In the early 2000s, Shinedown emerged as one of rock’s shiny younger stars, delivering the platinum-selling debut Leave a Whisper and the gold-selling follow-up Us and Them. While it regarded like a strong profession with radio success lied forward, issues appeared lower than assured for the band contemplating what was taking place behind the scenes heading into the creation of their third launch, The Sound of Madness.
Being pushed initially for a fast turnaround of their third album by their label, singer Brent Smith balked at working underneath time constraints, feeling lower than proud of the expertise throughout their sophomore set, Us and Them. The label relented, granting Smith the time he wished because the band began in on The Sound of Madness in early 2007. It seems the time was wanted as Shinedown had been present process some important inner modifications. The touring life had taken its toll. Bassist Brad Stewart had grow to be dissatisfied, whereas Smith and guitarist Jasin Todd had substance abuse points coming to the forefront. Smith discovered he was going to grow to be a father and made the choice to kick his drug behavior. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Shinedown made the choice to maneuver on from Todd. A public announcement got here in April 2008 shortly after the guitarist was arrested in Jacksonville on fees of disorderly intoxication and resisting an officer, although the choice to half with Todd had come previous to the general public assertion.
So, as writing started for the brand new album, Smith and drummer Barry Kerch remained the 2 holdovers. In our chat with Kerch in regards to the tenth anniversary of the album, the drummer recalled, “To be honest, I was holding on for dear life. I think we all were … at that time we were honestly falling apart. Brad had been let go. Jasin actually came to the studio to record The Sound of Madness with us, but then his problems overtook his ability to do the record as well, so it was Brent and I looking at each other, like, ‘OK, we have a singer and a drummer, how are we going to do this?'”
He continued, “At the same time, Brent was about to have his son and he was going through his things with drugs and alcohol, so it was a very difficult time, but I think what was holding us together is that we knew we were sitting on something very special.”
Smith, coping with rather a lot of change in his life, channeled some of his experiences into what’s arguably his most private recordings so far. “I broke down a lot of walls on this record and a lot of barriers and was a lot more blunt on this album,” said Smith in a 2008 interview with Always Acoustic. “[I] was able to discuss not only my personal issues, but the things that were going on around me and be very up front about it. I’ve been known in the past as being an individual that kind of paints pictures with his words.” The singer went on so as to add, “We want to go and push ourselves as far as we possibly can in order for not only us to feel as if we’re doing what we need to do as artists, but that the people need to hear the growth in the band and hopefully they hear that.”
Kerch advised us, “You could feel it. There was a vibe. For me, even before I was in the band when it was just called the Brent Smith Project and I was auditioning, I was attracted to hearing the demos with Brent’s voice and you could always hear the conviction in his voice. When I heard the demos for what became The Sound of Madness, I thought, ‘Oh my god. There’s that guy, that voice I fell in love with.’ And there was this angst and just something I heard in his voice where I went, ‘Oh, there’s that guy again.’ It just makes my skin crawl with happiness to know that he’s emoting the way that he was emoting on that album.”
Shinedown, “Sound of Madness”
For the album, the band paired up with producer Rob Cavallo, who as much as that time had been greatest recognized for his work with Goo Goo Dolls and Green Day. With The Sound of Madness being extra of Smith’s private journey, the producer helped Brent convey his conviction to the forefront. Kerch remembers, “Two things that Rob is really good at is guitars and vocals. He’s able to get on record the emotion of a voice and great guitars. That doesn’t make drums and bass secondary by any means, but that’s what sticks out.” He added, “Rob Cavallo has a sound, and when he’s there, he has this sound and it’s exactly what we needed. We needed someone who was going to take the Shinedown of Leave a Whisper and Us and Them, which was kind of disjointed or just young, and he was able to take us to the next level.”
As for the band, Smith and Kerch remained, however the remaining of the disc was recorded with the assistance of Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney and session guitarists Tim Pierce, Dave Bassett, Bobby Huff and Dale Oliver all lending a hand, whereas the acclaimed string arranger David Campbell and keyboardist Jamie Muhoberac additionally chipped in. “We were just thinking about how are we going to make this record,” says Kerch, explaining that the touring lineup got here collectively later. “Those guys killed it in the studio, but it came after the record was done that we [finalized the group].”
Coming out of the classes, Smith was beaming about what had been created. “I think that finally for the first time in my life I opened up a door that I was afraid to open up lyrically about the way I felt about a lot of things and I think people identify with it,” mentioned the singer to Always Acoustic. “I dreamed about being a musician, a performer, a songwriter, a singer my whole life and I still wake up every single day and look at myself in the mirror and tell myself, ‘This can all be gone tomorrow,’ so I give all the glory to the fans and the people who support it.”
