How was it for this band to have to finally record this CD as a complete unit. I know the band recorded the first record together, but it was some of Brent's (Smith) ideas being put to track, where this time around it was the entire band writing and recording together?
Well, that may be a bit of a misunderstanding. Although we did record with like three different producers and Brent was signed, we did write most of the tracks on Leave A Whisper together. We wrote 14 songs in LA for the first record, 12 were supposed to make it but it turned out only six actually did make the record. Then we wrote six more tracks in Atlanta, and four of those made it and then we did some more tracks in Samford which were actually our demos, .45 and Burning Bright. Leave a Whisper was actually a long, drawn out process of over-thinking songs and what songs should actually make it. But when it did finally come out, it sold well and is still selling well, between 3,000 and 4,000 a week and that is two years later. So, for us that is like amazing. It is at like 985,000 scanned, so we already have gone certified platinum. So, we took only like three weeks off after touring for nearly two years, from like March 5 to April 1, and next thing you know Jasin (Todd) has cleared out his house in Atlantic Beach and we started from nothing for this record. We really didn't have anything written, maybe a few ideas. But we ended up with like 23 tracks in a month's time, seventeen of those were tracked with drums and guitar and from there we narrowed it down to 14 which got recorded to the fullest extent. Twelve of those made the record, and then there were three acoustic versions that we put on the bonus CD. Then there is a song called Break, which was actually written a long time ago, which is like a bonus on CDs sold in certain stores. And then there was a song called Carried Away, which was also a bonus for CDs sold in another store for like the first 50,000 pressings. But it wasn't too tough to make, man. The songs and ideas really just came to us that day, then we would track drums and then bass and guitar tracks down and then we would move on. It went really fast, and then Brent would figure out in his head which ones move him and which ones he was writing to, and then prioritize. Actually, the second single I Dare You, he had like a month left to make deadline, so not only did he have to still sing like four or five songs; but he had to write the lyrics as well to that song. So, it was serious crunch time because we were still doing shows in the middle of recording. We would be flying to Wisconsin, Texas and New York for shows. It was madness. Then the next thing you know, the CD is coming out. We were picking artwork and photos and then six months later, the CD is in stores. So the same year we left the road, we had a CD out.
No rest for the wicked, huh?
Yea. It took people by surprise. A lot of people were not expecting that.
True. I was surprised when Atlantic contacted me about the new Shinedown release, Us and Them. I was thinking, didn't I just review a show not too long ago?
Yea, we just kept the momentum going. We had a little time off during the holidays, but we are back on the road. We are here at SnoCore of course, with Seether. We are playing a show with Nine Inch Nails in Miami later in March and we were going to go to Europe, but we postponed the European tour and will probably do a West Coast tour and then I think it will be a tour with Trapt, so a Shinedown/Trapt bill. That is still on the drawing board. We are looking at doing a big tour over the summer than hopefully hit Europe, too.
You mentioned that two-year tour. And for Ohio, it got its fair share of Shinedown shows, starting I think with supporting 3 Doors Down. You also played a little bar called Flannigan's, and The Newport. It seemed that it took a bit of time for Shinedown to kick it into overdrive with record sales.
Let's be honest, it took a long time, actually. When we released Fly From The Inside, we were hopeful it would steamroll and fly to the top of the charts. And for whatever reason, it didn't really do that, so we found ourselves doing more of a slow build. Then .45 was released, and we were lucky in that the Atlantic gave us four singles to release on radio. And as sales would go down, we would release a new single and sales would push back up, and when .45 was released maybe it was both singles that boosted sales, both from rock radio and our constant touring. I mean, we never left the road but for maybe a few days, if ever, on that first run. Then Simple Man came out and we re-released the record almost a year after the first pressing of the record and that's when we first staring seeing people connect the dots with this band, thinking, "Wow, this guy can really sing. This is a great acoustic version of this song." It really struck a nerve with people and it turned some young people on to Lynrd Skynrd and it got us some older fans that may not normally listen to a lot of new music. I have had people tell me that they never listened to modern rock stations, and now do because Simple Man converted their listening habits. And that made us feel great to see that wide range of people get into it.
It seemed Seether had that same history of touring forever, having a record out for about a year, and finally a single hits, in their case Broken, the CD is re-released and then all the old singles become new and appreciated.
Right, it was like the heard the older singles on the radio, like them on the radio, but didn't rush out to buy the CD, just like our record. And like us, they built their fan base brick by brick, and we are seeing it on this tour, as almost every show is a sell-out. It's been madness. A lot of shows are oversold and people are still wanting tickets. It's been great. A lot of places have upgraded the venues to we can get more people, Milwaukee being a prime example. That venue has three different size clubs and our show got moved up to the Ballroom, so 700 more kids got to come to the show by moving it to the other venue. It's an amazing show.
