The self-titled debut sold 311 copies its first week. However, through touring, and TVT support, the album gained charting success through Billboard and earned gold certification.
Bassist Vince Hornsby joined drummer Morgan Rose in 1994, in a band called Snake Nation. John Connolly, a drummer, left his current 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 Crawlspace 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.
Sevendust released their self-titled debut on April 15, 1997, known for its heavy riffs, angry vocals and thrash-like drumming, as the songs Black and Bitch. Black was the opening song for nearly every Sevendust concert until 2004. The debut album also contains the song My Ruin, from the Mortal Kombat soundtrack. Sevendust appeared on the Billboard 200, remained there for sixteen weeks and peaked at 165 on April 4, 1998. The album went gold on May 19, 1999.
In 1998, Sevendust performed at Dynamo Open Air (May 29–31) and Ozzfest 1998 (July through August). In the same year they released a compilation called Live and Loud which featured live footage of the bands September 16, 1998 performance at Chicago's Metro.
On August 24, 1999, they released their second album, Home. The album peaked at 19 on the Billboard 200 and featured Skin from Skunk Anansie and Chino Moreno from Deftones as guest vocalists. The two singles from the album, "Denial" and "Waffle", gave the band moderate chart success, and the latter of which was played on the Late Night with Conan O'Brien show. They appeared in Woodstock 1999 and have toured with many bands such as Korn, Staind, Nonpoint, Reveille, Godsmack, Mudvayne, Mushroomhead, Powerman 5000, Creed, Kid Rock, Machine Head, Limp Bizkit, Disturbed, and Metallica. In 1999, they gained European exposure by opening for Skunk Anansie at various shows in Germany. They also opened with Kid Rock and Ted Nugent for Metallica on New Year's Eve in 1999 at the Pontiac Silverdome near Detroit, Michigan. They also joined Slipknot, Coal Chamber and other bands on the Tattoo the Earth Tour in June 2000.
In November 2001, the band released their third album, Animosity. This album went gold and gained the band commercial success thanks to the success of singles "Praise" and "Angel's Son", which peaked at 15 and 11, respectively, on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. "Angel's Son" was a tribute to Lynn Strait, the lead singer of the band Snot, whom the members of Sevendust were friends with. Strait had died in a car accident in 1998. In addition to being included on Animosity, the song was included on the compilation album Strait Up. The band made an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman playing an acoustic version of "Angel's Son" featuring Paul Shaffer on keyboards.
In the same year Sevendust was seen in the Chris Rock movie Down to Earth as a partial clip of "Waffle" is played.
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.
In 2003, Sevendust returned with their fourth album, Seasons. The album debuted at #14 in the US, selling around 68,000 copies in its first week. This was one of the band's best received albums and to date features their highest charting single (tied with "Driven"), "Enemy," which peaked at #10 on the Mainstream Rock Chart. "Enemy" was made the official theme song for WWE Unforgiven 2003. Other singles released from the album, "Broken Down" and "Face to Face," met with more moderate success charting at 20 and 22, respectively.
In 2004, for the first time in the band's career, they released a live album on a CD/DVD double disk package titled Southside Double-Wide Acoustic Live. Both the CD and the DVD include a cover of "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails which is dedicated to Johnny Cash.
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.
On March 26, 2008, Sevendust announced that Clint Lowery, former guitarist and vocalist for the band, had quit his duties as guitarist for Dark New Day and would be returning to the Sevendust lineup in place of Sonny Mayo. On Lowery's return, Morgan 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."
Since formation, Sevendust has released thirteen studio albums, earned additional charting success and gold sales certifications. Their eighth studio album, titled Cold Day Memory was released on April 20, 2010. More recent studio albums include: Black Out the Sun, released on March 26, 2013, Time Travelers & Bonfires, released on April 15, 2014, Kill the Flaw, released on October 2, 2015, All I See Is War, released on May 11, 2018 and Blood & Stone, released on October 23, 2020
They also re-released their self-titled debut album as Sevendust: Definitive Edition which contains five new tracks and a DVD.
Follow
Sevendust Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
surrounds you
You can break from everything that
confines you
Some to trust, look in my eyes
I will guide you
So I say
You can't know follow
What I say to you take with you today
The pressure it brings
Alone alive to know
What I say to you take with you today
You can't take the pain
To live to know
You can't fake
Everything that reminds you
How you feel
Time will tell what's inside you
You can't know follow
What I say to you take with you today
The pressure it brings
Alone alive to know
What I say to you take with you today
The pressure it brings
Alone alive to know
The lyrics to Sevendust's song "Follow" are about finding guidance and hope in the midst of difficult situations. The song begins by acknowledging the inevitability of time taking everything that surrounds you and confining you. However, the singer offers a source of trust and guidance by encouraging the listener to look into his eyes. He believes that living to love could serve as a reminder for the listener to not give up and to not blindly follow others, but instead to take what he says with them as they navigate the pressure and pain of life. The repeated refrain of "You can't know follow" emphasizes the importance of individuality and not allowing oneself to be led astray by others.
The lyrics also acknowledge the difficulty of trying to fake emotions and push away negative feelings. Time will eventually reveal what is truly inside an individual, which highlights the importance of being honest with oneself and facing one's emotions head-on. The song ends with a call to take what the singer says with them as they live and experience the joys and hardships of life, remaining strong and alive despite the pressure and pain.
Line by Line Meaning
Time can take everything that surrounds you
The passing of time can wipe away everything that is present in one's life
You can break from everything that confines you
One has the ability to break free from anything that holds them back or restricts them
Some to trust, look in my eyes I will guide you
There are certain individuals who are trustworthy and dependable, and the singer is offering to provide guidance and support to the listener by looking into their eyes
So I say Living to love could remind you
The artist is suggesting that love can serve as a reminder or motivation for the listener to continue living a fulfilling life
You can't know follow
It's impossible to truly follow someone or something blindly without any knowledge or understanding
What I say to you take with you today The pressure it brings Alone alive to know
The words and advice provided by the singer should be taken seriously as they can cause pressure and lead to experiencing new perspectives and revelations
You can't take the pain To live to know
One cannot avoid experiencing pain and hardship, as it's necessary for personal growth and understanding
You can't fake Everything that reminds you How you feel Time will tell what's inside you
It's impossible to fake or deny the emotions or experiences that serve as reminders of one's true feelings and character - time will ultimately reveal one's inner self
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: CLINT EDWARD LOWERY, JOHN M. CONNOLLY, JOHN M., JR. CONNOLLY, LA JON JERMAINE WITHERSPOON, MORGAN J. ROSE, VINCENT E. HORNSBY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind