For their current single, “Enemy,” Sevendust have taken a couple of cues from hip-hop. They’ve half-rapped the verse, and they’ve put their beef with another musician on wax.
The song is a diatribe directed toward ex-Coal Chamber frontman Dez Fafara, who is currently in the band Devildriver. “Enemy” was written and largely sung by drummer Morgan Rose, whose wife is former Coal Chamber bassist Rayna Foss-Rose. The song, a full-on character assassination with a bruising verse and huge, melodic chorus, features such lines as, “Look at your face, look at your name/ Funny you’re a loser with only yourself to blame,” and “You want to be like me ’cause it’s real/ So you steal on your way to fame.”
“That song is about the person in the world that I hate more than Saddam Hussein,” Rose said. “It was good to be able to get that stuff off my chest because I was able to express myself without doing anything stupid that would get me in trouble.”
“Enemy” was originally called “Pez,” a derogatory nickname Rose had for Fafara. “We called him that because I used to say, ‘I want to take this dude’s head and pull it back and rip his tongue out of his neck,’ ” Rose grumbled.
Rose has such rancor for Fafara because of the way he allegedly treated Foss-Rose when Coal Chamber were together. “He’s a horrible human being and he f-ed my wife over real bad,” he said. “But it turned out to be a really good song.”
Fafara was not available for comment.
A video for “Enemy” was created by director Adam Pollina, a former artist for the comic book “X-Force.” The clip will feature ex-WWE female wrestler Chyna, the band’s publicist said.
The second single from Sevendust’s fourth album, Seasons, which comes out October 7, likely will be the title track. Less angry and corrosive than “Enemy,” the tune starts with a chunky main riff and a counter guitar passage that feeds into a smooth, soulful vocal. The pre-chorus builds in intensity, as the guitars temporarily drop out while frontman Lajon Witherspoon sings, “Every time the truth gets broken I’m the one to fix it/ All the hate don’t mean sh- if you’re not here to spit it.”
“When we did that one, [our producer] Butch [Walker] said, ‘This is the tap-your-buddy-on-the-shoulder-and-point-at-the-stage song,’ ” Rose explained. “Your head never stops bouncing to it. It’s almost like damn ‘Wayne’s World.’ It’s groove-oriented as hell, and it’s really hooky right out of the gate.”
Sevendust are currently on tour and will remain on the road through 2004. But Rose still plans to find the time to work on a drummers album that Tommy Lee is putting together. The disc, currently in the planning stages, will feature a variety of multi-talented stick-bashers on various instruments. So far, Rose, Foo Fighters mainman Dave Grohl, Godsmack vocalist Sully Erna and Jane’s Addiction’s Stephen Perkins have been approached.
“We’re gonna do something, but I don’t know exactly when it’s gonna be because Tommy is writing a lot of stuff and we just finished our record,” Rose said. “His idea is to get a lot of drummers together and there’s a pile of us that can sing and play guitar. He’s the torch holder for drummers, so this will be something really cool. I’m flattered as hell to be a part of it.”
