SEVENDUST Was 'Lucky' To Complete New Album Before Pandemic

SEVENDUST singer Lajon Witherspoon spoke to Darren Paltrowitz about the making of the band's 13th studio album, "Blood & Stone", which will be released on October 23 via Rise Records. The follow-up to 2018's "All I See Is War" was once again tracked at Studio Barbarosa in Gotha, Florida with producer Michael "Elvis" Baskette, who has previously worked with ALTER BRIDGE and SLASH, among others.

"We were lucky enough to [record the LP] before the pandemic," Lajon said (see video below). "It was [done last] October. We were down in Orlando with Elvis Baskette, which I feel like is a sixth member of the band with his team. It was our second time recording with him, so it felt at home. His house — oh, man. We're one of the only bands to stay there. Maybe now it's different. But [it's] a beautiful mansion — a pool, everything. But what's so cool about it [is] you breathe and you eat and you sleep music, man. What a creative place to be at as an artist — to wake up and work out and then at 12 noon, go in the studio and be in there until 12 midnight. Just things going on all around the place in the house and never having to leave. So it was great to be able to do that again. And the album came out great. And like I said, luckily, it was before the pandemic, so there wasn't any stress on that end of things. So I think it made well for a great album."

The official music video for the latest single from "Blood & Stone", a song called "Dying To Live", can be seen below. The clip was directed by Jensen Noen, known for his work with FALLING IN REVERSE, CROWN THE EMPIRE and ASKING ALEXANDRIA, to name a few.

Earlier this year, guitarist Clint Lowery told Front Row Entertainment Live about "Blood & Stone": "I think this is one of our strongest records in a while. I'm proud of all the music we do. Every band likes to say, 'Oh, yeah, the new record is the best one we've ever done.' I think it's a very reflective record for where we're at musically, where we're at as a band. So that's always a goal. I think we just wanna be genuine. We don't wanna put out a dud record. Not everyone's gonna like it; we understand that. We just try to do what we do best. We're not the heaviest band in the world; we're not a pop-rock band at all either. We're just this aggressive band that has our own thing, and we stay true to that."

Last month, SEVENDUST announced its first-ever livestream and its only show of 2020: "Sevendust: Live In Your Living Room". The event will take place on October 23. The show will be live starting at 9:00 p.m. EDT/6:00 p.m. PDT and available globally at the corresponding hour for each territory. This will be a SEVENDUST show not to be missed as the band will not have any tour dates until 2021.

Tickets for the live stream are $17.00 and available here.

Photo credit: Travis Shinn / Chuck Brueckmann