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Morgan Rose of Sevendust is considered one of the great drummers in the modern rock/metal era. He recently stepped out from behind the drum kit for his first solo EP called Controlled Chaos. Recently, Morgan took some time to talk about the record, the band, and much more.
Please press the PLAY icon below for the MisplacedStraws Conversation with Morgan Rose:
On whether he was planning a solo record – I definitely was not planning on it. The pandemic was the catalyst for this being able to happen, between the pandemic and Clint (Lowery) and my girlfriend. Those are the three components that made it happen without that, never would have happened this year. :42
On recording the record in a pandemic – Clint would send the guitar stuff to me and then Jason (Christopher, bass). I recorded the record in California. So me and my girlfriend would go into the studio some nights when there was a curfew on here, and we would kind of sneak into the studio, track the drums or the vocals and then sneak out of the studio. And then when we were done, I think we were probably, I believe we were done with everything except bass. And then one day we just said, Jason, come in and the three of us set in there and Jason knocked the bass out in the day. So it wasn’t completely remote. And then we sent that stuff to Andrew (Groves, guitar) in Iceland, and he put some finishing touches on things. 1:57
“Exhale”
On the diversity of music on this record – I didn’t consciously do any of it. It was just kind of similar to how me and Clint deal with Call Me No One and Sevendust, is that it’s kind of an aimless..there is no direction. Musically, we’re aimlessly walking through our musical journey. But so diversity has always been there. I mean, with Call Me No One there was diversity with Sevendust obviously a ton of diversity. And with this record, it’s diverse as well. But, it wasn’t anything, I had no conscious effort for it. I was really pleased with the material that I got because I loved it all. If I wouldn’t have I don’t know where I would have gone with it, but, I mean, everything that was sent to me, I was like, “Yep, I can do this”. And I’m not a giant heavy guy. I mean, I’m not into, like, heavy music all the time. I’m more of the sad guy. Unfortunately, it mirrors my mentality sometimes, but that’s what I’m about. I’m the emotional, put your finger down your throat emotionally instead of listening to fucking Pantera and Slayer I’m like, let me get Depeche Mode or The Cure or something that’s gonna make me sad, because it’s got a major-minor progression, and I can just get over it. 4:36
“Come Alive”
On recording an EP as opposed to a full-length record – I think that the way that it is in the world now nobody has…I mean, what’s going on with humans these days is nobody has the attention span to get through a full record. It’s sad when I look at Sevendust records over the last 10 years, and I’m like, we’ve played no more than three songs, max on any of those records. And those are all your babies. So it’s like seven of those 10 babies are looked at like no one gives a shit. So, as much as they might all be equally as important to us, seven out of 10 of them never, ever get out of the house. So I just kinda looked at it like five is plenty. Five will be plenty enough for people to get a taste of what I’m even thinking about over here. And lyrically, I think that it kind of is enough. I don’t think I needed to go too far into all that stuff. I think five songs is plenty for them to digest. And then I’m absolutely planning on doing another one. If the people would like to hear more, I’ll have more. 6:30
“Clarity”
On plans during the rest of the pandemic – I don’t know what Sevendust will do. We haven’t made a full plan on that because everybody is still kind of finger-crossing their way through this thing that we’re gonna get going. So, I mean, I know that John (Connolly) and Clint are writing riffs daily so there’s no shortage. There’s probably more songs than we’ve ever had, or at least more riffs and stuff than we’ve ever had from those guys. But me personally, I mean, I’m one of the lucky ones that really can kind of work whenever I feel like working. Because I have my hands and all kinds of fires. I’ve got production work that I do. I’ve got co-writes that I do. I’ve got Imagine Records that I’m A&R for I’ve got Sevendust stuff. We’ll do a live stream at any time, I’ve got solo stuff that I recorded and did that. So it’s really the production and co-writes side is so busy that literally if I wanted to work every day, I probably could, which is humbling. And also it’s just crazy. I mean, like I said, I’m really lucky in the sense that I got my hands involved with that stuff early in our band and, it’s worked out to be something that is a lifesaver for this time being that the world is shut. 8:22
“The Answer”
On playing his solo material live – I don’t know about all that. The thing is, I wanna be more. I wanna be closer to Steely Dan than I wanna be Sevendust. I wanna be the band that puts out records and doesn’t tour. Because, I mean, that’s like that was hard work. I was weird, to sing and lose your voice and go, “Oh, shit. You mean I’d have to warm this thing up and be responsible about it?” Like I just did 25 years screaming into a little McDonald’s microphone and the worse it sounds the better. And now you’re telling me I need to have mic control like I don’t know about all that. If anything, I’m definitely institutionalized in that world, so I don’t know. If anything, me and Clint will do something because we have Call Me No One as well. He’s got a solo thing and I play drums for that now as well. So, really, there’s three different areas that we can exploit music to where they were me and Clint could probably put together without any question, a full headline show. If the people wanted that just in material, Call Me No One, Clint Lowery solo, Morgan solo. You know, it would be really easy. So, that might be a possibility. If we did that, I would only do “Exhale” though, because I would never want to play drums and saying, I don’t wanna do that Phil Collins deal. I’m embarrassed enough as it is having to yell a few words, I’m not gonna sit back there and do that. 10:07
“Faster Man”
On the effect of solo material on the band – I’m very open and honest about this stuff to where some people get pissed at me, and I don’t care, really. I mean, the fact is that I always feel some bit of, I don’t know, vulnerability, when somebody goes out and does something. I mean Clint going out and doing a solo thing. I don’t really know if anybody would think anything different than this, but let’s just say a theoretical and it could happen with Lajon (Witherspoon) easy, let’s just say that I don’t see it happening with Morgan Rose, but I mean, let’s just say Clint goes out and does a solo thing on his last record. The pandemic doesn’t hit and he’s Dave Grohl. I mean, it’s not the same genre of music, but I mean Gwenn Stafani went out and did a solo thing and No Doubt just fucking died. So it’s like there’s always the fear of, if Lajon puts out his record and people go, “You know what? I like this better than I like Sevendust, fuck Sevendust.” We all have to go, and then I gotta write another EP. But, I mean, it’s like that stuff isn’t negative really. The feeling of not even really fear but keeping you on your toes. And not only that, but when you go out and do that, you realize that this band works as a unit. And when you don’t have the band and you don’t have them to lean on and you don’t have four other guys to bounce ideas, you don’t have four other guys to take the grunt of the work and the grunt of the negative stuff that does come. You know, you have to wear it on your own. When somebody says “this sucks”, I look at the other four guys and say, “It was probably your fault”…So, yeah, I appreciate my band big time. I respect them and I appreciate them. And I think that when we do the solo endeavors, I think that it’s fun. It’s liberating. It’s got all kinds of cool. The hard work and the accomplishment that you do on your own is something that is, that I now know is really something to be proud of. And you don’t have to share that with four other people. So there’s all those things that come with it, but, yeah, we’re good. I know that I root for those. I know that I want them to succeed. I wanted Clint Lowery’s record to be the biggest thing in the world, and I want the same for Lajon. 12:15
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