Making positive that it wasn’t all gone tomorrow was the following step, with Smith and Kerch having to ensure they’d a band to help the brand new music. Upon Todd’s launch, Silvertide’s Nick Perri, whom they knew from touring, stepped in as lead guitarist. Zach Myers, who had beforehand crammed in for the band, would grow to be their rhythm guitarist and finally change over to steer shortly into help of the disc when Perri exited the group. And Eric Bass, who the band had met in a studio, was the selection for bassist.
Kerch remembers, “Zach had filled in when Jasin and Brad were having babies and he did a great job, and he was level-headed and he’s a great player, so he would be a great fit for a guitarist. That was a no-brainer. And during the writing process for Sound of Madness, we had gone to Charleston, South Carolina to Eric’s studio because Eric was a producer before this and we went to his studio to do some writing. We went there and kind of hit it off and things were falling apart with us and it turned into a nightmare and Eric was initially like, ‘I don’t want to be any part of this. These guys are insane.’ But fast forward to the record being done, we begged, ‘Please come down and try out for us,’ and he did come down and try out and it worked out perfectly. Now we’re ten years later and we couldn’t be happier. It truly is a band of brothers.”
With the band set, Shinedown launched The Sound of Madness on June 24, 2008 by way of Atlantic Records and noticed strong early returns as their hard-hitting single “Devour” arrived at rock radio, progressively climbing to No. 1 on the mainstream rock chart. The tune was bolstered by a wealth of placement alternatives like inclusion in video video games (EA Sports Madden NFL 09, Rock Band), tv (WWE Night of Champions, Real World/Road Rules Challenge) and movie (The Final Destination).
“Devour” got here out of the gate with a transparent level of view. Smith recalled visits to Middle East prior to now and talking with the troopers, popping out of the expertise with one thing private. “It was such a mind opening experience because I was watching a lot of news before I went over there as to what media was giving us over here,” mentioned Smith, who mentioned he was affected by the tales of the women and men placing their lives on the road and spending time away from family members. “The fact was when I got home this song came to me out of pure frustration as to why there is no answer to bring these men and women home,” mentioned the vocalist. “At the end of the day it’s about survival. I do not feel in any way, shape or form that these soldiers should be submitted to this when half the time they don’t really know why they are still there. There’s never an answer and that’s where the song came from.”
Shinedown, “Devour”
While “Devour” added to their rising checklist of hard-edged hits, what got here subsequent was a extra intimate breakthrough that catapulted Shinedown to new heights as a band – the only “Second Chance.” Smith penned the observe about his resolution in his youth to depart his household and head elsewhere to pursue his goals of changing into a rock star and the hope that it would break down the limitations of communication that had constructed up through the years. “I felt that was by far the hardest song I had to write on the record,” says Smith of the soul-baring observe. “It was about the subject matter, about the song and what I had to do in order to break down the walls around me to discuss what my childhood was like and my upbringing and where that song really came from. To have it finally be heard by the people was a big deal to me.” As Smith and the remaining of the band quickly discovered, the tune was one of probably the most relatable items of music he may have ever written. Shinedown even opened up the traces of communication with the followers, welcoming them to put in writing and share their “Second Chance” tales as effectively. “We want to know their day that they woke up and decided that they wanted something better for themselves and got the guts and the will to do that,” mentioned Smith.
Kerch says, “I think because that song touched on an emotion that everyone somewhere feels, it’s really what created such a special moment with any and all of the fans of Shinedown. It’s a song where Brent lyrically just captured lightning in a bottle. Those are real lyrics and when you’re able to emote to that level the way that he can, anyone can relate to that.”
Not solely did “Second Chance” hit No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart, but it surely crossed over to the Hot 100 chart hitting No. 7, reached the highest of a number of different charts and have become a triple-platinum promoting single. It stays the band’s largest hit, connecting with so many individuals through the years.
Shinedown, “Second Chance”
With two huge tracks to open the promotion of the brand new album, it turned obvious that The Sound of Madness had legs. The band continued to dig into the disc for singles. The title observe, written from the point of view of watching a liked one’s self destruction and making an attempt to supply help, adopted its predecessors to the highest of the Mainstream Rock Charts.
The love tune “If You Only Knew,” penned for the mom of Smith’s little one, additionally captured the hearts of listeners climbing to No. 2 at Mainstream Rock radio. “I’ve never really had the words for such a song,” mentioned Smith in a 2008 interview, “But the words to the song they just came to me in a flood. It’s just from the bottom of my heart the way that I feel about her and the way that I feel about my son.”
