Sevendust

Bassist Vince Hornsby joined drummer Morgan Rose in 1994, in a band called Snake Nation. John Connolly, a drummer, left his then band and joined Snake Nation as a guitarist. They recorded their first demo. Not happy with vocals, however, Snake Nation spent a year searching for a new singer before finding Lajon Witherspoon. Six months passed, Clint Lowery joined the band, and they renamed themselves Rumblefish.

Rumblefish was short-lived, however, because they found another band with the same name. They renamed themselves Crawlspace, and released "My Ruin" on the Mortal Kombat soundtrack album entitled More Kombat through TVT Records in 1996. Shortly after, another band named Crawlspac' sent notice that they wanted $50,000 for the rights to their name. Rather than purchase the rights, the band members chose to rename themselves Sevendust, a name inspired by the commercial insecticide brand "Sevin Dust".

Another friend of the band, Dave Williams the lead singer of Drowning Pool, died in 2002. Tragedy would strike again when Lajon Witherspoon's younger brother was shot and killed later that year. Due to his death, Sevendust went on hiatus in 2002.

On December 11, 2004, after playing a show in Columbus, Ohio, it was announced that Clint Lowery had left the band mid-tour, because he wanted to play with his brother Corey Lowery in his new band Dark New Day, who had reportedly just signed with Warner Bros. Records. A replacement was found for the rest of the dates and was eventually replaced by Sonny Mayo (from Snot and Amen). At roughly the same time, Sevendust and TVT Records parted ways.

A few months after the October 2005 release date of Next, though, it became clear that WineDark would not live up to the band's expectations. "I had people come up to me and say, 'When is the record coming out?' And it had already been out for five months", Rose grumbles. "Basically, the main person that was in charge of the whole thing fell off the face of the earth. There were no more cheques coming in, and the money had not been paid in full."

In early 2006, the band themselves were considered bankrupt. WineDark Records had imploded, leaving them without distribution, tour support, or promised advance payments. The band owed money to crew members and other staffers and had a mounting credit card debt. In April, they expected that a tax refund from the US government would help ease the burden. Then, they found out their accountant hadn't paid their taxes and they owed $120,000 to the government. "We were beyond broke", says drummer and lyricist Morgan Rose. "We had a debt load close to a million dollars, and we were in a position where, no matter how much money we thought we were making, we were still having to pay and pay."

On March 26, 2008, Sevendust announced that Lowery had quit his duties as guitarist for Dark New Day and would be returning to the Sevendust lineup in place of Mayo. On Lowery's return, Rose stated "This was extremely tough considering Sonny is our brother and has been amazing to work with. [Sonny] didn't do anything wrong at all; we just owe it to ourselves and all the folks that grew up with us to put our original band back together."

Band members
Current members
Lajon Witherspoon – lead vocals (1994–present)
Clint Lowery – lead guitar, backing vocals (1994–2004, 2008–present)
John Connolly – rhythm guitar (1994-2005, 2008-present), lead guitar (2005-2008), backing vocals (1994–present)
Vince Hornsby – bass (1994–present)
Morgan Rose – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1994–present)


Discography
Main article: Sevendust discography
Studio albums
Sevendust (1997)
Home (1999)
Animosity (2001)
Seasons (2003)
Next (2005)
Alpha (2007)
Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow (2008)
Cold Day Memory (2010)
Black Out the Sun (2013)
Time Travelers & Bonfires (2014)
Kill the Flaw (2015)