Dark New Day is back. Sort of. The hard-rocking quintet – a supergroup comprised of Clint Lowery (Sevendust), Will Hunt (Evanescence), Troy McLawhorn (Evanescence), Brett Hestla (Virgos Merlot) and Corey Lowery (Stereomud) — exploded onto the music scene in 2005 with Twelve Year Silence and followed that up in 2006 with the EP Black Porch (Acoustic Sessions). But then it all fell apart. Their next album, referred to as Hail Mary, went unfinished and unreleased. Warner Bros., their label, dropped them. And the band, well, went dark for several years. Last year, though, they regrouped and finished off the Hail Mary songs, adding some new material as well. The result is New Tradition, released by Goomba Music/eOne Music in late February. Hooters Magazine recently caught up with Clint Lowery for an entertaining Q&A. Check it out:
What excites you most about the new CD?
Lowery: I think the fact that we thought these songs weren’t ever going to see the light of day. We’d kind of given up on them ever coming out. When I’d talk to Will or Corey about Dark New Day, it was always like, “Damn, I wish we could have gotten these songs out.” We’d get nostalgic listening to them. We kept that conversation going and finally said, “We don’t care what anyone says. We’re putting these songs out.” We leaked a couple of songs and, once the Warner Bros. situation got cleared up, we could really do it. Someone at Goomba was interested in putting it out and they presented an opportunity to us. We went backed and looked at some songs that were never put out and never leaked out anywhere and put together this record.
Which tracks from New Tradition work best for you?
Lowery: They’re all cool, man. “Caught in the Light” is one of my favorites. It’s a very old song. It was from the Twelve Year Silence batch of songs, and it has that vibe to it. That song, to me, it represents what Dark New Day is. “Breakdown” is an amazing song that Brett wrote. “Sorry” is a really good rock song. There are gems all over the record, I think.
What are the chances you guys will tour or at least play a few shows to let Dark New Day fans hear these songs live?
Lowery: A lot of moons would have to be aligned to do it because we all have primary bands that we’re in. But I’d love to do some shows with the guys because we always had a lot of fun. Being away from it makes you miss it. We didn’t tour that extensively on the first record, so if we all have a little bit of time and if New Tradition does pretty well, we’re absolutely going to have to do some touring. We don’t know when, but we’ve kind of committed to each other that we’re doing to do some shows to back it up.
OK, time for some fun questions. What was your favorite song growing up?
Lowery: For some reason I love “Hole in the Sky” by Black Sabbath. To me, sonically, it was just chaotic-sounding. The guitars are in your face. That song really introduced me to aggressive music of a darker nature.
What one guitarist, dead or alive, do you wish you could jam with?
Lowery: It’d have to be Dimebag. I actually got a chance to play “Walk” with him. I sang it and he played guitar, so I didn’t get to jam on guitar with him. So that’d be my dream, Dimebag and Jimi Hendrix.
The best female rocker out there right now is…
Lowery: I’ve gotta say Lzzy Hale.
What else are you working on these days?
Lowery: Actually, Morgan (Rose), the drummer from Sevendust, and I have a side project coming out called Call Me No One. We’re in the studio recording that. I’m really excited about it. I’ll be singing and playing guitar and Morgan will obviously be playing drums. We’ll pull in a bass player and a guitar player at some point to tour with us, but it’s going to be very cool, very much like a heavier Foo Fighters/Queens of the Stone Age thing, but a little more aggressive.
What’s happening with Sevendust?
Lowery: We’ll be doing something soon. I think we’ll start writing for the new Sevendust album in June or July.
As always, our last question is: How often do you get to Hooters and what do like most about the place?
Lowery: Oh, man, I get there a lot when we’re on the road. It seems like a typical place for a rock band. Sometimes we’ll play a town and there will be a Hooters right where our hotel is. It’s always good for sports and the wings, not to mention the obvious.
