Other attractions of the album include guest appearances of vocalist Chris Daughtry of American Idol fame, as well as Mark Tremonti and Miles Kennedy from Alter Bridge. Cooperation with Daughtry, the band’s March shows with Ozzy in Australia, and different frames of mind that helped shape the new album, were some of the subjects Sevendust’s vocal powerhouse, Lajon Witherspoon, talked about to Crusher on April 10. And, of course, I couldn’t stay away from asking about the recent return of Sevendust’s original guitarist, Clint Lowery, into the ranks of the band after a 4-year absence, which in itself is a sufficient incentive to go see Sevendust play live this spring.

ALISSA ORDABAI: Hi, Lajon!

LAJON WITHERSPOON: Hi! How are you?

AO: Great, how are you?

LW: Oh, fantastic!

AO: Thank you for agreeing to do this interview.

LW: Oh, no, thank you for taking time to do this.

AO: You’re too nice! I take it you’re currently on tour, in fact it kicked off yesterday?

LW: Yes, ma’am. Our first night was last evening at Port Saint Lucie in Florida. It was a great night.

AO: Is Clint Lowery taking part in this tour?

LW: Yes, ma’am. And I tell you what, it was a magical evening. As soon as we plugged in the first day at the rehearsal the magic came back, everything was alive, and we’re back!

AO: Incredible! How long did it take him to learn all the new Sevendust material to prepare to go on this tour?

LW: I mean, he knew it! He had it down. You know, I never… A lot of people always ask, “Aren’t you afraid Clint isn’t gonna know this?”, and it’s not like he doesn’t know how to play guitar! He was in this band, he began with us, so it was easy for him. Our show gets better and better as the tour goes along. It feels right, you can’t deny that.

AO: Did you have lengthy negotiations before Clint came back or did it happen quite spontaneously?

LW: It happened quite spontaneously. It was the first time that we were able to do something that we wanted to do for a while. We got a chance, and we went for it, and here we are now.

AO: How much of the material from the new album do you include in your shows on this tour?

LW: Actually, more than we ever done before. We are actually already playing three new songs in the set from Hope and Sorrow. And it’s exciting and it’s fun. Let’s see… We do “Prodigal Song”, we do a song called “Inside”, and we do “Scrapegoat”. Three new songs in a set.

AO: I wanted to ask you a bit more about the new album. It’s title speaks of hope as well as sorrow. Which of those states do you think the band enjoys exploring the most?

LW: I think we can’t help but explore all of them, because those emotions are every day in our lives. I love the hope more, and I feel like, without a doubt, this album lends to the story that’s going on within our lives right now. The hope is coming back, pursuing and continuing.

AO: Does that kind of resonate with the things that are happening in America in general—with the new elections and the hope for the new presidency, or is it strictly focused on what goes on in your private lives?

LW: I think we can link it with that too, hope for everything to be better. I like that. I agree with what you’ve just said.

AO: It just came to me on impulse…

LW: I hope everything gets better in the world.

AO: Well, listen, I heard some quite pronounced blues-rock influences in the vocals on “Prodigal Son”. Is this something you have been interested in before or is it a new influence?

LW: Oh no, this is something I’ve always done! I used to be in a band called Body and Soul, which was a blues-rock band. But “Prodigal Son” just felt bluesy to me and as I went into it, I don’t know, it just came up, I was very happy… It made me feel a little Hendrixy…a Hendrixy feel to the song. I love it. Performing it live was great too. It’s just a rocking song, you know, a straight-up rock’n’roll song.

AO: Apart from Hendrix, who would you say are your other major blues-rock influences?

LW: Oh my God! So many! Stevie Ray Vaughan, you know, I listen to all kinds of music. I listen to everything. I listen to country music. If it has conviction and it’s real, then I like it, you know what I mean? I’ll always find something in it.

AO: Metal as a genre has evolved since the band started back in 1994. Do you make a conscious effort to keep up with changes on the scene as it develops and as it grows?

