Streaming below from Artisan News is the complete Carnival Of Madness interview with SEVENDUST drummer Morgan Rose, who talked about their last-second apperance on the tour, their friendship with the other bands, his approach to drumming in 2013, follow-up album plans to Black Out The Sun, and his role behind the scenes helping new musicians.

By popular demand, the Atlanta-based band - Lajon Witherspoon (vocals), Morgan Rose (drums/vocals), Clint Lowery (guitar/vocals), John Connolly (guitar/vocals) and Vince Hornsby (bass/vocals) - will enter Architekt Studios in Butler, NJ (where they recorded their current Black Out The Sun album) in January 2014 to record their acoustic studio album, which will be released next spring. It’ll be a collection of brand new songs along with re-recorded Sevendust classics.

They asked their fans to be an integral part of the new project. Not only have they been asking fans for input of which songs to re-record, they partnered with PledgeMusic for a direct-to-fan campaign. Filled with exclusive incentives for ultimate access to have a hands-on part of the band’s legacy, the campaign is granting fans the opportunity to get a digital download of the album before its available anywhere, exclusive updates during the making of the record, and much more. Ranging from signed drumheads and guitar picks, to joining the band in the studio for a day, to being included in the album’s liner notes, to autographed guitars used on tour, to a private acoustic show at the house of the most generous donor, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Sevendust fans.

"We're very excited about the new Sevendust acoustic record,” declares guitarist Clint Lowery. “Knowing our relationship with the Sevendust Family, releasing it through PledgeMusic and allowing our supporters to be a part of the process is what it's all about. This type of direct-to-fan project is a perfect fit for us and it will allow a very personal connection between the band and its supporters. We can't wait to get to work on this record and have the fans join us in this unique process."
"We wanted our fans to be involved in the making of this record,” continues drummer Morgan Rose. “PledgeMusic is a perfect way to share the creative experience with them. We're really looking forward to it."

Portions of the proceeds from the campaign will be donated to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, which works to find cures for children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases.

Details about Sevendust's PledgeMusic campaign can be found at this location.

“The reason for doing this is that you guys have made us what we are today and we want to involve you in a much deeper way than we have ever before,” says the band in a combined statement on the direct-to-fan page. “We have been face to face with many of you, and some of you have been to over 50 shows and we have become family. We want you to have a chance to be a part of this process with us and make this record stand out.”

And as the entire band chimes in:

Lajon Witherspoon: “For me, on an acoustic, I’m able to showcase my vocals more. This is just a little something different, you know, we get off the beaten path every now and then.”

Clint Lowery: “We’ve had a couple of specialty shows where we’ve played acoustic, so that was kind of the first taste of ‘Whoa, we can be heavy, but we can be an acoustic band and the same fanbase will embrace us.’ We have one more month to be out here on tour, we’ve been grinding it out for a long time. We’re completely putting every bit of our energy into this acoustic record. We already have these amazing ideas circulating for it. We want to make a statement with it. I want to open a whole different door for our band.”

John Connolly: “This will be cool for us, to kind of go in and just focus on just the acoustic side of the band which is something that we’ve been trying to get back around to for eight/nine years now.”

Morgan Rose: “We wanted to do an acoustic run, but we thought we’ve got the time to do it, why don’t we do an acoustic record and actually do five or six, seven random songs acoustically.”

Vince Hornsby: “I hope our fans dig it. We play the heavy stuff all the time. It’s good to throw something different in there and change it up a little bit.”