Hard rock greats Sevendust are currently on the road in support of their highly anticipated first new album in three years, Black Out the Sun.

Sevendust will also be part of the spectacular Rock on the Range festival taking place in Columbus, Ohio on May 19.

In this Noisecreep exclusive, Sevendust guitarist John Connolly tells us that the band was very close to being in Boston on Monday (April 15), the day of the tragic marathon bombing.

John, you were telling us that you had plans to be in Boston on April 15?

Yes. We were in Hartford and had the day off, but we had been making plans to go to Boston that day. We know a bunch of people that work at a hospital there. In fact, it's the place where a lot of the victims are now. So we were gonna go visit all our pals and at the last minute just decided to stay in Hartford. Today, the day after, we are in Massachusetts though, and you can tell something serious happened. There's something about being close to it that makes you feel just a little bit differently. Everyone's kind of got that look in their eyes like, we're really close to this. Such a horrible thing. Hard to process. It's definitely weird being on the road when big events happen. But in today's day and age, we're connected with so many variables that we tend to find out things on the front end of the curve.

Technology has changed a lot since you guys first started touring.

Oh yeah. Our version of getting the word out back in the day was grabbing a stack of cassettes and then grabbing a stack of flyers right next to the cassettes, and then going out to a concert to spread the word. Today, you've got a million things to help get the word out. Years ago it was very hand-to-hand combat. Everything is so different today than when we first started out.

Watch 'Decay' Video %VIRTUAL-globalVideoEmbed-{"videoIds":"517739951","width":"476", "height":"387","sid":"577","relatedMode":"0", "hasCompanion":"false","autoStart":"false", "colorPallet":"#01B47B","videoControlDisplayColor":"#000000"}%

By the way, congrats on the great new album - are you pleased with the reaction so far?

It's been fantastic. It was such a long break. Sevendust fans are used to a certain rhythm and this was a little longer than usual. Everything about the record was a break from the norm for us. We were in the studio without having anything pre-written. And then once we finished we had to sit on it for seven months. It was so weird, and we are all thrilled that is finally out. Was just weird waiting so long for it!

Can you tell us about a first concert that inspired you, growing up in Atlanta?

I was such a fan of music, that every show I went to had an impact on me. But I saw Metallica open for Ozzy on the Master of Puppets tour. That just blew my mind. I'm old enough to have seen Metallica in that very beginning stage. For me, James Hetfield was everything. The sort of heavy guitar he played at that speed was just so different. He made anything and everything seem possible. That show affected me the rest of my life. Another one was seeing Pantera live. You can't really explain what it was like to watch Dimebag play live. Between Hetfield and Dimebag, that did it for me. That was what inspired me to stop playing the drums and pick up a guitar.

Black Out the Sun is available on iTunes today!

Tour dates w/ Lacuna Coil, Coal Chamber and Candlelight Red:

Wed 4/17 New York, NY Best Buy Theater
Thu 4/18 Philadelphia, PA Electric Factory
Fri 4/19 Hampton Beach, NH Hampton Beach Casino
Sat 4/20 Sayreville, NJ Starland Ballroom
Mon 4/22 Baltimore, MD Rams Head Live!
Tue 4/23 Charlotte, NC The Fillmore Charlotte
Wed 4/24 Atlanta, GA Tabernacle
Fri 4/26 Houston, TX Warehouse Live
Sat 4/27 Corpus Christi, TX Concrete Street Amphitheater
Sun 4/28 Dallas, TX The Palladium Ballroom
*Tue 4/30 Monroe, LA Live Oaks Bar and Ballrom
Wed 5/1 Huntsville, AL Sammy T's
Fri 5/3 Virginia Beach, VA Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach
Sat 5/4 North Myrtle Beach, SC House of Blues (with Seether)
Sat 5/11 Kansas City, MO RockFest
**Mon 5/13 Rapid City, SD Rushmore Plaza Civic Ctr
**Tue 5/14 Bismarck, ND Civic Center Exhibit Hall
*Wed 5/15 Duluth, MN Clyde Iron Works
*Fri 5/17 Grand Rapids, MI The Orbit Room
Sat 5/18 Springfield, IL Boondocks
Sun 5/19 Columbus, OH Rock on the Range
*Wed 5/22 Baton Rouge, LA The Varsity Theatre
*Thu 5/23 Columbus, GA Front Porch Of The South
*Fri 5/24 Jacksonville, FL The Roc Bar
Sat 5/25 Niceville, FL Mullett Festival Grounds (Blazefest with HellYeah, Saving Abel, Pop Evil, Eye Empire)
*Sun 5/26 St. Petersburg, FL State Theatre
Mon 5/27 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Culture Room
Thu 7/18 Peoria, IL Heart of Illinois Fair
Fri 7/19 Oshkosh, WI Ford Festival Park/Rock USA (with Megadeth & Godsmack)

* Shows with Pop Evil.
** Shows with Pop Evil and In This Moment

More From Noisecreep