John Connolly (born October 21, 1968) is an American musician best known as the guitarist of

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Sevendust Sevendust is an American rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1994 by bassist Vince Hornsby, drummer Morgan Rose and rhythm guitarist John Connolly. After their first demo, lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon and lead guitarist Clint Lowery ...

. Connolly is known for his fire designed custom made Les Paul guitar designed by

Epiphone Epiphone is an American musical instrument brand that traces its roots to a musical instrument manufacturing business founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire, and moved to New York City in 1908. After taking over his f ...

, but has since switched to

Dean Guitars Dean Guitars, commonly referred to simply as Dean, is an American importer and maker of stringed instruments and musical products with its headquarters in Tampa, Florida. Its products include solid-body electric guitars, bass guitars, and acous ...

Career

Piece Dogs

In 1988, John Connolly, with vocalist Greg Anderson, guitarist Mike Grimmett and bassist Kyle Sanders started a band called Piece Dogs in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. In 1992, Piece Dogs released an LP titled ''Exes for Eyes'' through

Energy Rekords Energy Rekords is a record label formed in 1990 by the merging of the three labels: Front Music Production, Electronic Beat Association, and Energy - all small labels run from the Swedish town of Älmhult. By banding together these labels' fou ...

. Connolly was the band's original drummer. The band genre was

power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...

and

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

. Piece Dogs disbanded several months after releasing the album.

Sevendust

In 1994, Connolly joined the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

heavy metal band

as a guitarist, and has since been with the band through all of their studio releases.

Projected

In 2012, Connolly formed the American rock supergroup consisting of Connolly on guitar and lead vocals, fellow Sevendust member

Vinnie Hornsby Vince Hornsby (born October 22, 1967) is the bassist and one of the founding members of American rock band Sevendust. Music career Sevendust Before the formation of Sevendust, Hornsby was in the band Snake Nation along with Morgan Rose, also of ...

Alter Bridge Alter Bridge is an American rock band from Orlando, Florida. The band was formed in 2004 by vocalist and rhythm guitarist Myles Kennedy, lead guitarist Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips. After their former band Cr ...

and

Creed A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets. The ea ...

drummer Scott Phillips, and former

Submersed Submersed (sometimes typeset as SubmerseD) is an American rock band from Stephenville, Texas. They first disbanded in 2008, reuniting in late 2021, early 2022. History Submersed was signed to Wind-up Records, and worked with Alter Bridge gu ...

and current Tremonti guitarist

Eric Friedman Eric Charles "Erock" Friedman (born June 28, 1984) is an American musician, best known as the current guitarist for Tremonti and former touring guitarist and backing vocalist for Creed. He played with the band on their 2009 United States reun ...

. The band released their first album ''

Human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

'' in June 2012, before falling into inactivity as members returned to their respective bands in late 2012. The band released their second studio album, '' Ignite My Insanity'', on July 21, 2017.

Personal life

Connolly married his wife Lori Kirkley on March 24, 2001. John and Lori have been together for 20 years. They have a daughter who goes by the name Jordan, who was born in 2005.

Discography

Piece Dogs

*''Exes for Eyes'' (1992)

Sevendust

*''

'' (1997) *''

Home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...

'' (1999) *''

Animosity Animosity may refer to: * ''Animosity'' (comic), an American comic book series published by AfterShock Comics *Animosity (band) Animosity was an American death metal band from San Francisco, California, formed in 2000. The band released three ...

'' (2001) *''

Seasons A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

'' (2003) *''

Next Next may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare * ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage * '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film Lit ...

'' (2005) *''

Alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἄλφα, ''álpha'', or ell, άλφα, álfa) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , whic ...

'' (2007) *'' Chapter VII: Hope and Sorrow'' (2008) *''

Cold Day Memory ''Cold Day Memory'' is the eighth studio album by American rock band Sevendust, released on April 20, 2010. The album marks the return of guitarist Clint Lowery who previously left Sevendust in 2004 to work with Dark New Day. The album debuted at ...

'' (2010) *'' Black Out the Sun'' (2013) *''

Time Travelers & Bonfires ''Time Travelers & Bonfires'' is the tenth studio album by American rock band Sevendust, released on April 15, 2014. It includes several previously released songs re-recorded as acoustic versions, as well as six new acoustic tracks. Although the b ...

'' (2014) *''

Kill the Flaw ''Kill the Flaw'' is the eleventh studio album by American rock band Sevendust. It is the third album that is self-produced and recorded at Architekt Music studio in Butler, New Jersey. It was released on October 2, 2015, through 7Bros. Promotio ...

'' (2015) *''

All I See Is War ''All I See Is War'' is the twelfth studio album by Sevendust. It was released on May 11, 2018. Three songs were showcased from the album ahead of its full release; the first single, "Dirty", along with two other promotional songs, "Not Original ...

'' (2018) *''

Blood & Stone ''Blood & Stone'' is the thirteenth studio album by American rock band Sevendust. It was released on October 23, 2020. Two songs were showcased from the album ahead of its full release; the first single, a tribute to the late singer Chris Cornel ...

'' (2020)

Projected

*''

'' (2012) *'' Ignite My Insanity'' (2017) *''Hypoxia'' (2022)

Gear

Guitars

Current *Dean Soltero (USA Custom Shop for John) *Dean Soltero (Japanese Custom Shop) *Dean Black Gold Z *Dean Z '79 Silverback reissue *Dean Z *Dean Stealth Two Tone Past *Epiphone signature John Connolly Les Paul guitar *Gibson Les Paul Customs (78' and 79') *Gibson Explorer *Gibson Les Paul Studios (83', 91') Not Sure *12 string Epiphone Les Paul *Yahama acoustic

Effects and more

*Digitech XP-100 Whammy II Wah *Dunlop Uni-Vibe / Wah Controller Pedal *Dunlop DCR-ISR Crybaby Rack Wah *Korg DTR-2 Rack Tuner *Mesa/Boogie Amp Switcher *Rocktron Hush IICX Noise Gate *Shure Wireless *MXR Phase 90 *

TC Electronic TC Electronic (sometimes stylized as t.c. electronic) is a Danish audio equipment company that designs and imports guitar effects, bass amplification, computer audio interfaces, audio plug-in software, live sound equalisers, studio and post-pr ...

pedals (studio) *Electro-Harmonix (studio) *Dimebag Wah (Dunlop DB01) *Vox Tonelab

Strings

*Dean Markley Blue Steel strings

References

External links

Sevendust – Official Sevendust website

IMDB.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Connolly, John Living people American heavy metal guitarists American heavy metal drummers Musicians from Atlanta Nu metal drummers 1968 births American heavy metal singers Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state) American male guitarists 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century American guitarists Sevendust members Projected members 20th-century American male musicians