Singled Out: Clint Lowery's Kings

K. Wiggins | 01-06-2020

Sevendust star Clint Lowery is gearing up to release his debut solo album "God Bless The Renegades" on January 31st and to celebrate we asked him to tell us about the song "Kings". Here is the story:

When I was writing for the solo record, I knew there was a need to write something fresh, something totally away from what I was known for.

I wrote the first draft of the music, and originally, the verse was the same musically. But chorus was this super uplifting piece that had a happy overtone, but very dark lyrics. The lyrics for the title track song 'God Bless the Renegades' were the original chorus for 'Kings. '

I later met with writer/producer Drew Fulk in L.A. to try and get pushed out of my comfort zone, and he listened to all of my demos. He gravitated towards 'Kings' musically. It had a special vibe and we bonded a bit while talking about bands we both dug.

After deciding that 'Kings' was gonna be the song we worked up, he took some of my tracks and elements and formed this kind of hip-hop version, with hardly any guitars, all keys, and electronic energy. We wrote some melodies and placeholder lyrics for chorus. We refined and it went into a very different direction.

It was the first time I surrendered to another writer's flow and controlling my ego enough to let this guy do his magic. We ended up taking that version in to Elvis (our producer) and we made it a more of a big rock song - sort of out of Queen's 'We Will Rock You' play book. That allowed the song to live on the record without sounding fake or like I was trying too hard to be 'different.' It was me still.

The song was for sure the most developed on my record. It would never turn out that way without the two of them adding their vibe to it and me biting my tongue and allowing a true collaboration happen. And it worked out.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself right here!