“Here we…here we…here we fucking go…” So begins Three Days Grace’s new album, Λ𝖫𝖨𝖤𝖭Λ𝖳𝖨Ø𝖭, on the opening track, “Dominate,” a crushing victory of a song that sets the tone for the multiplatinum Canadian rock group which has dominated the Mediabase and Billboard rock charts over the last two decades with 20 and 19 No. 1 singles, respectively, and excitedly welcomes the return of original lead singer Adam Gontier co-fronting the band with his successor, Matt Walst.
“Matt was one of the biggest advocates to bring Adam back,” says Three Days Grace bassist Brad Walst, Matt’s older brother by six years. “Matt really understands our fanbase and just how dedicated they are. He’s like, ‘The fans deserve this.’ Matt has been in the band over a decade, and we gained a lot of new fans because of his past success with My Darkest Days, but there’s still a lot of people that haven’t seen Adam.”
“We’re from the same town; we grew up the same way; we’re cut from the same cloth,” says Matt of how well he gels with Adam both in the studio and on stage. “We’re more similar than not. I don’t think there’s any Three Days Grace song of mine that he won’t sing or I won’t sing of his. It’s been a lot of fun to hear him sing ‘I Am Machine’ live on harmonies,
and the second verse on ‘So Called Life.’” 3DG started touring with Adam in February and are booked solid through the end of 2025 with further dates in the US, Europe and UK.
Even before the late August release of Λ𝖫𝖨𝖤𝖭Λ𝖳𝖨Ø𝖭, the first two singles off the new album reached No. 1 at radio, “MAYDAY,” the first single with Adam and Matt, a commentary on the chaos of the world and “Apologies,” an earnest reflection on your shortcomings. Their immediate chart success validated that this new chapter of Three Days Grace is as strong as their first two, and fans were stoked to have both singers lead the band, alongside Brad, drummer Neil Sanderson and guitarist Barry Stock.
It’s a move that has never been done before in rock history on a permanent basis, and it has yielded 12 new songs that seamlessly fit with the 3DG’s award-winning catalogue of seven studio albums: Three Days Grace (2003), One-X (2006), Life Starts Now (2009), and Transit of Venus (2012), helmed by Adam; then Human (2015), Outsider (2018) and Explosions (2022), helmed by Matt.
“Matt had gone through the ringer taking over when he did,” says Adam, who kept tabs on Three Days Grace after he left in early 2013 and went on to form the equally intense Saint Asonia and release two albums. “To be able to step in like he did was pretty amazing. So, yeah, I followed them, and I really liked what they were doing. There’s a lot of songs that they put out that I really love, like ‘The Mountain’ and ‘Lifetime.’ The songs definitely had the same feel as mine, and the lyrics had a common thread.”
Growing up in Norwood, Ontario, a township of Peterborough, Ontario, Adam knew Matt since he was about eight years old after becoming fast friends with Brad at age 14. He recalls he was a “firecracker,” always around when he’d come to the house to hang out or have dinner. “He had a lot of energy,” he laughs.
With little to do in a town with a population of about 1300, Matt was eager to follow in his older brother’s rock footsteps and was such an obvious talent that he co-wrote two songs, “Scared” and “Let You Down,” on Three Days Grace’s major label debut when he was just 19. He started My Darkest Days two years later, which released two albums on Chad Kroeger’s label, then stepped in for Three Days Grace in 2013 after Adam abruptly left so that the band could fulfil a tour commitment with Shinedown and P.O.D.
As expected, they didn’t stay in touch.
Brad and Adam ran into each other in their hometown of Peterborough during covid — Adam now lives in Nashville — but the idea to bring him back into Three Days Grace actually came from Matt, who thought it would be cool. One day, Brad gave Adam a ring to see if he would be interested. He was.
“We had started touring Explosions, so of course we had to finish that record cycle,” says Barry. Then, when Matt and Neil were shooting the video for 2022’s “Lifetime,” on-site in Mayfield, Kentucky, which had been destroyed by a tornado, Neil called Adam and arranged to meet for coffee.
“We hadn’t talked in a very long time, and it was all positive,” says Neil. “We’re both very humbled by the success that the band has had over the years. I’m lucky that I’m in a group of guys with no ego. We had coffee, had a great chat, talked about how we could do something amazing. How cool would that be? That was that. It was on.”
