Jared Weeks has returned to Saving Abel following his exit from the band nearly eight years ago.
Weeks detailed why he left the band he co-founded in the first place on Talkin’ Rock with Meltdown saying, “I was 23 when I signed the record deal. So, at that point, we got pretty big pretty fast for Saving Abel. We were on the road in a van and then the very next month, we’re on a tour bus with Nickelback. So, it all happened pretty quick, and I had a habit of living life as quick and as fast as it happened for us. It was one of those situations where I had to get myself out and I had to save myself. I’ve been in therapy for a few years, and I’m pretty sure had I not quit, I might not be around. It just so happens that I am [still around] and we’re working things out. But yeah, I had to stop.”
Weeks added that the band’s very busy touring schedule also played into his exit from the band noting, “I remember one year we had 268 shows, and the days off were spent in a parking lot somewhere on the tour bus. We did work a whole lot. So, when you’re with people like that and as young and as green as we were, little bitty problems end up being big problems.”
Now that he’s older, wiser and got help from therapy, Weeks said that him getting his confidence back was a big reason he returned to the band, even though he said he was approached to join Saving Abel again “a couple of different times [but] it just wasn’t the right time.”
Another big reason for Weeks’ return was a fateful moment about six months ago when he realized he and Saving Abel co-founder/guitarist Jason Null were sharing a guitar tech. After that, Weeks reached out to Null who told him about sitting in a studio “listening to hundreds of unrecorded Saving Abel songs,” and it got him to thinking about their old duo Shade of Grace, which would evolve into Saving Abel. This led to Null inviting Weeks to the studio to listen to all of their unused demos.
“That’s when the spark hit me, because that Shade of Grace stuff is something I always go back to whenever I need that moment,” said Weeks.
With Weeks back in the band, Saving Abel is wasting no time in putting music out. This Friday (July 9), the band is releasing Shade Of Grace – Twenty Year Songs, a six-song EP revisiting some of the band’s earlier material. More music is in the works with Weeks saying, “When touring season starts up next year in February, we’re going to be drafting a new album. So far, we have about eight songs, and I think we’ve got four of them recorded.”