Article and Interview by Danny Coleman

The Name? Explains Clint Lowery; Sevendust’s guitarist “comes from Lajon Witherspoon, our vocalist; he’s always saying that we are like time travelers because we do our old and new songs on stage. The bonfires represent our new songs, which are a little more up, rockin’ acoustic types.”

Fans of Sevendust have been down this road before. In 2004’s Southside Double-wide, which won critical acclaim, was a huge success with their doggedly loyal base and something, which no doubt, played a part in the band’s latest release and marketing strategy, as Time Travelers & Bonfires, their second acoustic effort, is about to hit the shelves on April 15, 2014.

This disc, their tenth studio album, is the first “fan funded” CD the band has ever done. Utilizing a funding site along the lines of the popular Kickstarter called Pledge Music; the band relied on their faithful fans to be not only the financial backers but actually more informed and somewhat involved in the recording. “We decided to do it this way,” explained Lowery, “Well; it’s an interesting time in music right now. Making music isn’t done the same way and neither is the way we pay for it. We have such a diehard fan base; we talked about wanting to involve them more, pay them back for their support; after we talked with Rich at Pledge Music we decided that’s the way we wanted to go. Pledge Music is so different from other starter campaigns, they allowed us total access to the process and we can involve the fans and they get updates; it was just a great way to go about it.”

Involve the fans may be a bit of an understatement, as their legions (which the band considers “family”) has not only allowed the group to hit their established goal in the first weekend of the campaign but were involved in the song selection as well. Time Travelers & Bonfires is a collection of half acoustically redone selections from their catalog and half new material. The family was asked for their opinions and they responded in a big way; helping new versions of “Black,” “Gone,” “Denial,” “Karma,” “Trust” and “Crucified” come back to the forefront.

The recording process took the band back to a familiar place, Architekt Music Studios in Butler, NJ; rather far from their Georgia home; where they felt they needed to be after the previous success of Black Out the Sun; also recorded at Architekt. “It’s a long story how we found those guys,” says Lowery. “We randomly sent out a tweet asking about studio monitors, we kept messaging back and forth and we became fast friends. We began exchanging ideas for some recordings and sending tracks to each other, to the point where we had done enough for a second EP (Extended play), yet we had never met. As our relationship developed, we started letting them do our production work and eventually we went and did the album there. We like it there so we decided to go back and record this one there too.”

Coming off the heels and success of Black Out the Sun, one may wonder as to why the group decided to switch gears and go for this acoustic disc now; according to Lowery it was time. “Well, we did a small run before; around fifteen dates I think and it was a success. There was a DVD and our fans really liked what we did. People think of us as a heavy band and probably rightfully so but we can also be very melodic. There are really two versions to our band; heavy and light. This is our first full on acoustic tour and a nice switch of pace; we are happy with this record and ready to get out on the road and support it. For me, on an acoustic, I’m able to showcase my vocals more.  This is just a little something different, you know, we get off the beaten path every now and then,” said Lajon in a recent press release. Lowrey and Lajon are not alone in their sentiments, their band mates are just as raring to go.  “We wanted to do an acoustic run, this will be cool for us, to kind of go in and just focus on just the acoustic side of the band and I hope our fans dig it.  We play the heavy stuff all the time.  It’s good to throw something different in there and change it up a little bit,” are all recent quotes attributed to the remaining members.

One thing is certain, the boys of Sevendust will be well received no matter where they go. With the tour launching on April 1 in Athens, GA and scheduled to complete at the end of June in Kent, CT, they are confident that their fans will not be disappointed. “You know,” said Lowery, “It’s so hard to say if we have a favorite city or if our fans are any better in one city more than the next. I mean, we’ve been doing this for a long time and we’ve had great experiences; had some really crappy ones too (laughs) but we play our hardest for our fans in all of the cities we go to. We’ve had up shows and we’ve had down shows; recently, Chicago has been really hot for us and performing in our hometown is always a good time but overall we just love getting out and playing for them.”

So what does the future hold? “I guess it’s more of the same,” stated Lowery. “There’s no change in what we do. Every time we put out a record, we tour eighteen months to support it, then take some time off and start all over again.”

Eighteen months of touring to support Time Travelers & Bonfires, revisiting and trying to recreate past acoustic successes. From the sounds of things, it’s not just an evening with “Sevendust” but a big long “family” reunion!

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DANNY COLMAN |ROCK ON RADIO STATIONS ~ HAMILTON RADIO | GASHOUSE RADIO | ASBURY MUSIC

 

 

 

 

“Sevendust Launches Their Acoustic “An Evening with Sevendust” Tour”
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