Hard rock band SAINT ASONIA, featuring former THREE DAYS GRACE frontman Adam Gontier and STAIND guitarist/founding member Mike Mushok, has released its cover version of The Weeknd‘s “Blinding Lights”. The recording is described in a press release as “like a mashup of both artist’s sounds and it finds SAINT ASONIA fearlessly trying new things, while putting their distinct stamp on the track, making it their own.”
Regarding how SAINT ASONIA arrived at the decision to cover an R&B/pop artist, Gontier said: “It’s always interesting deciding on a song to cover. In this case, I just wanted to do something that people wouldn’t necessarily expect. I mean, any way you look at it, ‘Blinding Lights’ is a great song. It was fun to give it our flavor, and add our style to it. Also, both we and The Weeknd are Canadian, specifically from the Toronto area, so that made it even sweeter. We’re all pumped with how it turned out. It hits hard.”
SAINT ASONIA, which released its sophomore album, “Flawed Design”, on Spinefarm Records in 2019, is continuing to work on new music, set to arrive in 2022.
SAINT ASONIA sparked into life seven years ago when Gontier and Mushok decided to turn their joint ambition to make music that is “raw, real, and straight from our hearts” into a new band and a fully-fledged studio outing.
The result was their acclaimed self-titled debut, released in 2015, which charted Top 10 in Canada and entered the Billboard U.S. Rock Albums chart at #2. The album was driven by the Top 10 radio tracks “Better Place” and “Let Me Live My Life”, as well as the high-concept video to the featured track “Fairy Tale”.
Given the pedigree and profile of the musicians involved — they are collectively responsible for 28 Top 10 U.S. rock radio hits, including 17 No. 1s — the demand was immediately there for SAINT ASONIA to take to the road. Following an inaugural main stage appearance at Rock On The Range in 2015, the band set off on U.S. amphitheater tours with BREAKING BENJAMIN and DISTURBED.
In Europe, they guested on an arena run with MÖTLEY CRÜE, visiting the U.K., Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, and Finland, as well as playing several dates in Russia and Eastern Europe. As a consequence, Gontier has been back to the region for extensive solo acoustic shows.
