Atlanta, GA · alt-metal · nu-metal

Sevendust

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Lajon Witherspoon's soul-trained voice over grinding alt-metal — the reason they outlasted the scene, and the warmest crowd in heavy music.

Sevendust formed in Atlanta in 1994, when bassist Vinnie Hornsby and drummer Morgan Rose, playing together as Snake Nation, were joined by guitarist John Connolly. After a demo left them wanting a stronger voice, a year-long search brought in Lajon Witherspoon, and guitarist Clint Lowery replaced an earlier member, Lee Banks, soon after.

The band went through two more name changes, Rumblefish and Crawlspace, before settling on Sevendust, a name borrowed from a commercial insecticide brand. Their self-titled debut, produced by Twisted Sister's Jay Jay French and Mark Mendoza, sold only 311 copies in its first week in 1997 but went on to gold certification, with singles 'Black' and 'Bitch' reaching No. 30 on the Mainstream Rock chart.

'Black' opened nearly every Sevendust concert until 2004. The band's profile grew through Ozzfest in 1998 and a notoriously tense set at Woodstock '99, and their second album, Home, reached No. 19 on the Billboard 200 in 1999, with Skunk Anansie's Skin guesting on the track 'Licking Cream.' They also opened for Metallica on New Year's Eve that year.

Animosity, the third album, followed in 2001 as the band joined Slipknot, Slayer, Sepultura and Coal Chamber on the Tattoo the Earth tour. Vocalist Lajon Witherspoon's soul-influenced singing sits over the downtuned, groove-based guitar work of Connolly and Lowery, with Hornsby on bass and Rose on drums and backing vocals, a lineup that has stayed largely stable across fifteen studio albums and a Grammy nomination.

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alt-metalnu-metal