Hey everybody, it's Eric Bass from the band Shinedown,
and you are listening to My Weekly Mixtape with
Brian Colburn. And let me tell you something,
this guy knows his stuff, he does his homework,
so buckle up, it's gonna be good. Check it out.
Welcome to My Weekly Mixtape, a podcast that
takes the classic mixtape approach to building
a modern playlist. I'm your host, Brian Colburn.
Tonight, I am so grateful to welcome Eric Bass
of Shinedown to the program. Eric, thank you
so much for taking the time to join me tonight.
Hey, Brian. How are you, man? I am doing great.
How are you? I'm busy. I can only imagine. But
busy is good, though. Busy is a great thing.
Now, before we get into why you've been busy,
I always like to start by asking my first -time
guests, what does the word mixtape mean to you?
Ah, freedom, freedom, man. I think about just
a different time, you know, a different time
in my life. I think about discovery. I think
about, you know, sitting in front of a radio,
listening to Rick D's or Casey Kasem or somebody
like that trying to record songs as they went
by on the radio, you know, like just a whole
other, a whole other thing, a whole other time,
man, of sharing music with people, you know,
like there was something magical about your,
your friend handing you a tape and just saying,
listen to this. And you would because you didn't
have anything else going on. It was like there
wasn't music flying at you from 10 ,000 different
places. It was like that mixtape got your whole
attention. I'm sitting here right now because
a buddy of mine handed me a long play tape with
Back in Black on one side and Van Halen 5150
on the other side. And that was like one of my,
I mean, I'd heard other rock music before that,
but I'd had, you know, I'd had other mixtapes
and stuff, but like that tape for some reason,
man, I know it's not really a mixtape, but it's
sort of a mixtape. Oh, mixtapes came in all shapes
and sizes and colors. Long play mixtape, you
know, but, but I mean, but I did, I digested
those things because I didn't have any other
choice. You know, you, you hung onto those tapes
like they were a diamond ring and they were.
You know, it's like, where's my tape with this
on it? And that I'm, I can, I remember distinctly
running into my sister's rooms and asking them
about certain tapes. Like, where's my, where's
my pink tape with this thing on it? You know,
my Memorex with, it says this on it, you know,
and they would have it or they wouldn't know
where it was. And I'd be in a panic because you
couldn't find your music. That is awesome. Well,
tonight we are here to talk about your debut
solo album. I had a name for an album dive episode
of my weekly mixtape, but before we get into
the album, I'd like to talk a little bit about.
How we got here as you joined Shinedown in 2008
around the Sound of Madness cycle. And from there,
you started taking on a role of writing and then
producing with the band, starting on 2010's Diamond
Eyes and then continuing through several of my
personal favorite Shinedown songs, such as Unity,
I'll Follow You and Cut the Chord. Can you talk
about the transition from joining Shinedown to
becoming a songwriter within the group and how
they. embraced your contributions from the jump?
Actually, well, interesting. I'll give you a
little backstory on that. I was a record producer,
studio rat around the time that I joined Shinedown.
I'd come into that role of loving the recording
studio. It was something that was always ingrained
in me, but I'd been producing and engineering
my own stuff, very self -taught, probably for
five, six, seven years prior to joining Shinedown.
But through that process of writing and producing
other artists, a lot of upstart artists, a lot
of young bands. I didn't really like working
with established bands. I still don't like working
with established bands. I'd much rather work
with a band who's hungry, who's trying to break
out than a band who's already doing it. But through
that process, I met a gentleman named Steve O.
Robertson, and he was VP of A &R at Atlantic
Records, and he had signed Shinedown. And he
called me one day and he said, hey, have you
ever heard of this band Shinedown? And I said,
no. I have not heard of this band, Shinedown.
