Devil's Gate Music
Related Articles
GRAMMY® Award–nominated metal veterans Sevendust return with a new album, ‘One’, on May 1st, 2026. We spoke to 7D vocalist Lajon Witherspoon as the band’s long-awaited return to Europe and the UK (along with headliners Alter Bridge) was starting to wind down after seven weeks on the road.
Out since January 15th, 31 shows, 18 countries, with no pause in between except for days off, with three shows left; is it too obvious a question to ask how you are feeling?
I feel fantastic! For me, this has been the best tour that I’ve ever done…especially being back over here after so many years. The energy has been exhilarating, it’s especially put a fire under me…so I feel great! I am happy to go home, but I’m sad to leave! I feel that I could gig for even more weeks.
When the finishing line is in sight, is it a case of just getting through the last few shows and knowing that you’ll soon be on the plane back home?
No, I know that my family misses me, and I miss them. We talk and FaceTime every day, but they know that this is important for us and our career, and how we need to rebuild our relationship with everyone over here. This is a very crucial tour for Sevendust.
How do you mentally prepare for a schedule that takes you overseas for close to eight weeks?
We were very excited because we had the opportunity to go out on tour with Disturbed [on their Sickness – 25th anniversary tour in early 2025] and play arenas like Madison Square Garden in New York, so we were already hyped. And then to know that we were going to come back over here…it was exciting. Just give us anything! I’m old school, so I was ready to go to work!
I don’t know how to prepare. I told my family that I was sorry to leave, and I missed some things, like my daughter’s sweetheart dance the other day. I missed a few other things, but they know that daddy’s working. And daddy has to be working, so it’s good!
The flipside of that question would be how do you recover from such a long tour? I’ve spoken to bands before, and they say that for a week or so after, they are still asking when the bus is leaving, or when is lobby call is, or where the catering is.
Yep! Yesterday was a day off, and I still woke up at 2 am, wide awake! Spoke to my family as it was still the evening there. I went to breakfast at 6.30 am, I felt great, put my laundry on the bus at 10 am, got to this venue at 11.45 am, and here I am meeting you! I’ll go back to lie down and relax before soundcheck.
The band formed in 1994. Here we are 32 years later, and Sevendust have just played places like Norway, Hungary, and Croatia. Croatia, for instance, was only recognised as a country in 1992; could you ever have imagined that in 2026 you would be playing in countries like these?
Not at all! And to have that amount of love from the crowds…there are so many places that we have played on this tour that by the second song, the crowd are in it. They get it. We are on first, and it is early, and I always say that we are going to have a great show, and the crowd never lets us down. The people have been so lovely to us, and I can’t wait to bring my family over here to visit these places. It has been an eye-opening experience.
And you have withstood everything that Europe and the UK can throw at you in terms of weather.
Yes! We started in Hamburg, and it was freezing cold, snow boots and everything. Then weeks later, I woke up in Dublin, and the sun was shining…and we are like vampires glinting at the sun! It’s funny because I was just talking to Chad from Nickelback the other day, and I was thinking that maybe he was in Canada, and he replied, “Nope…I’m in Cabo, at my house…right next to Sammy Hagar’s house!”
Good company for him! Are you able to get out and enjoy yourself on your days off, rather than just travel days?
Oh, yes. There are some families out with us, like Mark Tremonti’s family is out here, and we get to do things. We were at dinner with Mark and his wife the other night, and some good friends, and our guitarist John’s wife was on the phone…so it was like we were all together [laughs]. So, yes, we have some good times. It is good for the mind!
What do you put the band’s longevity down to? And, except for a brief line-up change decades ago, it has been pretty much the original line-up.
Well, we are all brothers. I think that we are closer today as a band than we have ever been. But if I could give any advice to anyone starting out as a band, then I would say that with Sevendust, everything is split equally. And I think that’s what keeps a band together, because no one is riding a scooter and someone is riding a Ferrari. Everybody comes to the table prepared, and that helps. For me, personally, I could never take this gig for granted, and I am very blessed to be in the position that I’m in.
