In Bloom

The Father Of The Power Guitar, surf rocker Dick Dale, started playing heavy music way back in the ‘50s sparking a wave of experimentation in the ‘60s with bands like The Yardbirds and Eric Burdon and The Animals. By the end of the same decade, heavy music had evolved into seminal rockers Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, who carried the torch through the ‘70s. Then, after the scale-run solos and glam of the ‘80s, the minimalist solos and grungy, grindcore rhythms of the ‘90s were a welcome artistic change.

And so heavy music enthusiasts have been wondering for years when the next the next step in the evolution of this type of music would be and what would it be like. It’s still early in the decade and many new and exciting forms of heavy music are bound to unfold, but by most accounts, the next step in the evolution of heavy music can be summed up in one word: Sevendust.

Sevendust, currently opening up for rock giants Creed, is five pieces of the freshest heavy sound on the scene today. From the post-scale-oriented tinkerings of their three-axe attack (bassist Bruce Hornsby, guitarists Clint Lowery and John Connolly) to the soulful/thrash, yin/yang quality of the dread-locked Lajon, this band is creating the pulse on which other bands are trying to put their thumbs. Anchoring Sevendust’s innovative rhythmic mayhem is drummer Morgan Rose.

"We tried to open up with ‘Home’ once on the Creed tour," Rose told me via telephone from his Atlanta, Georgia home. "The response was very strange. People just looked at us like, ‘O.K., this is genocide on stage right now.’ It’s really, really fun to play with Creed in front of ten to fifteen thousand people a night, don’t get me wrong. But there’s a lot of songs that we just can’t play on tour with them so it’s like getting a shot when we get to do these one-offers [Sevendust will be playing The Brick Works on Friday June 16 in between Creed dates] because we get to do those songs that we really enjoy doing. Songs like 'Home,' 'Terminator' and 'So Close To Hate' are just too hard for Creed’s crowd."

The beauty of this band is that they appeal to both melodic mainstream rockers as well as hard core, head-banging, closet psychos. Spanning the spectrum of heavy music, Sevendust’s creative approach stems from the need to express intense, dark emotions. These guys realized a long time ago what society is only now beginning to grasp: that heavy music is an outlet for intense and/or negative emotions, not the source of devil worshipping that leads to suicide, as many mass media organizations have portrayed in the past.

"It is nice to be able to have such a broad appeal," agreed Rose. "But speaking for myself, my motivation towards creating heavy music comes from my own depression. Sometimes it can be intense and our music is a way for me to channel that energy towards a positive expression. I might have a riff or a rhythm come to my mind and I’ll bring it to the band; or maybe it’ll be Clint or Lajon. In our own way we all add to the mix. It really is a group effort."

Two things that really get Rose down (and there’s no sign that either of them will be changing any time soon) are being away from his wife Rayna and 8-year-old daughter Kayla Moray while he’s out on the road all year, and when he finally does get home to spend some quality time with his loved ones, people hawk him for his Hancock.

"It’s those small little things that I remember hearing people bitch about that I used to say, ‘Oh c’mon, give me a break. You should be happy that people are noticing you.’ It’s not that way at all. I am very protective of my wife and kid. I used to think that Tommy Lee was just a fucking punk because he smacked around those photographers, but now I kind of see where he’s coming from. Y’ know, kids notice my wife and what happens is we’ll be eating and kids will be screaming and yelling at her and she’s very private also. Here’s a good example: On one of our last tours we stopped off in our hotel lobby to grab a bite to eat. One of the waiters asked me if we were in a band so I told him who I was. He went in the back and told his co-workers and this girl came running out from the back. She got right in my face and said, "Oh my God. I’m in love!" and my wife is sitting right there. I just put my head down in my menu and did not look up again. All I could think was that this was fucking ridiculous. If some guy came up to my wife and said the same thing I would probably rip his throat out. I mean, I’ve got a fork in my mouth and more people are asking for autographs. I’m polite and then two minutes later here comes another one. I’ve got my head down because I see her coming and she asks both of us for our autographs. So my wife asks her if she had a pen. The girl said, ‘ Oh yeah, I’ll be right back,’ and she made us wait until she went and found a pen and paper. I mean, can you believe the fucking nerve. I hate having my quality time with my wife interrupted and I have to deal with it all the time."

But like he said, music is the band members’ outlet.

"That’s what Home is all about," described Rose. "It’s about all the difficult situations and ramifications of being on the road all year long. On one of our last tours there was a ten-week stretch where I got to see my wife a total of 42 hours. That’s tough. And you can hear, especially on "Home" where we say, ‘Home is where the hard is,’ that you’re gone from home so long that you have to patch things back together each time you come back."

On the other hand, the road has it’s rewards too like when they get to play small venues in small towns, like The Brick Works here in Chico.

"We really love that kind of stuff," assured Rose. "When I was a kid growing up in Youngstown, Florida, next to Panama city, I remember that we never got any shows. You always had to drive. You can tell the people that are spoiled and the ones that really appreciate what you’re doing. I love the big city, but seeing the look on some of those kids’ faces, they’re like, ‘Maaan, thank you for coming here.’ And we can’t believe the level of respect that some towns give us. It really makes us want to deliver the goods."

Sevendust loves their fans, but enough to let them have their music for free?

"We definitely want to able to make money," admitted Rose, referring to the Napster.com/Metallica legal case. "The question becomes, ‘How much?’ I’ve heard good arguments on both sides. I heard Wes from Limp Bizkit make a good point on TV the other night. He said that when he was growing up, all the music he heard was given to him recorded on blank cassette tapes. It was the same for me, too. On the other side though, we had kids come up to us after shows and say that they had the album and it was still two weeks away from the release date! I didn’t think that was possible but they got it off of the Internet. So I’m really in the middle. I wish there could be some way for people to be able to download one of these ‘exploding’ files where you can sample some music and then it wipes itself off of your hard drive after 30 days. This Napster.com thing is one of those things where, depending on the day, I’ll probably give you a different answer."

It’s definitely a topic that is on their minds, especially since they are working on new material.

"I don’t know if you’ll hear anything new by then (the date of their Chico gig)," wondered Rose. "I know that we have recently put a few new things together but we’ll see."

Rose has no song or album titles yet. But if you have Internet access, chances are that you’ll know before most people. Whatever new legal precedent is set by this lawsuit, one thing is for sure: Sevendust will be one of the hottest swaps on the Web with new material right around the corner.

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