SEVENDUST: 'It's Nice To Not Be Getting Sued By Someone For The First Time In 6 Years'

Pete Freedman of the Dallas Observer recently conducted an interview with SEVENDUST rhythm guitarist John Connelly. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Dallas Observer: SEVENDUST's new effort, "Cold Day Memory", comes out soon. Should fans expect a different kind of SEVENDUST record?

John Connelly: Well, it's a lot different, seeing that it is the first record we have recorded with Clint [Lowery, guitar] in over five years. We got the original chemistry back. The past three or four records that we have done have turned out different without Clint. It's one of those chemistry things. You take one piece out of the equation and the chemistry changes. Not necessarily for better or for worse, it's just different. Fans will hear that original fire we had on our first couple of records.

Dallas Observer: After Clint left the band, that seemed to cause several financial problems to arise and then things started to spiral.

John Connelly: Some of that stuff was going to happen whether Clint stayed or not. Clint's leaving was just kind of compounded on top of everything. We were out of our record deal, we were dealing with the IRS, and we were transitioning managers. Basically, everything we knew was up in the air. We didn't know who was going to play guitar. We didn't have a label. It was turmoil, but we just put our nose to the grindstone and got focused and got busy. It was cool, but I can tell you that it is a lot cooler with Clint back. It's a lot easier with him than without him.

Dallas Observer: Did the band every come to the point of breaking up?

John Connelly: We talked about it. The day after Clint left, we were sitting there and we talked about going our separate ways. You can't force a band to stay together. Honestly, the conversation didn't last ten minutes. After Clint left, we went right back in the studio. It was do or die. We had no record deal and no guitar player and we barely had a manager.

Dallas Observer: Are all the financial problems over?

John Connelly: We're just about coming out of the smoke. We have a couple more stupid-ass payments to a couple of our ex-managers. It's nice to not be getting sued by someone for the first time in six years. We can actually focus on making music.

Dallas Observer: Was there ever a point in the band's tenure that you said to yourself, "We've made it?"

John Connelly: You know what, we've still not happy with where we are at. In our eyes, even though we do this successfully, we're still out here trying to prove ourselves. We're still out here trying to make better music, have better live shows. As much shit as we have gone through, to have been able to get the original five guys back together again, is amazing. For us, we are still trying to make it.

Read the entire interview from Dallas Observer.