Your manager, Tim Tournier, strapped on his guitar for part of the tour when 7D guitarist Clint Lowery missed some shows for family commitments and minor health reasons…
Tim, oh man, let me tell you, that man is one of the hardest working guys that I’ve ever met in my life! Tim is incredible. I look at him every day and say, “How do you do it?!” He plays the guitar, then, straight after, he is on the phone sorting out lots of things…putting fires out. I call him the firefighter! [laughs]
A lot of people over here will, of course, know Tim from his duties with Myles Kennedy, when Myles is on solo duty…
Of course, yes. Tim is a superstar over here! We are so blessed to have Myles and the guys in Alter Bridge in our lives. We have grown up together; it’s not like it’s just another band: we are brothers. We all hang out. I mean, with Mark [Tremonti] I’ve been invited again to do his Frank Sinatra thing, and this time it might be on the road. People ask all the time if we are close, and I’m like, “Man, I stay at his house all the time with my family!” We are tight [laughs]
Mark’s Sinatra album is amazing…
Oh man, it is incredible. I got to perform with them at the Disney Theatre at Christmas in 2024, and I performed ‘This Christmas’ with Mark. I was so amazed, and not just with Mark being able to do what he is doing, but with the Frank Sinatra band. Those old cats are still there…and I couldn’t stop myself from turning back to look at them playing, I mean, the sound; the horn section; the choir…I was like, “Is this real?” Frank Sinatra’s musical director was there. Being part of this was a life-changing experience for me. I got to put on a nice suit and stuff…I think that Mark and I rehearsed it in his kitchen! We were just going back and forth in the kitchen…kids running around…it was great! [laughs]
Moving on to the forthcoming new album, ‘One, which lands May 1st. The band’s 15th studio album. How crucial is it for Sevendust to create new music rather than simply relying on the past?
It’s all life experiences. I think this time around, we all had a lot of things going on in our lives, so we were able to put down a certain collage. That’s the way that I look at this album, like a collage.
It was weird how this album came together, because when I listen to it now, it really tells a story. It was very special, and I think a lot of that is because my wife’s grandparents left us a farmhouse that we remodelled, and we started writing there. There is an energy there, as it was always filled with music and love, so we would go there. We would get up, I’d make breakfast as I like to cook, then I guess we would start about 11 am and just keep going until nighttime. It was all music. Then we would take what we had to our producer, Elvis Baskette, who has the coolest studio in the world. We could live there, so you didn’t have to leave. Besides, when I get into that zone, I don’t leave the studio; I want to stay focused.
What is the significance of the album title? ‘One’ could mean so many different things.
I feel that after all these years, we have come together as one. After all the trials and tribulations and the struggles that we have gone through, this band is still together as one. And I feel that helps the world too, because we are all one. Especially in these sad times, when the United States is not so united. But we hope that it gets back to that again.
In that case, ‘One’ had to open the album then?
Oh, definitely. It had to. But ‘Is This The Real You?’ is another one of my favourite new songs. That one talks about consistency within life. People change, but hopefully they stay the same and be a good person.
Was ‘Is This The Real You?’ always going to be the lead single?
I’ll tell you what happened with that song. We were in the studio at Elvis’s place, and everything was kind of shutting down. Me and John [Connolly, Sevendust guitarist] were hanging out, having a few beers, and he was like, “Hey man, listen to this track”, and it was just the guitars. I didn’t have any lyrics written down for it then; we were just trying to throw something at it. [starts singing] “Could this be something…” came up, and then I went to the chorus and sang it right off the top, and John was like “That’s it! We got it!”. So we took it to Elvis, and sure enough, he was like “This is a good song…this is going to be a single”. And that’s the way that the song came together; just off the top of my heart.
You might be surprised how many artists answer that question with “The label picked it as a single”. You very seldom hear the artist saying that they knew it was a single straight away…
You know what, I feel that this album has so many singles, or whatever you want to call them, because who cares if they go on the radio, but sometimes I am like “Damn, we put too many good songs on there”. So, hopefully, people don’t just listen to that one song they heard on the radio, or that one song that gets pushed, and they listen to the album.
‘We Won’ is such a strong song.
