Sevendust ~ Hope and Sorrow

Words and Photos by Scott Stewart

Since 2007, the band has released three full-length albums: Alpha in March 2007, Retrospective 2 in December 2007 and Chapter VII: Hope and Sorrow last April.
This recording pace is one reason why they have earned the reputation as one of the hardest-working bands around.
Sevendust is allowed to revel in freedom and creativity since forming their own record label, 7 Bros. Records. Chapter VII: Hope and Sorrow ranges from the pummeling sounds of "Inside" to the soft and soothing "The Past," featuring Chris Daughtry. Mark Tremonti, Alter Bridge guitarist, added his axe work on the experimental song "Hope." This album is the latest chapter in the band's 15-year career and covers all of the songwriting facets that has garnered them such huge success — harmony, crushing guitars and thought-provoking lyrics.
Recently returning from Afghanistan, drummer Morgan Rose talked about entertaining the American troops, the new album, the return of guitarist Clint Lowery and the departure of Sonny Mayo.

Scott: So you guys just got back from Afghanistan, you were there for two weeks right? Can you tell us about that?

Morgan: Yeah it's something that got brought up a few years ago for us to do and it fell through. We looked at our old manager like, "Afghanistan?" The thought of us going and playing in the middle of a war was something that really didn't seem possible to us. Then all of a sudden, sure enough, it comes up again and we went for it. The experience changed our lives. We've been backers of our soldiers and Armed Forces for years and to have the opportunity to go and play for the troops was an honor.

Scott: That's amazing. Did you have any "Oh shit" moments?

Morgan: Yeah tons — just in general listening to mortars going off and knowing that those things can do damage. We didn't know where they were or where they were coming from. We could just hear the sounds of them going off while on base. We did combat landings in C-17s. I was riding in the cock pit on those flights. It's weird because you can't even stand near a cock pit on a commercial airline and here I am sitting with a head set on talking to the pilot and co-pilot looking out the front of this airplane, getting ready to do combat landings. I videotaped all of it. I told Clint 'We've come a long way from the rec room in Atlanta huh?' We started out rehearsing in a little rat hole in Atlanta and here I am 15 years later standing in the middle of Afghanistan shooting M-16s because of the band that I play in. It was a surreal moment.

Photo by Scott Stewart

Scott: Wow! Has it been 15 years already? I remember seeing you guys play way back in 1997 when you were touring for the first album.
Morgan: We've had a blessed career. Some people like to talk about the negative side, like what about some of the bands that have opened up for you guys and gotten really huge? It's really about looking at the glass half full — a bunch of rednecks coming from Georgia and look at us, we've been a major player in the music industry for a long time. So it's been a blessing for us.

Scott: It's great to see Clint back in the band. How did that come about? Was it one of those things where you got on the phone and said "Hey you want to get together and jam?"

Morgan: It was weird. He's my friend and my brother. I've known the guy for the majority of my life. Me and him were friends way before this band got together, as were all of us. It's one of those things — he had a tough time went and did his thing and I hated him for it. The only natural move was to bring someone that was close to us into the band and the irony of the whole thing is that Sonny might not have been the best fit for the band musically but as far as personally it was like "Hey man, this guys family with us, we've known him our whole career. He's available." I know I don't have to worry about him being a jerk so this should be cool. It'll also be accepted because people know our history and they understand that we're not just going to go out and get any guitar player to fill the spot.
There were plenty of people that wanted the job; we just got the opportunity to get the guy who was the right for fit for the right time. Musically we didn't really give him a chance. He didn't write as much and he didn't sing. We kind of Bulldozed all the way through him, I don't really think anybody was going to have a chance.
I mean, we built this thing for over a decade and it's our baby. So I was talking to Clint, he's my friend and Sonny was talking to Mikey from Snot. He was talking about doing Snot shows while in Sevendust and we were talking to Clint. It wasn't like we said "Hey man come back to the band." We just started becoming friends again while he was getting his personal life together. At one point we stopped and said this is the right thing to do.
People are going to look and say this is crummy what they're doing to Sonny and Clint left them and they'll come up with all of these things to say, but at the end of the day this guy's my musical soulmate. He''s my brother. He came from the same womb as far as I'm concerned. It was a bummer because Sonny didn't really do anything wrong. It was just that Clint did everything right. Sonny's our cousin and Clint is our brother.

Photo by Scott Stewart

Scott: Right on!

Morgan: He apologized for so long, what most people don't know is that it wasn't an overnight deal. We were talking to him as friends for quite a while. Through that friendship and ultimately those conversations we put the original band back together, we stopped and said, "We miss you and we miss the camaraderie and we miss what we put together musically."
So we said, "Are you into this?" and he was like absolutely if given the opportunity I won't let you down. It was a tough spot for us but it was something we needed to do. I'm sorry the way everything happened as far as Sonny being replaced. There's never a good time for it. There's never a good way to do it. When you're telling somebody that your services are no longer needed, where's the manual that tells you how to do that?

Scott: There's no good way to say it.

Morgan: We recorded that record and it was coming out the following week. The timing was something that didn't look very right ya know. But at the same time it was like man, we feel like were cheating on our boy here. Sonny's in the band, and we're getting ready to tour this record and the whole time we're talking to our old guitar player. The decision to bring him back was very quick. The conversations were over a long period of time. Clint said I'm clean and sober and I want to play with my band. We thought this isn't the most opportune time but we better do it now or he's gonna be in Shinedown if we don't watch it. Sonny said we weren't being very brotherly. I don't know how that's not being brotherly. I don't know how that term even comes into play when it comes to this topic. We do still love Sonny, but Clint is our original guitar player and the guy who's right for the band.

Photo by Scott Stewart

Scott: How did the recording process come together for Hope and Sorrow?

Morgan: John would come in with some riffs and I would come in with some lyrics. If I got stumped on some lyrics Sonny would have a book and I would start looking through his book. At times it wouldn't even have to mean anything. I just needed a word, something I can spin off because I've got this part and I need to finish it.

Scott: The new album is killer!

Morgan: Thanks man

For more info go to: www.sevendust.com