Not because I hadn't heard of the band, because
a lot of people had. I was buried in a recording
studio. I actually didn't hear a lot of new music
at the time, whether on purpose or just as a
result of doing what I do. But he said, oh, well,
they did that cover of Simple Man. I was like,
oh, yeah, I've heard that. And then he mentioned
Save Me. And I was like, oh, I've heard that
song, too. So I knew who the band was. And he
said, well, hey, Brent, the singer, is writing
for their next record. you know would love to
send him to write with you and and record some
demos and whatnot so brent came to charleston
at some point in 2007 that's when i first met
him early 2007 and i rolled up to get him at
his hotel this dude comes rolling out of the
hotel pink hair the whole nine We got in my car.
We went to a show. I forget what the show was.
We went to the music farm here in Charleston,
South Carolina. And we went to a show and we
proceeded to get annihilated on the Eggermeister.
Like, I mean, done. I had to call my wife. I
had to call my wife to come get us. I was like,
I can't, like, you're gonna have to come get
us. So that was my first introduction to Brent.
We partied pretty hard that night. And then we
wrote the next day. We worked the next day. We
wrote for two or three days. And then I had this
idea. I'm like, hey, I really love producing
bands. These songs are starting to come together.
What do you think about bringing the band in?
And let's record these songs properly. I didn't
do finger drums, in -the -box drums and stuff
back then. I worked with bands. So what do you
think about bringing the band in? He's like,
well, I can have the drummer here probably tomorrow
or the next day. And the guitar player after
that. We don't have a bass player right now.
Our bass player has left the band. I was like,
that'll work. So Barry came to town. I met Barry.
He and I hit it off instantaneously. So Brent
and Barry and I were very, not close, but we
really gelled together very quickly. I think,
and, you know, fast forward this many years,
I know exactly why. We all kind of similar moral
backgrounds and whatever else, you know. But
Jason Todd, who was the guitar player in the
band at the time, the original guitar player
in the band, showed up two days after Barry.
Barry'd recorded some drums, I think, already
at that point. And as soon as Jason showed up,
man, everything went out the window, went to
shit. He and Brent had a pretty codependent,
toxic drug habit relationship with each other.
And so as soon as Jason showed up, the drug started
and then just nothing happened after that. Oh,
wow. Like the whole thing shut down. The whole
thing went out the window, the whole writing
session. And so we left, they left without, we
didn't complete anything. We didn't really complete.
We had the songs were like working, but like
we never completed them. And interestingly enough,
Brent left right from me. He went and worked
with Rick Beato. And Rick had produced some songs
on Leave a Whisper, the first Shinedown record.
And interestingly enough, before Brent came to
work with me, actually, I called Rick. Rick and
I were managed by the same person. And we were
friends. And I wouldn't say colleagues or anything,
but we were definitely friends. And so I called
Rick and was like, this is pre -YouTube Rick
Beato. Great producer, man. Great producer. Obviously
a super talented guy. I mean, everybody sees
him. I was going to say, I love his videos, man.
Genius individual. Genius gets thrown around
a lot in our business, but he absolutely is.
I don't know if he would accept that or not,
but he's just highly intelligent on many different
levels, but extremely intelligent musically.
Anyway, I called him. I was like, hey man, tell
me about this Brent Smith character. And he kind
of told me, he's like, he's super intense, you
know, and he kind of gave me some kind of a heads
up about Brent. Just nothing bad, just that he
was intense and kind of what his work. how he
worked best but anyway uh yeah so that whole
thing fell apart and they left but but steve
-o robertson hit me up after that he was like
well man we didn't get anything and i kind of
told him why he goes well hey you know they're
looking for a bass player you know i know you
play i was like well i play studio bass i really
was traditionally a guitar player but i play
bass a lot in the studio he's like he's like
you know what do you think about maybe coming
and they like you a lot you know maybe joining
the band and i'm like man after that after seeing
that dysfunction i was like i you know built
this recording studio. My wife and I have a lot
invested in this. I've got this whole career.