Oh, ‘We Won’, yeah! I feel that this album is very uplifting, and ‘We Won’ is just such an uplifting song. We talk about the hard times on it, but we won! ‘Bright Side’ is another; ‘Unbreakable’…we are all unbreakable because we broke through not being happy…
‘Misdirection’ is another favourite, because I love to hear John sing! It’s a very personal song, and I get to come in and bang it out there on the chorus! And what a great opportunity for John, because I feel that it would be very foolish for everything to come from one person’s point of view. We are all grown men, and we are together, and I feel like we are the closest that we have ever been. John has something to sing about? Well, guess what, I was probably there whenever what he is talking about happened. We were there together, so we understand each other.
How do you judge an album’s success?
Getting a plaque for the wall! [laughs] I don’t know! After I listen to an album, I am like, “We did well!” And to me, that is enough. To hear my kids, my wife, and my family say “That’s amazing”, that’s enough for me. But I tell you, man, just to get out here and see people singing that song [‘Is This The Real You?’], then that shows that it is already a success.
Going back to 2023, it must be pleasing for you that the single ‘Everything’ is Sevendust’s highest ever chart placing…decades after the birth of the band.
Also, on that note, what is also great is that a few years before that, we got nominated for a Grammy! [Sevendust received their first-ever Grammy nomination at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards (2016) for Best Metal Performance for their song ‘Thank You’]. We got to take our families to that, and that was amazing. I was with my wife, and it was us, August Burns Red, Lamb of God, Slipknot, and Ghost…and then I saw Ghost walk in with Dave Grohl, and it was like they already knew that they had won. So when they said, “And the Grammy goes to Ghost,” my wife was like, “Nooooo!” [laughs]
Excellent!
Yes! And it was this big hall! But what a great experience just to be there, and I was able to sit right behind Stevie Wonder, and I was like “waaaaaaaaah!… I could touch him right now.” My friend worked with Lady Gaga, so they were there, and Adele performed right in front of us…what an experience. Just to be relevant in the music industry these days is amazing, because the music industry is so frugal…I never wanted to be a one-hit wonder. I want our music to be timeless.
Interview: Dave
Portrait image: Chuck Brueckmann
All live images: Callum Scott
‘One’ is available May 1st via Napalm Records. Pre-order information here.
For all upcoming tour dates, ticket information, and VIP packages, visit: https://sevendust.com/pages/tour.
SEVENDUST 2026 US Tour Dates
16.04.26 US – Carterville, IL / Walker’s Bluff Casino Resort
17.04.26 US – Riverside, IA / Riverside Casino & Golf Resort
18.04.26 US – Larchwood, IA / Grand Falls Casino & Golf Resort
20.04.26 US – Indianapolis, IN / Egyptian Room at Old National Centre
21.04.26 US – Lexington, KY / Manchester Music Hall
22.04.26 US – Birmingham, AL / Iron City
24.04.26 US – Mobile, AL / Soul Kitchen Music Hall
26.04.26 US – Atlanta, GA / Coca-Cola Roxy*
28.04.26 US – Dallas, TX / House of Blues
29.04.26 US – Oklahoma City, OK / Diamond Ballroom
01.05.26 US – Denver, CO / Summit
02.05.26 US – Albuquerque, NM / Sunshine Theater
04.05.26 US – Wichita, KS / The Cotillion
05.05.26 US – Springfield, MO / The Regency Live
06.05.26 US – Fayetteville, AR / Ozark Music Hall
08.05.26 US – Daytona Beach, FL / Welcome To Rockville
09.05.26 US – North Myrtle Beach, SC / House of Blues
11.05.26 US – Norfolk, VA / The NorVa
12.05.26 US – Harrisburg, PA / XL Live
14.05.26 US – McKees Rocks, PA / Roxian Theatre
15.05.26 US – Columbus, OH / Sonic Temple
16.05.26 US – Baltimore, MD / Nevermore Hall
17.05.26 US – Sayreville, NJ / Starland Ballroom
19.05.26 US – Charlotte, NC / The Fillmore
20.05.26 US – Knoxville, TN / The Mill & Mine
21.05.26 US – Nashville, TN / The Pinnacle*
* Opening for Alter Bridge