LW: No, I don’t think that we are making conscious decisions to change our style. We like to explore. Music is what we like to do. We don’t want to sound like anyone, so I don’t think we could if we tried. We all make a conscious decision to just rock and be our best, and still be able to be out here doing this for people who care. And if they don’t like it, don’t come to the show. [Laughs]

AO: Haha, absolutely! Chris Daughtry, of American Idol fame, is making an appearance on your new record, how did that come about?

LW: He’s great. He was actually a fan of the band, and over a year ago we finally got to meet after talking back and forth over the phone. It was crazy! He asked if he could sing “Denial” up on stage with us once, and we said, “Come on, let’s do it.” He got up on stage and it sounded great. And from then we said, “You know, it would be cool to do something.” And he was, “Oh my God,” he was all over it. In a studio we laid it down, just a bunch of guys having fun and having a cold beer, you know. It went down well; he’s a great guy. As a matter of fact, right before I left for this tour, there was a package at my front door that was probably up to my waist. I opened it up, and it was “Presented to Lajon Witherspoon from Chris Daughtry. Three million platinum.” And I was like, “You know what, that was great!” A pretty cool guy.

AO: Do you watch American Idol?

LW: Yeah, I watched like, the first two weeks of it, and then I’m out of there.

AO: Do you think it becomes too polished towards the end?

LW: Oh yeah, everybody looks different, what’s going on around here? But I’ll tell you what, I think that vehicle is amazing and it shows a lot of talent, and I think it’s great what it did for Daughtry, you know. It did better for him not to win, you know. But I think it’s great for people, everyone enjoys it, so…

AO: If the show existed when you were growing up, would you take part?

LW: No, not at all. [Laughs] Not at all, I wouldn’t be able to do it.

AO: Which leads me to my next question. Do you think fans of heavy metal have changed in any ways since the time when you were growing up?

LW: Yeah, we just got older and wiser, haha! To think that we, metalheads, are still out there… The catalogue is there to do those songs that lean towards that format, that old-school style. I think we just got older and wiser. We’ve evolved and we are able to show that we can… I feel that music is a canvas and that we are able to paint a collage that people can dig, so that everybody’s cool.

AO: You’ve opened for Ozzy for three dates in Australia earlier this month. How did those shows go?

LW: In-credible. It was such a pleasure to be over there! Australia is beautiful. Being over there with Ozzy Osbourne and his camp, Zakk Wylde, forget about it. It was great. We’ve had such a good time, and I think we are trying to do more shows. That organization rolls supreme. So it was cool.

AO: In terms of musical knowledge, do you think you gain anything from people you play with or people you go on tour with?

LW: Oh, definitely! We learn something from each and everyone we play with. There’s always room for learning and accepting different things. That’s something that we enjoy doing. We go out check out the band, hang out, see what’s going on, all of that stuff. We got older, but I still get into it. Music is my life and it’s a beautiful outlet of energy.

AO: My other question is about the time when you were just starting out as a band. Would you say you could anticipate or describe your audience in advance?

LW: No. I never expected it to do what it did. I was 21 when we first started out. We were only known in Atlanta, and then we hit the road and didn’t come home for a year. But it’s funny now, people from that first album in ‘97 are still hanging out now, and in a sense we’ve grown up together. And it’s still incredible, because now you have that 16- 15-year-old kid brining his child with them now. Wives. And babies are on top of their daddy’s shoulders. Little Sevendust fans. You know what, man, for whatever it’s worth, I don’t know what, but it’s been incredible. We’ve been so blessed to be able to take this journey and now all these people come along with us, and feel close, and I don’t like to say “concerts”, I say we have “family reunions”, and I stick by that.

AO: Well, listen, I have one last question and it’s a bit fiddly, but still. What do you think is the biggest challenge that metal as a genre faces these days?

LW: I don’t know… Maybe not as much radioplay as there should be. Guess what, when we show up in a town those people are still coming, so you can’t ignore it. I think no matter what, you can love it, or hate it, but you can’t ignore it. It’s always going to be there and people are always gonna love it.

AO: That’s a beautiful answer. Thank you very much for your time.

LW: Thank you! It was cool to talk to you and I love the accent!

AO: Thank you!