I can't see leaving it for that. And it was,
you know, it sucked. I mean, it was kind of like
this, like I had to make an adult decision about
it at that point, you know? Hate it when that
happens. Well, fast forward to early 2008. Or
was it late? No, it was late 2007. I get another
call from Steve and he's like, hey man, look,
that guitar player that was there, Jason, and
Jason's a fine person. This is not me casting
any sort of... I have no opinions one way or
the other. But Jason's not in the band anymore.
And Brent's really trying to clean up. We've
got a new guitar player named Zach. And they
would love it if you would come audition for
the band. And I don't know, man. I don't know
what it was in that moment. It's the fact that
I was being asked twice by someone I respect
a lot. I respect Steve O. Robertson an awful
lot. And I still do, even after all these years.
He's no longer with Atlantic. But he's just one
of my... close favorite people in the business.
But maybe it's the fact he was asking me twice
and I said, okay, you know, send me the song.
So he said, well, learn this song and this song.
And they sent me, I think, Second Chance and
Sound of Madness and Devour, I think were the
three new songs they sent. And then I went down
to Orlando and played my audition. And then that
night, you know, got offered the job. And again,
man, we were all just getting along so well.
You know, it's like, it's one thing to play music
with people. It's another thing to just feel
like you just, I know these people already. And
interestingly enough, there's a picture of that
very afternoon. Somebody, the guy next door in
the warehouse space next door wanted a picture
with the band for some reason. And I hadn't even
been offered the position or whatever, you know,
at the time. And they're like, you want a picture
with the band? I kind of stood over the side
and Brent's like, come on in, man. You know,
so like I'm already taking pictures with the
band at that point. But there's a picture from
that day, which is of the four of us, which is
interesting. So again, I guess that's just my
way of saying our relationship started in the
studio. Our relationship started in producing
and writing. Now, as far as getting the trust
of everybody, I mean, look, I got dropped into
one of the most insane records in rock history,
first of all, that I would love to take credit
for, but I had nothing to do with. Chris Chaney
played bass on the record. Not a slouch. No,
not at all. So Diamond Eyes happened because
Sylvester Stallone called the band and he said,
hey, I'm looking for a band to write a song for
this movie that I'm making called The Expendables.
And here's a little bit about it. Here's what
I want it to be. And he sent over this poem,
and I forget the name of the poem, but the beats
at the end of every verse would say, boom, lay,
boom, lay, boom. And he's like, the only thing
I want in the song is boom, lay, boom, lay, boom.
That's how the boom, lay, boom, lay, boom thing
happened in Diamond Eyes. It wasn't us. It was
Sylvester Stallone. His idea. He wanted that
from that poem. That poem ties into the movie.
i just took it i was like challenge accepted
like i didn't even ask any questions i was like
we're gonna write this song this is gonna happen
you know and so we're on tour and i recorded
this music uh demo music on tour and then brent
took the demo music to his hotel room wrote a
couple things he and i got up together we wrote
well zach came up with a guitar like by the way
let me specify that that came up with a guitar
like on stage at a sound check that boom wow
that zach came up with that I took all that stuff,
put it into a demo form. Brent took the music,
wrote the lyrics. We had them figured out. I
took the band back to Charleston on a break.
We recorded all the music at my studio. And then
Brent couldn't make it for that session. So we
were back out on tour. We actually went to Johnny
K, the producer Johnny K, who's produced Disturbed
and Seven Dust and I think Chevelle. bunch of
other people uh we were in chicago we went to
his studio and he he produced the vocal he he
recorded the vocals for that so uh we got in
the studio with him and did the vocals and sent
it to uh chris lord algae to mix and diamond
eyes was born and i think from there man it was
just like you know look man this is what i was
born to do you know i was born i was born to
create in a studio that's what i mean if i was
born to do one thing for better or worse for
painful or not painful this is what i was made
to do and and you know then it was just you talk
about the trust thing there's a lot of trust
in a writing relationship in a songwriting relationship
you know and and you know you it takes a while
to develop you know you have to get in a room
with somebody and and really see what makes each
other tick and see how the process works for
the two of you together or the three of you together
or the four of you together in some insane cases.
