CLINT LOWERY Discusses His Return To SEVENDUST

MetalSucks recently conducted an interview with SEVENDUST guitarist Clint Lowery. An excerpt from the chat follows:

MetalSucks: So how did the whole thing [the reunion with SEVENDUST] come about? Did the band reach out to you or did you reach out?

Clint Lowery: I always stayed in touch with Morgan [Rose, drummer] the most, y'know, I talked to him more than anyone else in the band during the separation. And it was one of those things where we had a lot of conversations about it, y'know, hypothetical, "Hey, what would happen if we did this?" and just kinda thinking about it. And then I was doing the DARK NEW DAY thing and they put out some more records. Sonny [Mayo, Lowery's replacement] did a great job doing those albums, they were happy, I was kinda happy, but we always entertained the idea of [me coming back]. And this last time we had that conversation, for some reason it just seemed like it was more potent than the others. And the state of DARK NEW DAY, and where they [SEVENDUST] were at it was kind of odd timing, because, y'know, DARK NEW DAY was working on a new record, they [SEVENDUST] were just coming out with a new one, and a lot of people thought it was odd timing. But we just thought it was better it would be better for Sonny. We'd already had the conversation, me and Morgan, and I'd actually reached out to the other guys, just to be friends, just to say, "Hey, how are you doing in life?" Not [talking] about music or anything, we just wanted to be brothers again. And that kind of led to the natural conversation, y'know, "Should we play together?" And then we had had these conversations, and they were pretty serious, and we didn't feel like it would be fair to wait knowing that there was a possibility that it might happen for Sonny to be there and to just go behind his back, we didn't think that that was right. We knew it was something that we wanted to do so we said, "Let's just go ahead and do it," instead of having these conspiracy theories, or having to keep it to ourselves, me not having to tell DARK NEW DAY, y'know we wanted to be honest with everybody.

MetalSucks: So are you on good terms with the guys in DARK NEW DAY?

Clint Lowery: Yeah.

MetalSucks: Are they a little sour about the whole thing?

Clint Lowery: Yeah, I mean at the end of the day I think they're supportive. I think they understand why, because, y'know, it's about survival now. And DARK NEW DAY there's been issues with Warner Bros., the label, they've been dragging their feet about putting the new album out. And there's a lot of changes going on at Warner Bros., I don't wanna badmouth them it's just, me, I live my life day-to-day. And it's like at that time, when I was talking to them [DARK NEW DAY], this was something that I felt I had to do for me. So they supported it. I've known those guys my whole life. My brother, obviously, my whole life, I will always do music with him, so he knows that, too, so of course, it's a break-up, y'know? There's feelings, there's emotions, there were harsh words said most of the guys are cool, there's a couple of guys where we had some words, but we've buried it and we've moved on.

MetalSucks: Were there any lingering SEVENDUST issues that you had to iron out before coming back to the band?

Clint Lowery: Yeah, man. It was like, kind of we didn't really talk about it, but there were some understandings I think we all I knew my faults, I knew what I did, and when I left abruptly, I was going through a lot of issues at the time so there was a lot of things that I regretted about that last split, about the way it happened. And I think they realize I was taking responsibility for that. There's gonna have to be changes as far as that kind of stuff, and, honesty and being upfront with each other we were, we started out like that, but then I got into a situation where I wasn't being completely honest with them, they were in a situation where they were doing things that weren't exactly that I don't think they thought were fair, either. It's a relationship, it's marriage, you say and do things that aren't always right all the time. But, honestly, I take a lot of responsibility for that, as far as how crappy a way it was for it to end. So there's a lot of different things that we are aware of that we wanna do differently, and they were doing [those things differently] already.

MetalSucks: Now SEVENDUST obviously went ahead and made three albums while you were away. What do you think of those albums? You're obviously still gonna be playing some material from those albums live

Clint Lowery: Yeah, yeah, man, "Hope and Sorrow", we're playing three songs off of that, and some songs off "Alpha" and "Next" I mean, I'm a huge fan of those records. It'd be ridiculous to say I didn't listen to 'em when they came out. I bought 'em and I love 'em. I was always rooting for them to do well, and especially the way the music business is now, any metal band that does anything positive I'm supportive of. So of course I was really in their corner, because we were fighting that battle together for so long so I'm still gonna fight for them emotionally.

MetalSucks: So is it weird playing those songs live?

Clint Lowery: It is, in a way, I mean, y'know it's kind of like (laughs) I was comparing it the other night, I was like you're going through a divorce, and then you get remarried and your spouse had a baby and you gotta kinda take care of the baby (laughs). These are my stepchildren (laughs). But I'm sure the more we 'cause it was kinda that way before, you know, John [Connolly, co-guitarist] would write songs from A to Z that I would play that I had nothing to do with. The only difference between these songs and those songs is that I didn't actually record 'em. But John had true visions of the songs he wrote, and he'd do the same for me he'd play songs that I would write from A to Z. But it's definitely a little weird.

MetalSucks: That brings us to our next question we're sure you're aware that there's a contingent of your fan base that, rightly or wrongly (and you can tell us if it's wrongly),is under the impression that you were the primary songwriter on those early albums, and feel that the stuff the band did while you were away doesn't quite live up to those albums. But you don't seem to feel that way at all.

Clint Lowery: No, I mean, I think it was different it's like someone was saying the other night, "Man, it wasn't the same when you were gone," and I'm like, "Well, I'm kinda glad it didn't stay the same, 'cause otherwise what was I even doing there?" (laughs) I guess towards the end especially I had the opportunity to put a lot of my ideas down on the records, y'know. John wrote a lot of the riffs and it was fifty-fifty kind of he had his songs, I had mine. We never really wrote together which is another thing I want to be different this time. But I had my own thing a lot of people have the idea that I bring a lot of the lighter stuff, and during our career, I did get into a lot of melody and harmonies and different stuff like that. Especially when "Angel's Son" came out, it kind of opened up a new door. But I'm a huge fan of that real heavy stuff. A lot of people just assumed, because of "Angel's Son" and a couple of things that I was doing at the time "Seasons" was a very light SEVENDUST record, and that was the last one I did with 'em, and that was because of a lot of things, it wasn't because I initially wanted that to be the heaviest record we ever did, and then we got [producer] Butch Walker, we got TVT saying, "You need to write a more commercial record," and we're like, "Okay, maybe we're getting older and we should do this," so there were a lot of variables in there. But my whole thing is, y'know, I have another voice in it, Morgan's got We call it "The Crow", this (makes screeching noises) and then I had my little voice that I would throw in. So I think when you take that piece out, it just kinda changes the template a little bit. But, y'know, I'm flattered when people say that, 'cause I did write a lot. And they also wrote a lot as well. I mean I try to stay humble as far as the band's concerned, they can do without me, obviously. They've proved that.

Read the entire interview at www.metalsucks.net.