Seven was originally formed in 1997, the first members being drummer Matt Morris, guitarist Jason Patton,
and lead guitarist/singer Dwayne Westbrook. Not more than a year later, Adam Jones arrived as the bass
player. These days were spent crammed into Matt’s bedroom, some of us jamming on small practice amps. We
only had one or two original songs, while the rest of our set would be filled with Metallica and Pantera. It would
be several years before Seven ever settled into its permanent members. Before the turn of the century,
Dwayne Westbrook would go on a permanent hiatus. Jason Patton would also step out of the picture for an
extended period of time.
Enter the second era of Seven. In 1999, the band was no longer playing. After Dwayne split, practice just
stopped happening. But Adam and Matt would pull things back together. This time around guitar duties were in
the hands of Brandon DeWitte. We spent the weekends jamming in Matt’s shed. One of our first “distributed”
songs came out of this shed. The song “Love was a Lie” was sang by Casey Johnson.this would be his first and
last song with the band. Despite the fact that he was out of the band due to not showing up for practice (or
gigs), he really had no business being in the band in the first place. Today, not many copies of “Love was a
Lie” remain…hopefully. And thus started the curse that would plague us for years to come, we couldn’t find a
singer to save our lives. A few of them came and went without any luck.
This went on for about 2 years. Eventually Brandon started to fade out as the guitarist for Seven. He
became extremely unreliable, not showing up to practice or contributing to the band at all. Matt and Adam were
slowly become the core for the band. Many long nights were spent, just the two of them, writing and recording
songs that would never be played live…or even heard by most people. The only good thing to come out of this
time was the definition of the bands sound. Adam and Matt took control of all writing duties and developed into
much better song writers. All songs played by the band were originals, with the occasional drunken Metallica
cover played during a party. By Soon, Brandon would stop showing up completely. Even though Seven was in
very bad shape, a very loyal fan would show up to every practice even though it was usually just Adam and
Matt messing with riffs or experimenting on new songs…but nothing overly entertaining. This fan would be the
future front man of Seven, Justin Hillhouse. Justin shows up to a practice one day, and with no idea of what was
happening, gets handed a guitar. “You are the new guitarist.” As they say, “the rest is history.” Justin picked up
the duties very quick. But his potential as a singer would not be seen for some time to come.
We find ourselves in the current era of Seven. It took time and patience to get to this point. Even after Justin
joined the band, the band kept its eyes open for a singer. At this point, it seemed almost hopeless. It was
increasingly difficult. But our singer was in front of us all along. Matt was surprised by Justin’s vocal abilities one
day while they were messing around on some acoustic guitars. The search was off, and work began on
developing Justin’s voice. His talents grew exponentially, along with his abilities on the guitar. Everyone grew
into their place in the band. Writing responsibilities are now shared among all members, according to their own
talents. The music has developed into the heaviest and melodic it has ever been. Songs like “Recognize”
reach down into the depths of true emotion with the lyrics, being driven by beautiful yet dark melody, building
up from a gentle beginning to explode with rage at the very end. The newest song,” Enemies Among Us”,
proves to be our most dynamic and heavy song from start to finish.
Yet, this is only the beginning. We are just now moving forward and away from playing parties and gigs at
shitty bars. You will now see Seven at the amazing metal venue, “The Darkside.” And Jason Patton is joining
the ranks once again to add another dimension to the music. After months of training, Jason is preparing
himself for the moment he will join Adam, Justin, and Matt on stage. The future of the band is undecided. Be
sure that the band will continue to evolve towards perfection, and will always push the boundaries of “metal”.
You will see us at “The Darkside” again, and at other venues soon enough. A recording studio is now being
built in the basement of Matt’s home, which will allow Seven to distribute its very own album. Recorded and
produced by none other than Seven… the way it should be. Only time will decide where we will go from here.
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