That's insanity to me, four people in a room
writing a song, but three at the most usually,
but two preferably. But Brent and I had to get
in a room and sort of figure that stuff out.
And so when it came time to start writing for
Amaryllis, I had a lot to learn about songwriting.
I was used to being a big fish, small pond kind
of thing, I guess. I was used to making decisions
that I thought were great. and songwriting decisions,
production decisions. And by the way, by this
time, I mean, the band, we toured so much on
Sound of Madness record. I believe it's not actually
in the Guinness Book of World Records, but it
is a record for the most shows played on one
record cycle, I believe. It's like 400 and something
shows we played on that record cycle, I believe.
High 300s, low 400s, but it's a lot. And so by
this time, we were all super close. I mean, there
was no, you know. There's no way we didn't know
each other by this point. But knowing each other
in that way, even though we'd done Diamond Eyes,
it was like, okay, was that a fluke? This number
one song that had this slow burn at radio and
it went on the extended edition, re -released
edition of the Sound of Madness record is what
that's on. So I got in a room with Brent and
Dave Bassett first and we wrote some together
and that went well. And then Brent and I wrote
two or three songs with just the two of us. one
of those songs was i'll follow you although dave
ended up adding some some we added a bridge to
that song when we got in the studio the whole
lyrical bridge wasn't in the original demo so
dave got dave's a writer on that song but dave
dave wrote the bridge but the song was pretty
much in its other than that was in its finished
form but i had a lot to learn because it was
like i'm getting all this pushback on things
i'm getting pushed back on lyrics i'm getting
pushed back on music and all this stuff and i'm
just not used to that and it became very difficult
for me i'm i'm uh um I don't talk too often about
my neurodivergence, but I've got ADHD, executive
dysfunction, and autism, and just different aspects
of those things. But I'm extremely rejection
sensitive, right? And so that, that's, and it
feels painful to me. Rejection is painful. It's
like, it's like, it's this physical thing. It's
been like my whole life. I just never knew what
to call it until I was, you know, sort of diagnosed
more recently with this stuff, but man, that
was just really super painful for me. So I had
to, that, that began the beginnings of me really
getting thick skin. Like I had to, I realized
very quickly with songwriting. Here's another
thing I was very used to. I was very used to
every single thing that I worked on, every single
thing that I wrote was precious and mattered
and all of this stuff. And then you get into
a writing session and you realize maybe this
song isn't happening and people want to abandon
it, that it's not like you're throwing your child
away. It's like, no, we just need to move on.
But it had this visceral effect on me. But that
record writing process was a good process for
Brent and my relationship as well as creators
and learning how to create together. And then
the band got really healthy. You know, Brent
was able to get clean and we all got super healthy.
Seemed healthy anyway on that touring cycle for
Amaryllis. And then when we came off of that
tour, Brent just hit a wall and crashed back
into addiction. And my depression kicked in and
I got a pill habit. out of that i started taking
a lot of hydrocodone and just to feel better
you know it made me feel invincible and and so
we fell into this really bad place all of us
in that writing cycle for threat to survival
and i didn't do a lot of writing on that record
i wrote two songs on that record one of was cut
the cord which i produced as well and uh the
other one was black cadillac yep the other song
but then starting into that touring cycle we
all had a very very big wake -up call and actually
got healthy. Right in the beginning of that touring
cycle. The spirit of this band really emerged
during that time, I would say. The current spirit
of this band anyway. What I would pin is our
identity. That really enabled me to be way more
creative in the band and to ultimately co -write
most of Attention, Attention. There's some songs
that I didn't write on that album. I love every
song on that album, and I produced and mixed
that album as well, and then into Planet Zero,
the last record, and now into this new Shinedown
record that we're currently working on, the same
thing. Interestingly enough, this new Shinedown
record, the eighth Shinedown record, I'm actually
more hands -off than I've been since over the
last two, namely because of this record of my
own that I'm rolling out right now. So, you know,
Zach and Brent have been writing an awful lot
on this record. I've written... quite a few songs
i mean it's not like a not not existent or something
but by way of comparison if i think about the
the 24 songs that were written for planet zero
that i wrote every single uh there's a writer
on every single one of those songs i think on
you know so far on this record i'm i'm on like
nine ten songs something like that you know so
far uh we have some more writing to do but i've
just been it's been it actually pretty painful
to kind of not be able to do two things at once
i wish i wish my brain worked like that but i
have to be creatively i have to be doing one
thing at a time for that thing to be great whatever
that is if i'm doing a shiny record that's all
i'm doing if i'm doing an eric bass record and
videos that's all i'm doing because something's
going to suffer and so i've had to be in this
like video making promo land of rolling this
record out. I had a name record. But again, no
backseat's been taken. The interesting thing
is, man, is those relationships that have been
forged in our band, in chaos and in love and
in everything else, that stuff is never going
to go away. Shinedown would make the most boring
reality show of all time. We all love each other.
