Sevendust finished recording “Blood & Stone,” the group’s latest studio album in early 2020, just before the pandemic hit and changed life as we knew it.
With much of the country still on lockdown as fall 2020 approached, there were those who advised Sevendust to wait to release the album, according to singer Lajon Witherspoon, because it was still far from clear when the country would be able to reopen and enable bands to tour again.
Sevendust, though, decided to go ahead and release “Blood & Stone” in October 2020 and take their chances on how the album would sell even with the world still in the throes of the pandemic.
“There was pressure on us to wait to (put it out), but we felt we had an obligation not only to ourselves, but to our family out there that follows us. We needed to at least give them this. While they’re not doing anything, let’s give them something,” Witherspoon said in an early June phone interview. “I’m glad we were able to release it. I believe everyone’s happy and thank the lord that things are hopefully getting back to normal and we can go out (on tour) with this and enjoy it a little bit and see what happens with it. Maybe it has, who knows, I feel like it (”Blood & Stone”) still has legs, and it will be fun to get out there and start performing these songs.”
Sevendust didn’t get to play any shows during the pandemic, other than a few livestream performances. Several of the band members used the unexpected free time to do other music projects.
Drummer Morgan Rose teamed up with Sevendust guitarist Clint Lowery and bassist Jason Christopher to make his debut solo EP, “Controlled Chaos.” Lowery made a solo album, “God Bless the Renegades” and a five-song EP, “Grief & Distance.” Bassist Vince Hornsby joined a group, CEO, which released their debut album, “Redemption,” this past June.
As for Witherspoon, he made significant progress on his first solo album, completing some 15 songs so far for the project. Witherspoon, though, said he’s in no rush to finish his solo album, which will retain some of Sevendust’s hard rock sound, but will show some of his other influences, including R&B and country.
“I’m going back into the studio again and doing a couple more co-writes, which I’m excited about, he said of the solo album. “And I’m so excited about another cat that I’m writing with in Nashville, actually, that it’s really cool. I’m not even going to tell you about it because he’s a big, big, big artist who’s doing really big things right now. The other night, my session with him got canceled because he’s with Elton John. OK, I get it. So I’m excited about that, but I’m taking my time on that. There’s some label interest out there, but I just feel like I want to get it (the album) right.”
Witherspoon is proud of “Blood & Stone,” but deciding on how many of the new songs Sevendust puts into the shows takes some debate.
“It’s like what do we do?” Witherspoon said. “The catalog is deep. Do we play the big ones? We’ve got to play the big ones, but how many of the big ones are we playing? Can we do this? Should we play some of the ones we did from the livestream that we’ve never played before, but only in the livestream? So there are a lot of questions. But that’s fun. That’s the fun thing about it.”
Witherspoon isn’t exaggerating when he refers to Sevendust’s deep catalog. “Blood & Stone” is the 13th studio album from the group, whose lineup of Witherspoon, Lowery, Rose, Hornsby abd guitarist John Connolly formed in Atlanta in 1994.
The lineup has remained intact for nearly the entire time — with Lowery leaving the group in 2004 and rejoining in 2008. The band has had some ups and downs, the highs including seeing the first three albums each go gold and amassing some 30 top 40 mainstream rock singles, including four that went top 10 (“Enemy,” “Driven,” “Unraveling” and “Decay”).
But there have also been problems with record labels, and in 2006, Sevendust nearly went bankrupt. The situation prompted the group to change management and other business employees and educate themselves further on what it takes for a music act to remain profitable. Since then, the band has been on firmer ground, releasing albums and touring at a steady clip.
“Blood & Stone” is another solid album from Sevendust, but it marks a move in a more melodic direction for the band. There are still several bangers such as “Blood From a Stone,” “Desperation” and “Dying To Live.” But while songs like “Love,” “Nothing Left To See Here Anymore” and “Criminal” also rock hard, they have big melodies in the vocals and plenty of instrumental ear worms.
“That was a conscious decision we made within ourselves,” Witherspoon said of the emphasis on melody. “I definitely felt I wanted to sing. I think this album definitely lent itself to song melody more, and so that’s definitely the route we went. I think it’s amazing.”
CONCERT PREVIEW
Sevendust
8 p.m. Dec. 31. $39.50-$85. The Masquerade, 75 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive SW, Atlanta. 404-577-8178, masqueradeatlanta.com.
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