And it was the tour that sparked it. We sort of heard musings of this tour and we were like, ‘okay this is interesting.’ And as it became more solidified, we took it more and more seriously and got into the rehearsal studio and went at ‘er. I think it really was the tour that brought it all together, to give is the nudge.”
Craig said he and his bandmates are not getting too ahead of themselves, nor are they even trying to define the breadth, depth and length of this reunion.
“Our goal this time is to, number one, just have a blast. And we’re having a great time. We all have other things on the go; Dallas with his great country career, I have been producing and mixing artists in a studio for 15 years, Dave’s making music videos and Jeremy is the crazy electrical guy. He is a master wirer doing all this crazy shit. We have all this other stuff in our lives, so were going to be balancing that,” Craig explained.
“Our goal with this is to hopefully turn the business around again and kind of operate it better on the social media side and on the streaming side of things and really get that going again for us. This tour is happening, but we are not planning the next one by any means, but I certainly won’t say another one would be out of the question, but I don’t know how soon. We are already probably booked on a couple of summer festivals next year. So, we’re kind of back, but not 100 per cent. We’re taking it as it comes.”
Default was a hit right out of the blocks, with their 2001 debut album The Fallout going platinum in both Canada and the U.S. on the strength of two massive hit singles, Wasting My Time and Deny. Two more albums would come in succession through their former label TVT Records, but when that company eventually went bankrupt, it threw the future of the band’s fourth album in jeopardy. If finally came out in 2009 but received little push from their new labels and thus did not sell well, although it did chart on both the U.S. Rock and Indie charts.
The woes continued for the band, according to Craig, who said that they became more and more demoralized and it was not a surprise to anyone who knew what Default had been enduring when it was announced that they were taking a break in 2013.
“Our last show was in 2013 and it was the only show that we played that year. For us at that point we were just exhausted. The label had gone bankrupt and that pushed the last album back two years. So, we had four years in between our last two albums. We also had our business manager die and then it turns out he had been stealing from us the whole time,” he said.
“We had a lot of the wind taken out of our sails by that point and we were pretty bitter and sort of like ‘what’s the point any more?’ The records weren’t happening, we had exhausted all the shows we would play – we needed a break. I think the whole band needed to step away for a while and regroup. It may have been longer than we anticipated, but I don’t think the timing for us getting back together could have been better for all of us. We had gotten established in our other gigs and it was a good time now for it to come together. And it’s coming together perfectly. We wouldn’t change a thing.”
Craig said the entire process, from the moment they agreed to do the tour, to being back on the road in front of thousands of fans, has been as good as could be expected. All four members of Default knew the timing was propitious from the moment they all gathered together to rehearse for the first time in more than half a decade.
“Jeremy and myself had kept up jamming together for the past couple of years just for fun. And then Jeremy, Dave and I got together before Dallas got back from his summer dates, but the first time the four of us were together it was great. We didn’t do like a full rehearsal, but we ran through a few songs, had a couple of beers and a few laughs,” he said.
“When we started really hunkering down and planning out the show, we brought in an extra guitar player, Darren Savard, who actually plays in Dallas’ country band. With the five of us, we started crafting the set and getting excited about that and it really came together quick in the end. It was a really natural feeling. It really was like old friends where you just pick up where you left off, no matter how long it’s been.
“And we have been hearing a lot of great feedback after the shows with people saying it’s like we never stopped and that it’s the best Default show they have ever seen. We are loving it right now. We are going out excited, we are going out pumped up on stage every night. We’re all reinvigorated and it’s super positive.”
As for the set list, it draws heavily from the earlier albums, since it is a reunion show, but also because their last tour was to support the fourth album, Comes and Goes, meaning the set lists leaned heavily on that record.
“Back in 2012 and 2013 we were playing a lot of songs from the fourth album, which was not a big seller for us. So, we have really gone back and pulled out some of the dusty ones from the first record that we haven’t played in a long time. One of the ones we did for the Re-Cut EP [which came out earlier this fall and featured six classic Default songs re-recorded by the band] was Let You Down, which was from the first records. We never really loved the original recording of it. We thought it was recorded a little too fast and didn’t really capture the song like we wanted to. So, it was cool to have another opportunity to record that again and that is the version we are playing live,” Craig said, adding that they have also reintroduced Seize the Day, with its little homage to Led Zeppelin in the break, among other fan concert favourites.
New music is being discussed, although there have been no definitive plans to write or record as of the penning of this article. But Craig said the band is open to it – they are open to pretty much anything, actually.
“We’re certainly talking about it and it’s definitely on the table. We don’t have a song at the point – we haven’t written anything yet. But anything and everything is more or less on the table. It’s about making smart decisions and doing things when the time is right, and I don’t think new music is out of the question. I don’t think it would be a full album, but possibly a single next year,” he said.
“That was one of the reasons we did the Re-Cuts project, was to completely re-record those six songs so that we own the masters for them, moving ahead. I think the plan is to beef up our online streaming catalogue a little more with some fresh cuts of old songs, maybe some cover songs and definitely, possibly a new song. Everything is on the table. We are working with new management now and everybody is really positive about it but we’re not being super gung ho and getting too far ahead. We are taking it as it comes.”
Regardless of what happens after this current tour with Stone Temple Pilots, Seether and Age of Days, and even with the positive pronouncements of the possibility of more to come, Craig said he personally is happy with the band’s legacy and the first 14 years of their career, through 2013, even if it did end a little anti-climatically.
“We have never really had anything to complain about. Hey, we did have a platinum album in the U.S. and in Canada. We did have a hell of a heyday there. These experiences we did get to have before this tour trump so many experiences for so many artists. So many bands and artists didn’t get to do what we have done, and I have reminded myself of that many, many times,” Craig said.
“It was pretty special what we got to do and even some of the extra stuff like in 2009 we got to go to Afghanistan and perform for the troops there in a war zone. Music has taken us all over the world and given us some exciting times and provided a living for us. We all have houses and families and it’s been fantastic. I wouldn’t have been disappointed if this [reunion] didn’t happen. Everything from now on is kind of gravy for us.”
For more information on Default, any upcoming new releases or announcements and information on their current tour with STP, Seether and Age of Days, visit http://defaultband.com or https://www.facebook.com/DefaultOfficial.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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