We all get along. We all support each other.
I mean, the I had a name record is... out because
my band encouraged me to put it out. Because
I've been sitting on it for a while and I just
wasn't sure I was going to release it. Just out
of insecurities and everything else. I made it
for myself. I recorded it purely for myself.
I just love the fact that it existed. But they
were like, man, you have to put this thing out.
So yeah, I know maybe that's more than what you
were asking about in your initial question. I
kind of went through the timeline there. But
yeah, my relationship with Shinedown was founded
in the studio, not really on stage. And it continues
to be where I'm more comfortable. My role in
the studio with this band, I'm way more comfortable
with than my role on stage, for sure. And that's
something that you hear when you listen to the
albums Attention, Attention and Planet Zero as
you took on the full producer role on both of
those albums. However, I have a name. The album
that we're here to talk about today was actually
written during the Attention, Attention tour
as a graphic novel. Care to explain a little
bit about how the graphic novel became? A solo
album? Yeah, because I'm sadistic, that's how.
Because I don't know how to just do one hard
thing. I got to do 12 hard things. Yeah, I was
the first European tour for Attention to Tension,
hotel room in Milan, Italy. I just got done with
a workout. I had listened to Biohazard's State
of the World Address. Nice. A record that I...
Love from back in the day that I hadn't listened
to in a long time. Love that record, man. Love,
love, love that record. Talk about a record that
puts me in a place. The State of the World Address
puts me instantly in 1996, playing in hardcore
bands and touring in bands. That's where my brain
goes. I still have the orange CD jewel case embedded
in my brain. Yeah, dude. That was the thing,
man. That record looked and sounded chaotic.
I love it. Still love it. But I hadn't listened
to it in a while. when I did that workout. And
I don't know if that has anything to do with
this story, but I always preface it with that
because maybe there's some, you know, maybe there
was something to that. But I just got done listening
to that, did a workout in the room and I had
a voice. And I think a lot of people experience
this, a voice in your head that maybe isn't yours,
that guides you occasionally. And that voice
said, you might want to write this down. And
so I picked up my journal that I write all my
lyrics in and stories in and started writing
this story idea down for a comic book. And I've
never been a comic book guy. That's the other
interesting thing about it. In fact, the next
day I called Eric Rickert, who is my, one of
my best friends in the world. And it's always
been my help here at the studio, my assistant
engineer here at the studio or main engineer,
depending on the day. But he's a comic book fanatic.
Like still gets, you know, every month gets deliveries
to the house and reads, reads them, knows all
the storylines and everything. And I was like,
I just started grilling him about comics because
I like graphic novels. I was like, what do I
need to read graphic novel wise? Because like
I, for some reason. I was told to write this
idea down that I'm supposed to make this graphic
novel. I know that sounds woo -woo to people
who don't understand it, but anybody who's ever
had something from beyond tell them something,
that's just what it was. It was like, okay, I'm
supposed to do this thing. And so I called him
like, what should I read? What should I get into?
