Sevendust 2011

Morgan Rose of Sevendust
photo by Paul Weber

The rock scene isn’t something that is easy to break “big” into, and even when you do, there comes the constant struggle of staying relevant enough to continue successfully writing music and touring. Very few bands have figured out the precise formula to balance immense musical talent while pleasing the suits who sign the checks. Since 1997, when they released their self-titled debut album, Sevendust has done just that and much more. They’ve gone through lineup changes, financial troubles, and everything else that rock ‘n’ roll throws their way. Sevendust has continued to write, record, and produce music that transcends the struggles and has formed them into one of the most stoic forces in the hard rock music scene. Maximum Ink sat down with drummer Morgan Rose to discuss changes in the Sevendust family, what keeps them going, and what comes next.

Maximum Ink : What is it that keeps you going personally and wanting to continue to make music?
Morgan Rose : You know, there’s the cliché, “I do it for the music,” but it’s very therapeutic. Usually in every record there’s a story that went on in that past year or two, and it’s something that is a great outlook for us. We do actually call this a job, even though it’s kind of embarrassing to use that term. When you leave your kids, leave your family, and you do it for as long as we have, I think we’ve justified it by now. I think people can say, “Well yeah, this is a job.” Creating music and performing is what we do, and we were blessed enough to be in the right place at the right time. It’s something that’s very special to us.

MI : With the continuing success of Cold Day Memory, what is it like to have Clint Lowery back in the band? His sound is clearly evident guitar-wise, but what does he bring back to the table for Sevendust?
MR : I mean he’s definitely my brother and also my musical soul mate. There’s no doubt that when I sit down with him, if we wanted to, we could probably write twenty songs in a day. We’re really tough on each other when it comes to different parts of writing music, and that’s the reason it takes any time to do a song between us. He’s creative in all areas. He’s a great singer, guitar player, and song writer, and he’s great live to watch. He has all the tools to be a monster, so having that back in the band was huge. We survived without him, but we can thrive with him.

MI : Since he’s taking time off the tour to look after his newborn son, how has it been to have B.C. Kochmit (Eye Empire) fill in? Does he fit in the Sevendust mold?
MR :  He’s doing great. It’s funny because we are one of his favorite bands. He was actually discussed to be Clint Lowery’s replacement when he left the first time about six or seven years ago. We had a really good run with Sonny Mayo, and he’s also a brother to us. With Brad I think without a doubt that he comes from a background music-wise, that his style is way closer to us than Sonny’s was. So it’s cool to have him out here just to be able to say, “Damn. We could have done this.” But at least we get to go out there and jam with him now. He’s a professional, and he’s a rock-star on that stage. He has made us play harder than maybe we really wanted.

MI : How long is Clint Lowery going to be off the tour? Is there a set plan, or will he come back when he’s ready to come back?
MR :  Yeah, he’s already scheduled to come back. I believe it’s the first of February. I think the Fayetteville show will be his first show back.

MI : Where do you want Sevendust to go from here? Have you reached your goals or is there more?
MR :  There’s definitely more that we want to do, but we’ve accomplished so much more than we thought we would. This has all been bonus time for us, and we’re happy to still be relevant, go out there and play, and have people come and see us. We’ve all sat there and thought that we don’t want to go out and have people look at us and think, “I remember when they used to bring it ‘so hard’ live and now they’re kind of beat up. We’ve got scars, emotionally and physically, so we’ll do this as long as the body will allow us to at a level that’s respectable.

MI : Are there any new projects or any other new Sevendust music on its way that fans can look forward to?
MR :  We’re already actually dabbling into the next record. The plan is to finish this tour out, with a break in February, and then we go to Australia for a few weeks. Then we’ll come back to finish this tour at the end of March. After that we’ll take most of April off, and probably in May we might go out and do a little short run, going to Europe and doing the festivals in June and July. Afterward, we’ll probably come back and do the summer festivals over here, and next we’ll probably do an acoustic run. Finally, after all that, we’ll get into the new record towards the end of the year.

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