The New Face Of Southern Rock

Hot as fire and spanning the globe like bodies of water, Atlanta, Georgia's Sevendust is all things to all metal fans. Time is slowly proving that, yes, there is a band that can unite both camps of fickel metal fans: the younger, mainstream, hooked-by-the-melody masses (the water) with the often-times older-aged, more anti-commercial, hard core fans (the fire) into one giant, smoldering mob of satisfied metal enthusiasts.

In much the same way Southern rock burst onto the mainstream rock scene in the late '60s with its own distinct, new sound—bands like Lynryd Skynryd, The Allman Brothers Band and The Marshall Tucker Band were also successful in uniting Southern rock fans with mainstream fans—Sevendust has taken the air waves and entire faction of metalheads in the Western hemisphere by storm with a sound all their own, yet just as distinct as that of their founding Southern rock forefathers. On Home, the follow-up to their gold-selling, self-titled debut album, the South rises again as the Sevendust vibe fronts the new face of Southern rock.

"You can really tell the difference in the mosh pit," said Sevendust guitarist John Connolly during a pre-show interview at The Crest Theatre in Sacramento last October. "The fans want to take care of each other more than kick each other's asses. Ten or 12 years ago the pits were so brutal. Nowadays you'll see chicks in the pit and people helping them up if necessary. That whole negative metal thing seems to be gone."

What Connolly, singer Lajon and the other three band members who wandered in and out of the subterranean room backstage during my quality Sevendust time—guitarist Clint Lowery, bassist Vince Hornsby and drummer Morgan Rose—won't admit, what they will bury under a thick blanket of Southern charm and humbleness, is that it's their sound that is at the core of this new vibe in the pit. If critics past tied violence at metal shows to the music of the band playing, then they are bound by the same logic to tie the intense and powerful yet peacefully energetic reactions of the fans at Sevendust shows to it's music. This positively-crafted Southern vibe shatters the myth that heavy equals evil.

"Heavy music just always had that bad rap," shrugged Connolly. "It's had this connotation that it's 'the devil's music.' And it's just heavy music. I think that the fans today are more mature to a certain extent and they know this."

A sure sign that the negative nuances, still much associated with heavy music, are on the wane is the fact that more and more contemporary musicians are starting and building families within the legendarily debaucherous rock 'n' roll lifestyle. Following the lead of some of the older, established rock elite, bands like Sevendust are toning down the gluttonous rock star image.

"Sharon and Ozzy [Osbourne] have an entire bus for their kids," pointed out Lajon, who recently became a father. "They just bring them on the road wherever they go."

He gently shook his head in reflection of his own life, and proceeded to pull out a small photo album loaded with beautiful, intimate pictures of new daughter Maya, girlfriend Kristy and their lovable Beagle-mix Marley (named after the famed reggae singer). The young father's eyes were lit with pride as he flipped through the pages and gave me tidbits of inside info about each picture.

A quick run down: Lajon has a girlfriend and new child, Connolly is engaged with a newborn, drummer Rose is married but with no children and Lowery is engaged with no children. No kids for Hornsby, yet. And probably the most amazing thing is that none of this has slowed the band down. Instead, it only seems to feed the fire of positivity that rages within the collective Sevendust heart.

And it's the positivity that Sevendust is so readily able to evoke at live shows and on their CDs that has speedily shot them up the popularity pole, culminating with a New Year's Eve show with Metallica and Kid Rock and a recent spot on MTV's 1515 with John Norris.

"It was cool," said Connolly nonchalantly. "We were in New York City and John Norris met us in a bar called Hell in the Meat Packing District. We were literally in hell! It's funny because he asked us about the Live And Loud show [available on videocassette] and we just told him that we didn't know if MTV wanted to play us, so we made this half-hour video and sold it like an infomercial. More people talk about that video than they talk about our current video on MTV for 'Denial.'"

Sevendust is currently working on a video for the second single from Home, "Waffle."

The reason Sevendust chose to forgo the MTV option in '98 and instead dump money into the Live And Loud project, which aired on major networks in major cities nationwide during semi-primetime slots, was that, with MTV, there were no guarantees and the record label (TVT), coming from a television perspective, had an idea.

"We could have put a lot of money into an MTV video," said Connolly, "but there was just no guarantee that MTV would play it. Spending all that money and nobody getting to see it was too risky for us and the label-owner, Steve Gottlieb. He's the owner of TV Toons Recordings (TVT Records). He owns the theme songs to old television shows like Bonanza, I Dream Of Jeannie and others, and already had an idea that he wanted to try: purchase air time like an infomercial but use the time to air a mini-concert. That way at least we were guaranteed a certain audience for whatever time slot we had. It worked out really well for us, especially since we made it to MTV anyway. Besides, MTV is what it is, but there are a whole shitload of other channels out there that people watch."

TVT's television-oriented approach to the next step in Sevendust's career is still paying dividends today, as word of the Live And Loud energy has spread across the land. Sevendust's energy has even attracted other fellow rockers into the fold from across our shiny planet. From Sacramento to Germany, to be specific.