And he gave me some, because I'm obsessed with
story. I wanted the story to be good. I wanted
to see what do you think are some of the best
graphic novel stories out there? And he mentioned
Saga. Saga was one of them. And I read Saga and
it's excellent. But I just like to know, what
world am I getting ready to play in? What is
this about? Not the story. What is this whole
thing about? What's going on right now? Why a
graphic novel? Why is that what it's supposed
to be? But instantaneously, man, I saw visuals.
Instantly. I just saw characters and visuals
and scenes. And interestingly enough, what I
wrote down ended up being sort of the prequel
story to the story I'm telling. I will be telling
in the graphic novel and I tell on the record.
Because as I started developing characters, I
started seeing these side characters that were
like, they're more interesting to me. And I picked
those characters up. That's why it took a long
time because I started working on this kind of
first part of the story. And then these other
two characters in particular just raised their
hand and were like, we're super interesting.
And so then I kind of started from scratch with
them and started writing this graphic novel.
And it's well on its way. Act one is completely
written. Act two and three are there, just not
finished. And then somewhere along the way with
that, I had these pieces of music that I was
toying around with just on tour on that attention
to attention cycle. And I remember going to Brent
and I said, hey man, are you in any headspace
to start working on a new Shinedown record? And
he said, absolutely not. He does not like to
write on tour. But I had to ask him. I said,
well, I've got these pieces of music that they're
pretty different. They would either make the
most different Shinedown record of all time or...
I need to use them for this thing. I've got an
idea for them. And he's like, go do your thing.
He's like, I won't be ready to write for another
year. So that's kind of where the genesis of
the record started. And I started writing these
lyrics about these characters and these stories
about these characters in song form. And what
the record is, what I had a name is, it's chronological
in nature. I mean, it's going from the beginning
of the story to the end of the story. But it's
just scenes from. It's not really telling. you
exactly what's happening is i was pulling out
the same thing i do when i'm writing other songs
like you know if i have something in my head
a scene that i feel like is interesting something
i saw or experienced that i want to write about
that's what i do and so i just did the same thing
with these fictitious stories and characters
and i found it very very easy to write lyrically
very easy to write All of these songs were very
easy to write. I mean, I'm not saying there weren't
moments like you have with every song where you
have to sit and kind of figure out, like, I need
an I rhyme and I can't figure out what it is.
And maybe the I rhyme isn't there, so you have
to change the word before it to an E rhyme so
you can say the E word here. That kind of stuff.
I'm not talking about that sort of logistical
part of songwriting. I'm talking about just the
subject, everything pouring out was happening
very naturally. At some point I was listening
back to one of the songs, a song called Good
Night, Good Night. It's the fifth track on the
record. And it's very personal to me. It's probably
one of the more personal songs on the record.
And I realized, you ever have one of those moments
where you have a shocking thought or a shocking
revelation about something and you get ice through
your veins? That shocking thing. And I had that
happen. I was like, oh my God. I've written the
most autobiographical record of my career. or
I am writing the most autobiographical record
of my career through these characters. You're
not just talking about these characters, you're
talking about yourself. Every single one of these
songs is from you, from your childhood, from
your current life, from your depression, from
whatever. And what that really did for me is
that enriched the record because it made... Now
I just didn't have characters anymore. I had
characters that were representative of... pieces
of me and pieces of... And I realized that in
a lot of cases when writers are writing, they're
doing that. Everything that you make is a piece
of you. But this was a lot more literal, like
where I could look at a character like Devarin,
who is the dictator who has taken over this world.
He's the main character in the Mind Control song
and video, first single. And he represents all
of the chaos and depression and everything that
crept in and took over my brain. If you take
this world that we're living in as my brain,
then he's the thing that came in and took over.
There's another character named Jeff, and Jeff
is this ancient Titan protector. He's one of
the former protectors of this world. He's actually
the main character in the prequel stories. He
was my first character, my first Genesis character
that I had for this. And he was what's called
a dark eater, and the dark eaters ate all of
the darkness in this world. And here you go.
