Speaking with Metal Hammer, Sevendust frontman Lajon Witherspoon revealed the 10 albums that chanfed his life. Following is an excerpt from the list.

Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced

Witherspoon: "I wish I could have been a part of, the whole psychedelic era. I was too young to see it but Hendrix sums that entire period up for me. You could say that he doesn’t have the best voice, but his playing and the vocals together just made me want to explore the art of playing and singing, and he really made me want to be in a band. And people need to recognise the rhythm section, one of my all-time favourites, that groove, right in the pocket. You just had to move, the beat was incredible."

Prince – Purple Rain

Witherspoon: "And then you have this guy comes along, who is like Jimi, but with his own little weird superstar ways of awesomeness as well. From the first album I was hooked, but then when Purple Rain comes along and he’s a movie star as well, it blew my mind! And that’s really him as well, that’s no character, I so wanted to be him. If I didn’t already want to be Jimi, I damn sure wanted to be Prince, I just couldn’t get away with those suits! Everything that he touched was inspired, the bad side was great, the nasty side, 'When Doves Cry', 'Raspberry Beret'… damn! It was all so good!"

Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath

Witherspoon: "To me this is something I remember hearing as a kid and being freaked out. I never just used to listen to soul in my house, it was country, R&B, rock’n’roll, it was everything, all kinds of music. When I would go to my grandparents house, they would be rocking out and that’s where Sabbath came in. The tones, the guitar, the voice, it all grabbed me when I was a kid. We  got the chance to do the Ozzfest and to go out on an Australian tour with Ozzy and that was an amazing experience – to be out on the road with the singer from Black Sabbath. Who would have imagined me sitting on a plane and going to all these different shows with Ozzy?! What an experience, man."

Check out the complete rundown here.

Sevendust recently unveiled a new lyric video for their cover of the Soundgarden classic “The Day I Tried To Live”. The song is the first piece of new music from the band since 2018’s All I See Is War.

The band chose the song to return to the airwaves with after seeing the societal changes happening around the globe. The lyrical message of learning to live a better life is as relevant today as it was when the song was first released in 1994. The song is available for purchase now at this location.

The new track was produced Michael “Elvis” Baskette, who first worked with the band on their last album, All I See Is War. The lyric video for the song was created by Wayne Joyner (known for his work with Dream Theater). It features a lone figure walking down a road thinking about his life with clips of the band woven throughout.

“Soundgarden is such an important band to all of us in Sevendust and this love for them goes all the way back to when we were starting,” explains Lajon Witherspoon. “We discussed trying to do one of their songs and our producer Elvis suggested ‘The Day I Tried To Live.’ I would have been fine with any of those songs personally. When I first heard it, I thought the lyrics were timeless. The lyrics are about trying to experience new things and change the way you live, and we see examples of that every day with what is happening around the world. To have the chance to cover this song and release it is so special to all of us. Thank you, Chris Cornell and Soundgarden.”

Sevendust is known for their high energy live shows and even though the recent COVID-19 has stalled most touring globally, the band has some dates announced. They are scheduled to be part of the Rebel Rock 2020 festival in Orlando this September and have dates in Australia booked for February 2021. More dates will be announced when information becomes available.