A lucky accident brought Sevendust--Lajon Witherspoon (vocals), John Connolly (guitar), Clint Lowery (guitar), Morgan Rose (drums) and Vince Hornsby (bass)--to the attention of a major label. Originally named Rumblefish, the group thanklessly circulated demos around the Atlanta music scene to no avail. It wasn't until the 1996 Gavin Radio Seminar when TVT record execs, seeking directions to an Atlanta strip club, stumbled upon the group. Two million units later, the band seems poised to conquer new territory with the patiently recorded "Animosity."

LiveDaily spoke with guitarist John Connolly about the album, the business, and the fateful Gavin gig.

LiveDaily: Let's get into the new album "Animosity." You guys got very melodic for this, and the vocals of Lajon Witherspoon really shine. How conscious was the direction?

John Connolly: It just took a little bit of time to get it where we wanted it, you know. We've always been focused on trying to be as melodic as we could be, and it took three records for us to really get it down. It definitely was something conscious, something we were definitely trying to do from the get-go. We wanted to be more melodic because we have a singer that can sing. We're blessed with a talent, so why not use it?

How did you guys write the songs for "Animosity?"

We started September [of 2000], the five of us moved into an apartment in Orlando. We spent a month together, and then at the end of that month, we demo-ed everything we had written. Then we left and went back home for two weeks to regroup and come up with some new fresh ideas and stuff, and then we got back together for another month and did the whole same process. Usually in each month, we'd get about five or six songs that we really felt strong about.

And then after you do that four or five different times, you know, you keep coming up with better stuff. Stuff that's better than the last gig. We finally got to a point where we had too many songs, which is exactly where we wanted to be.

Your rise sounds almost Metallica-like, as far as doing it without help from anybody--radio, MTV.

Well, now, all of the sudden, we're the best new thing to come out of Atlanta. The problem is, they got us on our third record. [laughs]

"Thanks for tuning in."

Exactly. We're the best-kept secret now, and Atlanta is finally on board, but everybody thinks we're a brand new band. Which is kind of ironic that your hometown would treat you like that. But it all coincides with everything--people look at the album cover and they're like, "Okay, a little boy with an apple on his head and vultures flying around him. Well, this business is full of vultures, and that little kid is just waiting to get whacked." [laughs] "Animosity" just summed up the way we felt about that whole thing.

But ironically enough, after we had the record finished, it was kind of like that whole thing was put to rest. We're a lot more at ease. We're very comfortable with a lot of the situations we're in, as far as our matters, business managers and stuff.

How did you hook up with producer Ben Grosse (Fuel, Filter), and what was he like to work with?

[Sevendust's manager] Jeff Hanson was actually the person responsible with that. When you sit there and you think about who is going to produce the new record, you come up with a list and everybody throws names around. I remember Jeff saying, "This one guy, Ben Grosse, comes pretty highly recommended by a bunch of people." I had known him from the Filter stuff, I hadn't really heard that much of the Fuel stuff. So we checked it all out and really liked what he did sound-wise. And it was as simple as having a 20-minute conversation with him--we knew that he was the guy that was going to do the record.

Now what's the story with the TVT discovery, the Gavin gig in 1996?

It was the funniest thing. The Gavin Convention was going on in Atlanta, and we almost canceled the gig because the convention was going on. The gig we were playing wasn't even part of it. Here we are, sitting there thinking nobody is going to come to the show because they're at all the Gavin shows. So we came close to canceling it, but we decided not to because we were getting paid enough to pay the rent on our rehearsal room.

So we did the gig, which went okay, and there were 150 people there, at best. And evidently, a cabbie in Atlanta didn't know where he was going. These TVT reps were looking for a strip club after seeing all the Gavin bands they wanted to see, and the parking lot of the place we played was shared by a strip club. And instead of going to the building on the right, they went to the building on the left. And they walked in and saw us playing, and they came up to us in the dressing room afterwards. It was the normal deal. "I work for so-and-so records, blah blah blah, and if I can get the demos we can promise you this." And we've all heard this before.

You're like, "Next."

Exactly. Well, it turns out, I got the number and gave it to Morgan, and he put it in the laundry. [laughs] So we lost the number. No big deal, whatever.

But two weeks later we end up getting a call back from TVT. Turns out they contacted that club that they accidentally went into and finagled the club owner into giving out our home phone number. Actually convinced him that they were a real label and could help us out.