Brent Smith Says Shinedown Will Never Be Put In a Box

On April 3, Shinedown kicked off The Revolutions Live tour with Three Days Grace and From Ashes to New. As the tour continues via early May, frontman Brent Smith took a while to hold with Chuck Armstrong on Thursday’s version of Loudwire Nights (April 20) and talked about Shinedown’s future and what it is like hitting the highway with the world feeling extra “normal” following years of shutdowns and restricted touring.

“The big thing for us is that even during the pandemic, we were respectful of the situation but in all reality, in 2021, we were touring and we were pretty much full-on,” Smith stated on Loudwire Nights. “Last year, in 2022, we had one of the most successful years in touring that the band has had in over a decade. So, as we move into now, 2023, we are just taking things to the next level. Obviously, we’re super excited because everybody feels a lot safer now, but ultimately with us, it didn’t change our mindset.”

Smith defined that for Shinedown, their “mindset” is to at all times deliver an incredible reside expertise to their followers and to by no means relaxation on their laurels.

“Anybody that knows Shinedown knows that we have one boss in this band,” Smith defined, “and it just happens to be everybody in the audience. We are never going to phone it in and we are always going to give them our 100-percent best.”

Building Eclectic Setlists With 20 Years of Music

Anyone who has caught Shinedown reside in live performance is aware of that the band lives as much as Smith’s assertion about giving one hundred pc each evening. For a band with such a giant physique of labor—they presently have 31 singles from seven albums—the setlist for his or her reside present is an integral a part of their reside expertise and as followers might anticipate, it is a vital a part of Smith’s preparation for concert events, too.

“Obviously you’re not going to be able to make everybody happy, but the way we look at it is we see what is relevant at the time, we see where we are in our album cycle for the album we’re promoting and we do our best to draw in the best parts of the band,” he advised Chuck. “Some nights you might get deeper cuts from us, some nights it may be all No. 1s. During festivals or something like that, it’s all killer, no filler. So really, it just depends on the market, on the city, on the country and kind of how we feel.”

Keeping the band’s “boss” in thoughts, although, Smith was fast so as to add, “We’re always making sure the audience is the priority. We always try to be as eclectic as we can and produce a very broad setlist every tour we do.”

Shinedown Will Never Fit In a Box

Whether they’re on the highway or at residence, one factor that Shinedown have strived to provide their fanbase is a peek behind-the-scenes at their lives. Some bands might see this as a bit too private, however Shinedown imagine in it a lot that it has turn out to be a kind of motion with #AtHomeWithShinedown on their social media.

“We just wanted to show what we do when we’re at home,” he defined, succinctly. “For me personally, I’m all over the place at all times, so I’m not really at a home. My home is whatever hotel I’m at. If I’m not on tour with the band, I’m usually all over the planet anyway.”

Not everyone within the band is like that, although.

“The homebodies are definitely Eric [Bass] and Barry [Kerch],” he stated of Shinedown’s bassist and drummer, respectively. “Barry has such a vast knowledge of hunting and cooking, and Eric has got so many things going on with the studio at his place…it’s always cool to see what they’re up to. As far as [guitarist] Zach [Myers] is concerned, I mean, again, he’s very much a homebody with him and his wife and his boys.”

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Fans little doubt get pleasure from getting a distinctive peek at a mean day within the lifetime of Shinedown, and so far as Smith is anxious, followers can have loads extra time to get to know the band sooner or later.

“We’re a band that will never believe in the idea that ‘We’ve arrived,'” Smith stated as he contemplated the way forward for Shinedown. “I think if that’s the way you feel in your career, that you should probably stop for a minute and re-evaluate what you’re doing…with the music, we do our best to never write the same record over and over again, we try not to write the same song twice. Our audience has allowed us to evolve these last 20 years and I would believe that Shinedown Nation and our audience in the future will continue to allow us to do that. The evolution is a big part of being creative.”

Watch Brent Smith Thank Shinedown Nation For Their Support in 2022

After he stated that, Smith reiterated how grateful he’s for Shinedown’s followers as a result of, as he put it, “They’ve allowed us to evolve and be creative and they actually champion us to be creative and step outside the norm. We never wanted to be a band that you could ever put inside of a box.”

As he thought of Shinedown’s subsequent 20 years, Smith advised Chuck that he needs to verify they proceed to develop and evolve.

“Every day is different, every song is different, every tour is different,” he stated. “At the end of the day, we are four very, very lucky individuals because we get to do what we love for a living. We don’t take it for granted. We’re very blessed in that respect…the way that we see it is we don’t make it about the painter, we make it about the painting.”

Watch Shinedown’s Official Music Video For “Dead Don’t Die”

Brent Smith joined Chuck Armstrong for Loudwire Nights on Thursday, April 20; the present replays on-line right here, and you may tune in reside each weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you too can see if the present is on the market in your native radio station. Stream Shinedown’s newest album, Planet Zero, at this location after which take a look at their full tour schedule.