Sevendust Band Bio

Sevendust Band Bio

Sevendust is:

Morgan Rose - Drummer
Clint Lowery - Guitar
Lajon Witherspoon - Vocals
Vinnie Hornsby - Bass
John Connolly - Guitar

“This is a recovery record,” says Sevendust drummer Morgan Rose
candidly about the band’s fourth studio album, Seasons. “A bulk of the
record is just dedicated to the realization that we’ve done some bad
things to ourselves and people around us over the long haul.”

It’s not like Sevendust have ever shied away from the personal,
the heartfelt, or the painfully honest on any of their previous three
albums. But this time, these Atlanta-based practitioners of their own
special brand of uniquely melodic heavy rock have looked even closer
within themselves than ever before, uncovering some harsh truths in the
process. “We wanted to almost apologize in certain spots,” continues
Rose. “While on other parts of the record, we wanted to come clean
about some things. It’s all real life stuff, and very close to us.”

Guiding them this time was the sure hand of producer Butch Walker.
Well known for helming punk confections (SR-71, Bowling For Soup) as
well as pursuing his own eclectic pop-rock career, Walker may seem like
an odd fit for the hard-rockin’ Sevendust. But the band’s relationship
with Walker – who also hails from Atlanta – goes back to their earliest
formative stages, when he produced the demos that ultimately led to the
band’s record deal.

“Butch is great,” says guitarist Clint Lowery. “We already had a
closeness, with him being from Atlanta and all that, and there was a
language that we already spoke with him. Usually when you work with a
new producer, you have to get to know him, learn what kind of person he
is, and where his head is at. We already knew Butch’s history, he knew
ours, and we understood each other from the get-go, so we could cut to
the chase and just get right to work.”

Working with Walker was a homecoming in more ways than one. After
recording 2001’s Animosity in Orlando, Florida, and 1999’s Home in
Massachusetts, Seasons was cut right where it all started, in Atlanta,
at Walker’s Ruby Red Studios.

“Atlanta is always gonna be home to this band, so there’s always a
natural feeling there,” confirms Lowery. “It’s just about being
comfortable. We tried to get away from Atlanta on the last album, and
it kind of backfired because we wanted to be less distracted, but when
you’re away from home, it’s kind of like any other tour you’re on – you
get these little wild hairs that you don’t get when you’re home. In
Orlando, we did the opposite of what we were trying to do, which was
focus on the music. Doing the record in Atlanta, everyone was really
focused.”

All the comforts of home helped to make Seasons the most diverse,
groove-oriented disc in Sevendust’s catalog. Without losing anything
off the band’s edgy, aggressive sound, the new album incorporates more
pronounced melodies and a newfound looseness on tracks like “Broken
Down”, the groove-heavy “Separate” and the elegiac title cut.
Meanwhile, heavier tunes like “Enemy” (the first single) and “Disease”
benefit from the raw, live approach the band and Walker took towards
recording.

“We’d used loops and electronic stuff like that in the past, but
this time, I just wanted to get down to the basics of what makes us a
good live band,” elaborates Lowery. “We just wanted to make it as
organic as possible. We didn’t want to do any tricks or effects that
we couldn’t duplicate live. I think we’re a good enough band to pull
it off and explore different territories, both heavy and acoustic, and
we just did that on this one.”

Delving into different lyrical territory was a major element in
the songwriting for Seasons, and the band took their journey in an
altogether new direction this time. “There are songs about being
pulled in a bad direction and how you’re trying to keep yourself
together and stay away from that side of life,” says Rose. “A few of
us had a rough time with drugs and alcohol, and we tried not to really
go deep into discussing it, but it seems to have somehow grabbed the
pen of a lot of people. We tapped into a lot of that and as a result,
it’s a pretty healing record.”

“I believe that Sevendust has gone through a metamorphosis,”
agrees singer Lajon Witherspoon. “We were these young, wild kids at
the start -- there was a lack of moderation when we were younger. Now
you have men in the band who are sober, like Clint, and I think you’ve
seen a lot of that on this album – a change from boys to men. We’ve
grown up together. There’s things on this album just dealing with
love, loss (Witherspoon lost his brother in November of 2002), hurt,
and things we’ve been through, how we feel now and how we’ve overcome
things.”

Just getting to the point of making a fourth album in the current
musical climate, dominated by disposable pop, is a challenge and an
achievement by anyone’s standards, and the men of Sevendust don’t take
their position lightly. “We’re the luckiest band around,” says Rose.
“The people that come to see us are unbelievable. They’re like family.
I know that when I look at the itinerary and see we’re going to Fort
Wayne, Indiana, I know that so-and-so lives there, and maybe we can go
and grab something to eat with those people. It’s a great place for us
to be as a band – being comfortable and solid and knowing that the
people who listen to our music treat us like family, we treat them like
family, and we’ve got a really close relationship.”

“I still can’t believe that we’ve finished recording our fourth
album,” says Witherspoon. “And people out there still want to hear
what we have to say, and care about the band. That’s a beautiful
feeling to continue to have such a cool career.”

For more information visit the official Sevendust website.

Visit our Sevendust concert tour dates page.

Visit our Sevendust News Page.

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