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Music » Music News » Sevendust's Cold Day Memory Drops In April
Mar. 5, 2010
While fans are getting acquainted with Sevendust's new single, "Unraveling," the band is getting ready to offer their eighth studio album, Cold Day Memory, on April 20. The album marks a special occasion for long-time fans because it is the first one to feature the songwriting and recording of original guitarist Clint Lowery since 2003's Seasons. Lowery rejoined the group after the recording of their last album, Chapter 7: Hope & Sorrow, and they did plenty of touring together to get back into their groove as a unit. But Cold Day Memory was his first chance to show the fans - and his bandmates - that his writing chops are still intact. Lowery said that going back into the studio with Sevendust was "the thing I was looking forward to the most."
"Going back into it, the writing was pretty much like it was when I left. There was already a set formula that we had and the chemistry that we had," the guitarist told FMQB. "On this album they let me have a lot of room to move and write. They did three records while I was gone, so I put a lot of pressure on myself to provide them with a lot of music and vocal ideas. After doing so many records, you start hitting the same areas a lot. But I was away for a while so I got a fresh perspective on everything, and they were really cool about letting me do that. I don't want to be the element that makes people think, 'OK, now he's back and they lost some kind of edge.' I wanted to make an undeniable record and prove myself worthy to be back in the position."
It's obvious upon listening that Lowery stepped up his game on the new album, as Cold Day Memory has some more technical guitar parts and different sounding effects than some of the band's material in the past.
"Going into it, we wanted to bring back guitar solos. It seemed like for a while, it was cool to dumb things down a bit and not have those intricate guitar parts. A lot of bands were incorporating that," Lowery explained. "But I wanted to go back to that whole shred era when I was growing up, because it's cool to listen to more than just a few chords here and there. We wanted to express our musicianship. We wanted something a little more advanced than that drop-tuning songwriting that happened for a little while. We wanted to do a little more Metal, and we wanted the melodic verses to be really cool and broad and different than the typical heavy band."
The group also decided to record the album with Grammy-nominated producer Johnny K (Disturbed, Staind, 3 Doors Down), and working in the locale of Chicago in the fall and winter is what inspired the dreary album title.
"We were in Chicago the whole time from October to December, and Chicago that time of year is not real sunny," Lowery explained. "In one of the songs that ended up being 'Last Breath,' there was another chorus idea for it and it was called 'Cold Day Memory.' We were just going to put those words in there to fill the gap until we came up with something better. But I always liked that expression and i thought it sounded really cool, so I said we should name the album the working title of that song, because it just completely summed up the whole experience in Chicago. It was cold and dismal and gray - it's the whole memory of that whole album."
Right now Sevendust is about a dozen dates into their tour with Drowning Pool, and they plan to spend the rest of 2010 doing what Sevendust does best: touring, touring and more touring. After the Drowning Pool run, they will take a small break and get back on the road in April. Then they'll do some summer festival shows and probably tour Europe again. Years ago, there was a time when Lowery was really burnt out on life on the road. But after having some time away, he has a new outlook on touring.
"It's like anything - you appreciate it when it's gone," he said. "There were a few years where I wasn't doing anything - I was sitting at home figuring out what I was going to do next. That restarted my whole drive for music. In any job, you're going to get burnt out from it. But there are not many jobs like touring and playing music for a living. Plus, back then, I was big into drinking and doing all the stupid stuff that goes along with touring, and that wore me out more than anything else. Now I don't drink or do anything at all, and I feel great all the time! I can handle a lot more as far as the mental fatigue and the stress of touring."
Courtesy of FMQB.com » |
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