A year passed, then in secret they made plans to bring Adam out onstage in Huntsville, Alabama at Propst Arena — April 19, 2023, to be exact — to sing the last two songs of the set. The fans didn’t see it coming; it blew their minds. “It was so fun to see the crowd reaction. It just solidified what we had been talking about potentially doing,” says Neil.
“It felt pretty amazing to get up with them,” says Adam. “It was definitely a bit nerve-wracking before the first one, waiting to go on, but it went really well. The crowd, they just freaked out; it was pretty awesome. What was more important, though, was just getting together with everybody and hanging out and talking and getting familiar with everybody again.”
“You gotta remember, all of these things are just ideas that we’re pondering until we actually put it into action,” Neil points out of any official reunion.
That October, Adam joined them onstage again for three songs at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium.
The following May, 2024, all five of them met at Barry’s place in southern Indiana, not too far from where Adam lives and an easy flight for Matt, Brad and Neil.
“Barry’ s got a beautiful estate down there with lots of race cars. He’s got a studio and a cabin and the five of us just decided the first thing we need to do is go hang out. Let’s hang out like we used to around a bonfire, acoustic guitars, have some laughs, tell some stories,” says Neil.
They wrote “MAYDAY” and “Apologies.” Things were rolling. They met there again in July.
“It’s been amazing with him back,” says Barry. “it’s honestly like we’ve been doing it all along, from the moment last year when we came here to my place. The first time I think was May and, honestly, it was quick hugs. ‘How you doing? How you been?’ And then we just got right to work, and it went surprisingly well, like we always do. We always write together, and we just got right back into mode, and everybody was in the right headspace and excited. It was cool.Right out of the gate we were knocking out some pretty cool songs.”
Adds Neil, “It was just like old times. We got right into the rhythm, sharing ideas, collaborating, with the common goal of best idea wins.”
“We sat down with our acoustic guitars, and it really felt like we had been doing it for years,” echoes Adam, “which we had been, it was just a bunch of years removed, I guess, just back in the room with the guys, and we all were just wanting to try to write the best things we could. It was a great vibe.”
The following month, they rented an Airbnb in Franklin, Tennessee, just outside Nashville, and got together to write new material, drawing on themes of mental health, addiction, death, nostalgia, youth, self-destruction, and, of course, the uncertainty of romantic relationships, then laid down songs in September.
On October 2, 2023, Three Days Grace lit up their socials by creating a teaser phone message of Adam calling Matt saying he’s “running a few minutes behind but I will be at the studio soon.” The next day came the official announcement: “We’re excited to announce the official return of Adam Gontier to vocals in Three Days Grace, with Matt Walst remaining as a lead vocalist, as well.” Fans were ecstatic.
“MAYDAY” was the first teaser of what was to come, the debut of Matt and Adam, in November, while they finished up the album.
“We all felt we needed to write a song that was a commentary on the state of the world at the time. There was a lot happening. A lot of chaos. There still is really,” says Adam. “Kind of feels like we’re all on this ride through life together, but we don’t know who’s in charge. But in the end, there’s no giving up. We’ve got to battle through.
“When the song came out, and it was No. 1, it was a huge moment,” he adds. “Everybody was so excited.”
They returned to Franklin in December to write some more and finished up the recording in January 2025. At the helm throughout were three producers, long-time 3DG collaborator Howard Benson, Zakk Cervini (Blink-182’s Grammy-nominated California) and Dan Lancaster (Bring Me The Horizon, Blink-182), cutting an album that balances such industrial strength rockers as “Power,” “In Cold Blood,” “Deathwish,” “In Waves” and “Another Relapse” with the empowering acoustic-built dirge “Never Ordinary,” about understanding that everybody has struggles; the grungy wistful pop ballad “Don’t Wanna Go Home Tonight,” about the freedom of youth; and “Kill Me Fast,” a stunning plea for a quick and painless breakup.
The band has been playing sold-out arenas since February, including a hometown show at Toronto’s Budweiser Stage, and from his “perch,” as Neil calls it, behind the kit, he says, “I have a good view of everything that’s going on. I can see the whole band in front of me. I just look at that and go, ‘Wow, if there is fate, then this is probably that.’ Having Adam back in the band with Matt was meant to be.”
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