What I like about Shinedown, and it really shows on this record, is the variety of sound. On this CD, it starts off super heavy, and then drops straight down and comes back again. And it may sound weird, but the best aspect is I didn't like every song when hearing the record, and that usually tells me there is variety to the music, which is great for a rock band to bring to the table.
Exactly, there are times where you listen to a record and every song seems to make sense for that band, and that is what we didn't want to do. Not to compare ourselves with Led Zeppelin, but we want to be like that where those guys where you can sit down with a couple of acoustic guitars for a stripped down sound, although they were more folky, Irish, Scottish lore kind of sound where we have the more southern sound and metal tracks like you were saying and some straight rock and the song Some Day sound like an R&B track. So yea, I think some listeners were initially shocked because they were like this is such a diverse record and they were not into every song, which is cool. Because as the listen to the record more and more, they are like this is a bad ass fucking song and it is not like the last song. We didn't what to have the same formula for every song. Lady So Devine is like listening to an acid trip, something like the Beatles Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds. We have people come up who heard that song on XM and were so shocked that that song was an original Shinedown track, because it sound so much like a song from the 1970s. That felt good, too, to have a six to seven minute song on there that you may not hear on mainstream radio, but id on CD or satellite radio, you can just sit in the car and cruise to for a while.
How cool was it to have a label that allowed the band to be themselves, where a lot of labels want every song on the record to be a possible radio hit.
I think we gave the label what they wanted. Our A&R guy is great and saw where we were going, and everything we were doing he was pretty pleased with. I think he saw that a lot of that emotion we had built up over those two years on the road and all the shit that we went through gave Brent a lot of shit to talk about. And stylistically, we all do come from different backgrounds with music. Myself, I like rock and hip-hop. I like all kinds of shit. And Jasin, he can go from death metal like Man-O-War and then turn around and listen to Susan Tudeschi or blues or something, then listen to Blind Melon and after that he will throw on some country. He really is all over the fucking place. Barry (Kerch) was actually a funk drummer, so he is all into James Brown and shit. So you put all that together and I think that is why we have all kinds of different sounds, some straight rock, some metal, all that shit.
Because you are willing to challenge your fans with your music, how much was Us and Them really just four guys putting down the music they want to hear versus trying to take into consideration what your fans would expect from Shinedown?
We never really sit down and say, "Hey, let's try to write that hit song today." Like I said, we just wrote a bunch of stuff, and we did 23 of them, and whichever ones are still around at the end Brent went back and figures out which ones inspired him. But at the end, sometimes that makes it harder to actually pick the singles because we have 12 totally different songs. But Save Me seemed like the best to lead off with, and it did better than any of our other singles ever had. It went to No. 1 on three different Rock charts, Mainstream, Active and Alternative. So we made a good choice and we are already past halfway to Gold with a No. 1 single, which is great for us. Now we are coming out with I Dare You, which we are hoping will do just as well on the Rock charts, but to us that has more of international feel to us, more worldly. So we are hoping that can help us reach a new audience overseas and crossover for us. Nowadays, if it doesn't cross over, you won't see that band on MTV. Not that we are going to be on MTV anyway, but if we did, it would have to have this popular culture sound. But MTV doesn't give us much love, and that is fine. We have great fans that we built brick by brick through touring and just doing it the way we want to do it. We are not complaining, but it would be nice to have a larger, more diverse audience as well. That is the way to reach that younger generation, which we have that, but we want all of them (laughing). We would love to have that younger generation that can support us and continue to grow with us.
I remember seeing you for the first time, not really knowing who the band was, and it was the opening slot for 3 Doors Down. After that show I was like, this is a heavy band. Then I got the CD and was like, Shinedown really isn't that heavy. Then I saw you live again, and was surprised again at how heavy this band is live.
We definitely come across heavier live. Both with the attitude and also, we just give it all we have every night. And in the studio, sometimes it's hard to get that vibe, unless you make a live recording in the studio, like a Rage Against the Machine, where they all played at once and so it felt as if you were seeing them live. We recorded by tracking separately, that was just the way recorded.
Is this band more the studio band or more in line with the live side of the band? Even listening to .45 live, although it is a slow song, it is still very heavy.
Exactly. And Brent has such passion when he sings live every night. But I see us as a band that can hopefully do it all. Like how Stone Temple Pilots had their Sex Type Thing, but then had their Plush and their Empty. A great song is a great song, slow, fast, heavy or whatever. So we just try to make great songs, I guess. Every song we put on a record we want to have its own vibe and style. Sometimes those songs don't hit you right away, as we talked about before, but all of a sudden Some Day is on, and the mood that person is in is ready for that song. And then all of a sudden it changes, and it's a new song that becomes a favorite.
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