"We've known Chino and been friends with The Deftones for a while now," said Connolly about the Sacramento singer's contribution to Home, a tune called "Bender." "They like to produce heavy music in an unconventional way, much like we do. Our bands use different sounds but we evoke a similar energy. It was one of those things where we made a phone call and Chino was back East wanting to work with us in three days. We were like 'Whoa! We need a few more days to prepare.' Chino co-wrote the song with us too. He didn't just come in and do a part that we had prepared for him. It was the same with Skin ('Licking Cream')."

Skin is the female lead singer of a German hard core band called Skunk Anasie, a band that Sevendust toured Europe with in '97, along with Powerman 5000.

"It wasn't like we started out wanting to get a big name like Mariah Carey to do a duet with us so that we could sell more records," explained Connolly. "Skunk Anasie did help us out in Europe, where they enabled us to play in front of 5000 to 6000 people a show, but we really wanted to help them out in the States because Skin is one of the most underrated female rock singers on the planet. She's just that good. During the time when she and Chino were collaborating with us, we considered them part of the Sevendust family."

Sevendust's positive vibes are apparently irresistible: Not only are they radio darlings (Chico's own DJ Stimpy from Z-Rock and Kylie Brooks from Sacramento's 98ROCK are constantly raving about them); not only are they currently MTV darlings (MTV called Sevendust's '99 Woodstock set one of the event's breakthrough performances); but these guys' radiant energy seems to attract some unwanted attention as well, like the time that they rented a motorhome to go from a set of gigs in New York, across the border to Montreal, Canada.

"Some of us got cavity searched!" joked Lajon.

"I thought we were going to get shot!" said Connolly.

"It was all 'cause someone had that green duffle bag," quipped Lajon as he rolled his eyes to the side of his head and coyly grinned, implying what the other band members already knew: that said "green duffel bag" that attracted the border guards' attention was Lajon's.

"We had rented this motorhome," recalled Connolly. "And these guys (the border agents) immediately wanted to go through everything. They hit everything in our motorhome with these infrared beams. They said that they found a locked metal box and wanted the key. It was mine and all it was was my 8-track recorder. They said that they found residue on the walls; on everything. So they asked me, 'Who owns this bus?' I don't know, it's a rental. 'Who had it before you?' I just shook my head. (Everyone was laughing at this point as Connolly mimicked the officers.) So they found this little corner of a baggie of shake and asked us, 'Who owns the green duffel bag?'"

Lajon cut in: "Uhhh, what color green?"

Laughter filled the room because it was at this point during the search that everyone in the band realized that it was Lajon who had the only green duffel bag.

"It' army green," replied the lawman.

"Oh then that's my bag," he told the authority as he smiled from ear to ear while he relived the Spicoli-like experience.

Somehow they escaped with no serious violations—more positive, karmic product coming back to them. With this surge of joviality, the interview broke down into several smaller conversations throughout the backstage room. And then Sevendust hit the stage.

The show was intense. After having new ear holes bored into our heads by DDT, Orange 9MM and Machinehead, Sevendust wrenched the last bit of sweat out of the crowd. It was very interesting to see their peaceful, placid demeanor backstage before the show and then see these same individuals erupt with convincing ferocity on stage. Like fire and water, it was an extreme contrast.

Backstage the post-show activities were underway: As Connolly, Rose and Hornsby gathered their stuff in their room, they were bombarded by close friends, other band's members—some sucking up to Sevendust more than the fans were—plus the usual crazed few fans allowed backstage after every show. Lajon had already escaped out to the tour bus where another contingent of autograph-seeking fans awaited; Lowery had his cell phone in operation.

All of the bands' tour buses were parked end-to-end creating a make-shift tunnel next to the row of buildings next to which they were parked. I waited to try to talk with Lajon again and I thought I caught a glimpse of him. But it wasn't Lajon, it was Chino from The Deftones. He apparently wasn't in a talkative mood, either.

"How come you didn't go on stage and do 'Bender,'" I queried.

He just stared blankly at me as if inebriated beyond the capacity for speech. I thought this until I saw him rounding up a bunch of the other guys from the other bands and realized that he was just blowing me off as a fan boy. Everyone from Sevendust except Lajon, Chaka, lead singer from Orange 9MM, the bass player from Machinehead, Chino and a couple of his friends all piled into a late model GMC Suburban and were apparently whisked off to one of the Deftone's all-night recording studios.

One can only wonder what soulful, loving and passionate project those modern rockers could produce with such a late night session; maybe something like a Temple Of The Dog-type benefit for some worthy charity? Perhaps. And will this gathering of rock's young elite hark in the next step of Sevendust's burgeoning career? Who knows?

One thing is for certain, as sure as fire and water make smoke, you can bet it will be something positive and from the heart. The South is rising again, as Sevendust fronts a new wave of metal positivity—the new face of Southern rock.

Pick up Sevendust's two albums, their eponymous debut and the most recently released Home (TVT Records) at local record stores.

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