Editor’s Note: It was an absolute blast conversing with the legendary Clint Lowery of Sevendust via Madness To Creation. In this interview with Madness To Creation, Clint Lowery discusses the music video for “Kings” along with the writing/recording process for this past Friday’s release entitled “God Bless The Renegades”, and really opened up about mental health awareness. “God Bless The Renegades” was released this past Friday via Rise Records. Fans can find Clint Lowery at the following locations:
www.facebook.com/clintlowerynet
Madness To Creation: What’s going on today Clint?
Clint: Great, how are you?
Madness To Creation: Excited to talk about “God Bless The Renegades” and your new album, have high regards over you in regards to your career! I’ve seen you live in Sevendust 14 times, so it’s an honor to talk to you.
Clint: That makes me feel good and that starts the interview well right off the bat, so thank you so much!
Madness To Creation: The song “Kings” has really taken off, can you take us into the song and music video and what inspired you to write it?
Clint: Initial song musically went from electronic/hip-hop kind of music, then it became this “We Will Rock You” anthem type of song, lyrically it was about busting through these really negative and dark times that I actually lived and coming out on the other side alive all intact, so I was kind of brushing around that on the topic of it. It’s cool for people to put their own message with it, but for me, that was the spark of it, trying to address my gratitude for that, I went through some really rough things early in my career, but I’m thankful for them because it’s about shaping the person that I would be, or the person that I’m trying to be, and that’s really what the song is, “We’re dying at the bottom with my humility and to live like kings” is the ability to do all of these things that were huge for me, playing music at a high level without these things that are called a rockstar life, and I have somehow came out of it with some humility and gratitude.
Madness To Creation: I’m glad you brought that up, are there any bands or artists that help you get through or what gets you through in your mental health journey? We focus on normalizing mental health conversations here at Madness To Creation.
Clint: I have a ton of routines and tools man, with struggling with mental problems and awareness and keeping the communication, fighting off depression or just fighting off the negative mindset in general, it doesn’t have to get as extreme as depression, which is a very real thing. For me, I do gratitude lists, I sometimes listen to the saddest song, that sometimes has the reverse effect, that brings me up, it kind of makes me sulk a little bit, and some of the heartfelt musicians that really express themselves, and I just listen to them and they’re really saying, so I listen to that and it really inspired me to kind of work through some stuff, I do a lot of prayer, I do a lot of different things, I exercise a lot, I do a lot of routines, which my default setting is dark and gloomy, negative and resentful and bitter, and I work through some of those things to get out of that. The older that I get, the more I learn and the more I’m willing to accept and deal with them.
I think communication is a big thing, when I’m feeling a certain way, I have a couple of people that I can just talk to, instead of just keeping it all isolated.
Madness To Creation: I’m sure you’ve had fans come up to you and pour their heart and soul out to you, saying “that song helped me get through”, does that feeling ever get old?
Clint: It really doesn’t, it’s the best kind of compliment that I can receive, or what that artist does for you when someone says that, and every time we hear it, we don’t take it for granted, and we’re very attentive to them when they’re telling that kind of story because we’ve all been those people too, we’ve all had artists that we’ve really leaned on and had a solid effect on us in that way, and for me that’s ultimately what the goal is, and success can happen in a few different ways and that’s always success for us.
Madness To Creation: You’ve released God Bless The Renegades via Rise Records. I know that it was a different direction for you than writing and recording for Sevendust. Take us into the recording and writing process and what were the most challenging and rewarding aspects of creating this record?
Clint: The recording process was probably the easiest part, I think coming up with the material and deciding what kind of record I wanted to make was the most tedious part, here I want to do a super heavy record, I also wanted to do a really organic, Southern singer/songwriter kind of thing, and then it just kind of changed and became this, I think with the recording process I watched Van Halen play bass and drums, and then with Elvis Baskette, which through Sevendust I already have a relationship with him. The process was just very smooth, we did the whole record in three and a half weeks, and once we decided on the songs, it was just about getting it laid down, those guys are so pro and so quick, it was a very efficient record, and vocally going in the booth and singing with Elvis, and we talked in between takes and it was a real heavy, and talking about communication, him and I were just going back and forth and just talking about life between us, there were a couple of times where we would talk about our dads, and that kind of stuff, that was a very true piece of it I went through with him, and I think part of it was just the singer opening up, I left feeling lighter, I’m so glad I got that out.
Madness To Creation: So it was therapeutic for you?
Clint: Oh yeah, I mean every record is therapeutic but this one was particularly therapeutic because I did a lot of the stuff, I recorded, I played on it and I sang on all of it, it was the most accomplished I had ever felt.
Madness To Creation: You got some shows coming up with Alter Bridge. Any surprises for the set or what can fans expect from a Clint Lowery solo concert?
Clint: What I wanna do, is that there are projects I had called Call Me No One and a solo acoustic project called Hello Demons, Meet Skeletons, and there were a couple of Sevendust songs where I was featured as the singer, so what I’ll do is like 80% will be off of the God Bless The Renegades record, and the others is where every night will vary, I’ll do a Call Me No One song, I’ll do “X-Mas Day” from Sevendust or I’ll do some Hello Demons, Meet Skeletons stuff, everyone records every night, so it’ll be cool to have the content on there, and it’ll be cool to get up there and do the songs that no one knew even came out, it’s my project, so I can play any of the songs, and it’ll be cool because every now and then people appreciate the deep cuts that only a few people know but I think they’re cool songs, and it’s still under my brand so, it’ll be cool to get those out there.
Madness To Creation: Out of your band so to speak, if you could introduce someone to one song what would it be?
Clint: Man that’s a great question! On the new record, I would pretty much say the first song God Bless The Renegades, and the record actually comes out this Friday, that pretty much encompasses what the whole record is like, it’s kind of edgier for the Sevendust fans, it’s got the melodic sensibility for the people that like the more acoustic driven stuff that I did, that’s the song on this that really says it all.
Madness To Creation: I know that you have other interviews, what else would you like to add?
Clint: I’m very grateful to be doing this, I think the live show is going to be something different, because it’s going to be three people, a drummer and another guitar player, so it’s going to have a little bit of a different dynamic live, there could be a lot of interesting things and segues between songs, I’m just going to try to make somewhat of a different presentation than usual, so it’s a little different, I don’t wanna just come out and bang out regular songs and talk and say the same things between songs, I wanna have that be an experience!
Madness To Creation: Thank you so much for taking the time! We will see you out on the road.
Clint: Thank you for taking the time and be good buddy!
And there you have it! Clint Lowery will be providing support for Alter Bridge on the “Walk The Sky” tour. Check out tour dates below:
Sat. 2/8- War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee
Sun. 2/9- Old National Centre in Indianapolis, Indiana
Tue. 2/11- Mars Music Hall in Huntsville, Alabama
Wed. 2/12- Clyde Theatre in Fort Wayne, Indiana
Thu. 2/13- Fubar in St. Louis, Missouri
Fri. 2/14- The Apollo Theatre in Belvidere, Illinois
Sat. 2/15- The Rave/Eagles Club Ballroom in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Mon. 2/17- The Ogden Theatre in Denver, Colorado
Tue. 2/18- The Depot in Salt Lake City, Utah
Thu. 2/20- House of Blues in Las Vegas, Nevada
Sun. 2/23- The Regency Ballroom in San Francisco, California
Mon. 2/24- The Wiltern in Los Angeles, California
Wed. 2/26- Moore Theatre in Seattle, Washington
Thu. 2/27- Knitting Factory in Spokane, Washington
For tickets and further information on any of the gigs listed above, click here.
Check out the music video for “Alive” below:
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