The chart-topping “The Crow and the Butterfly” additionally achieved nice success at rock radio. Speaking on Rockline, Smith had said that the observe was impressed by a dream a couple of mom whose daughter had died about month earlier than her son was born and the problem of coping with loss whereas making an attempt to maneuver on.
Shinedown, “The Crow and the Butterfly”
And, as had began to grow to be commonplace within the mid-2000s, the band’s label determined to increase the cycle of the album by saying a reissue with bonus tracks. This allowed for the inclusion of “Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom)” to proceed their run of chart-toppers. The observe was one of two soundtrack songs that had been written through the course of the album’s practically three-year run on the charts (The different being “Her Name Is Alice” for the Alice in Wonderland soundtrack). The band had been approached by none apart from Sylvester Stallone, in search of a tune for his movie The Expendables. The one caveat was that it embody the mantra “boom-lay boom-lay boom,” as Stallone had been impressed by a poem known as “The Congo” that had the mantra as a bit of the poem.
The Sound of Madness spent over 120 weeks on the Billboard 200 Album Chart, peaking at No. 8, however happening to double-platinum gross sales. It generated 4 chart-topping Mainstream Rock singles, the primary album to take action since The Black Crowes’ The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion disc in 1992. Plus, it additionally established them as a bonafide headlining touring act.
Though they began out promotion for the album nonetheless doing a little help reveals, they’d share phases over the following couple of years with Disturbed, Staind, Chevelle, Halestorm, Theory of a Deadman, Black Stone Cherry, Red and Papa Roach, constructing their viewers progressively because the touring wore on. Kerch remembers taking part in in Pharr, Texas on launch day to a crowd of round 50 folks, being considerably discouraged by the turnout on what he felt had been their greatest album. But as he places it, “It didn’t happen instantaneously. We were a new band again. We had to reinvent ourselves with new members and start all over again.” After the success of “Devour” and “Second Chance” and making their inaugural run into Europe for the disc, the drummer says he began to note the crowds being extra plentiful. “[That start] gave us the drive though to work really hard and bust it,” says the drummer. “But nothing in this band was easy or instantaneous. It’s hard work and nose to the grind stuff, but to be honest, I don’t think any of us would have it any other way.”
With The Sound of Madness, the group discovered themselves being invited to late evening discuss reveals, lastly hitting some of the key European festivals in prime viewing slots and taking part in to bigger venues. “Those moments were all big to us. We were used to slaving it out in clubs and it started to change. It wasn’t clubs anymore, it was arenas. It was such a gradual change that it takes looking back now to see how it all turned. I can say that whole record changed our lives,” says Kerch.
As the crowds began to construct and the album started producing hit after hit, Shinedown then acquired a particular touring alternative. Like a number of of their friends, they had been in a position to assist launch a branded tour, with the In De Goot organized Carnival of Madness inserting them atop the invoice. Over the years, when obtainable, they’ve returned to headline as effectively, typically fronting nice packages showcasing some of rock’s greatest expertise.
And ending out their promotion for the album, the band launched the “Anything and Everything” tour, a trek that featured Shinedown collaborating in Q&A classes with audiences and delivering acoustic performances. That ultimate leg of dates was the stay album, Somewhere within the Stratosphere.
Reflecting on what made the album so particular, Kerch advised us, “I think it’s because Brent was able to be so honest in his lyrics and gave so much of himself, more so than even his previous two records, it was just undeniable. And then to have the production and the support from the label and the management, the backing of having a producer of Rob Cavallo’s level at the time, all of those things were the perfect storm at the perfect time to put a really special piece of music together. Through all the drama at the time internally, it fueled the fire to say, ‘Look, we are either going to disappear right now or we better have made the best thing we’ve ever made.’ There was no in-between and the label wasn’t going to let us put out another record, that wasn’t happening, so we realized that if we wanted this to be a career, you need to stop f-ing around and do the best we can and we did.”
So whereas Shinedown had been at their most unstable level of their profession going into the album, by the point promotion was full they’d grow to be true superstars of the style with a formidable string of hit songs. They graduated from golf equipment to arenas, headed up a branded tour, had been offered with recording alternatives for soundtracks, performed an acoustic tour, put collectively a stay album based mostly off the energy of the The Sound of Madness and solidified their lineup for years to come back. As the ten 12 months anniversary arrives, Kerch tells us the band continues to be figuring out how they intend to mark the event, with the concept of choose reveals taking part in The Sound of Madness front-to-back being broached, however they might want to discover time of their schedule to rehearse and revisit the fabric first. “We’re still trying to figure it out. Come towards the end of the year it’s a possibility for sure,” says the drummer.
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