Hello Demons… Meet the End of Clint Lowery’s Skeletons

Say it ain’t so: Clint Lowery’s Hello Demons… Meet Skeletons solo project is coming to an end. But not before putting out one more release, Choices, the final of four HDMS records that are being released together as a deluxe box set. And there’s a new song called “Caved In” from the final album for you to stream right now! Stream “Caved In” here and order Choices or the four-CD box set here.

For those of us who have followed Clint’s career closely over the years the end of HDMS certainly draws a tear, but I can’t imagine he’ll entirely stop making music outside of Sevendust; it’ll likely just take a different form, whether that be another Call Me No One record or something else entirely. Dude just can’t help but write music. And we still have one last HDMS album to look forward to.

Speaking of Call Me No One: the new HDMS song “Caved In” from Choices calls that project to mind, a fact Clint acknowledges in a post on his website. It reminds me of the first HDMS album Chills a bit as well. Here’s that post in its entirety, explaining the rationale behind shutting down HDMS, what’s next and more:

Well, the time is here to release the final installment of my Hello Demons..meet skeletons project. This creative outlet has been amazing to do and a great way to connect with other people who share some of the same life issues I have or who simply just relate to the lyrics in some way.

It has allowed me to truly take a look at myself, call myself out, choke down some much needed humility and grow. Some of the lyrics are based on observations of life around me or people that have affected me in a negative or positive way. All of it healthy exercises in life and how to live and learn from mistakes.

I truly thank all of you who have gone down this path with me and supported this small but meaningful project. I started HDMS because I had just returned to Sevendust and basically had a few months of sobriety and felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude to be alive and recovering. My brother Corey opened up some space for me at his studio to write and record these ideas and feelings. “Chills‘ was the first EP and I played all the instruments and sang it all. My mother had suggested that I do it because she enjoyed the version of Hurt I did on a Sevendust acoustic tour. I was fearful of being the “lead singer” but felt that was the only way to do it. Someone else singing my feelings and experiences felt unnatural. So with Corey engineering and producing we knocked it out and it felt good. It was so different from Sevendust that it didn’t feel threatening to them and allowed me to be creative until the next 7d record was on deck.

Later I decided to keep the outlet open but had minimal time and resources to do another one. My wife Tara and I were living in St. Louis awaiting our first child but I really felt that same urge to record. I began writing some song ideas and recording in my basement. My wife urged me to do it because she knew I had to do it before our son came into this world. To make a long story short I was looking for studio monitors and posted something on Twitter asking for suggestions and met a guy by the name of George Roskos, co-owner of a studio called Architekt who offered to send me a set of KRKs. A friendship was made and I told him what I was trying to do and he and his team, Kurt Wubbenhorst and Mike Ferretti lent their time and talent to give my acoustic guitar and vocal tracks a musical landscape. We created Words That Sing Well without ever meeting in person. Gotta love technology.

We went on to do countless projects together including Call Me No Oneand Sevendust’s Black Out The Sun. Been a great relationship since and it’s still growing. And we credit Twitter of all things. Guess Twitter’s good for a few things.

I recorded a very intimate and under the radar HDMS3 in my basement myself and hired my brother to do a mix. I called it Uncomfortable Silence. Four songs that a lot of people don’t know about but the die hards always do.

Now here we are, ready to release the HDMS4 EP called “Choices“. After recording the Call Me No One project I really enjoyed the intensity of electric and singing harder and thought for the last HDMS I would combine that flavor to the final EP. Leave with a bang and do it right. I decided to pull in a creative partner on it in Kurt to write and record it with me at Architekt. We set a challenge to do it in less than a week and to write it on the spot and track. I worked with Kurt and Mike enough to know that we could pull it off. It’s scary doing it that way but it was exciting as hell. I can’t decide if it’s better or worse for me to take time and second guess things or do it fast to where you really can’t think about it. The music is the deciding factor and I’m very proud of this last HDMS EP. If you enjoyed the CMNO project and Words That Sing Well then you will like this.

George, who is my partner on the release of this and is basically my manager, is helping me come up with ways to release this record. He’s also doing the packaging with our artist Jill. We’ve decided to do a limited 500 copy release of all four EPs in a deluxe edition that will have a ton of cool artwork, lyrics, a remixed/remastered version of Uncomfortable Silence with programming, thanks you’s, etc. as well as Chills and Words That Sing Well. We are releasing this ourselves and don’t have some of the resources a bigger label has but we want to deliver something special to the HDMS fans. Of course if you don’t want to buy that you can wait for iTunes release but I think the full deluxe is gonna be a cool package to pick up.

I want to keep it very personal and I want to personalize all of them to whoever orders one. I want to make sure that if someone is gonna invest money in it that they get a true thank you and a real bang for their buck. We have new tshirts as well and we’re giving away one of my PRS signature guitars to one of the people who purchase the deluxe record.

I’m a thankful man today, I have so much appreciation for the people who have walked up to me and mentioned HDMS and how it’s affected their lives. Thats the whole purpose of this. I’m not sure what’s next in my personal career. Sevendust is always a huge part that takes up most of my time but I want to continue doing different projects. I just feel like it’s time to bring the HDMS project to an end. It’s time for a new chapter. I really hope you enjoy Choices and I look forward to hearing some feedback. It’s 6 songs and if you pay close attention there’s a little surprise for you guys to show appreciation. Gotta dig a lil though! :)

Well gonna run for now, hope there’s peace and love in your life and do me a favor, pick up the new HDMS.  I want to prove you can release music yourself and still reach people. My definition of success is different than what it used to be. I don’t take a day for granted, a fans support lightly and thank God daily I’m able to release music that some people enjoy.  Have a great rest of your year and let’s share some music ya’ll.

Clint