I'm writing this story not even thinking about
depression at all, but here I am writing this
whole thing about it. Even that far back, these
titans called Dark Eaters, and they would consume
all of the darkness of this world and filter
it out. And Dvarin came along and killed all
of the Dark Eaters, at least he thought. Jeff
is the one that's left. And Jeff represents that
former protection that you used to have in childhood.
At some point, I was a blissfully ignorant, happy
child. and didn't deal with these thoughts. And
I didn't ruminate on my mental state so much.
And at some point, that thing came in and took
it over. And so I have a character named Azalea.
And Azalea, she basically fights against the
fact that she's supposed to be this religious
figure. And she's supposed to be this spiritual
religious figure, but she's taken on the role
of this assassin. And so if I look at her and
what I'm writing about with her, it's this journey
of faith. my journey back to faith from not having
it to rediscovering it. And so there's all this
depth to this record that, again, it was kind
of shocking for me to realize what I was writing
about. When I'm writing in the song Azalea and
I'm singing in the bridge of this song, it gets
quiet. And I'm supposed to be her, maybe her
conscience or something, talking to her or singing
to her. And I'm just telling her not to give
up. You can't give up. Even when not till there's
no more breath in your lungs. when all is lost
even past all is lost until until there's no
other option left you don't give up and you know
you realize that like that's that thing in my
brain that keeps me going too and so it's just
been you know starting with this graphic novel
idea into this record then having that realization
made the writing of the rest of the graphic novel
not that and again nowhere in this graphic novel
or in this record does it talk about depression
or does it talk about darkness or rather rather
internal darkness or neurodivergence or any of
these things, they're representative of those
things, unintentionally representative of those
things. But what it did was when I went back
into the book writing and into the graphic novel
writing, it just gave me so much more insight
into the characters and it made the writing of
the story so much more rich and enriching for
me as well. Well, you've always been open about
your struggles with depression and it's come
out through the band's music. And it's something
that I personally admire of you as well as the
band, because there are songs like get up or
a symptom of being human. These are songs that
speak to me. I'm someone who myself has been
dealing with anxiety and battling that monster
for years and maybe decades and songs like that.
I use for strength and comfort. When I get in
my head, they bring me balance and they keep
me grounded because sometimes with my struggles,
I feel like I'm alone on an Island. And these
are songs that when I hear lyrics like that,
they speak to me as a fan. And I know that, you
know what, we don't know each other personally,
but through this song, I know I'm not alone.
And from the first lyrics in, in a world unseen,
You announce in here, we're all a little bent.
We're all a little twisted and we're all a little
broken right from the jump in this situation.
I feel like even though you're saying that the
album's not about mental health, it spoke to
me that way. And when I listened to the album,
I actually felt that presence in these songs.
Was that something that you were looking to achieve
with that? no that that's why i'm so astonished
when i said i had that moment of like realization
where it shocked me was that when i wrote those
lyrics in here we're all a little bit we're all
twisted we're all a little broken or when i'm
inviting people in a world unseen welcome to
a world unseen where i'm told the sky moves under
me like it's upside down you know a place where
reason has no sound and i swear that god's gone
underground i was writing about this world right
all those lyrics were written prior to that realization
and then I'm listening to Good Night, Good Night.
And what Good Night, Good Night is about is about
leaving that child that you were. Because I don't
long to be a child again, but I'm enamored that
I had this moment in my life when depression
wasn't a part of it. What happened? What took
place that brought this in? Because if I could
pick that piece of my brain out and throw it
away forever... I always said I would. Creatively,
it's something that makes me tick. So I don't
know if I would throw it away. But look, when
I'm down in it, I want to pull that piece of
my brain out and just eject it and get rid of
it because it is beating me about the head. It
will not leave me alone. So I think back to what
happened to that child, what happened to that
young guy that didn't have to deal with this.
And so Good Night, Good Night, in essence, again,
This was the realization as I'm writing about
this character. The hook at the end of the chorus
says, I hope you're standing arm in arm with
the things that did you harm. And I hope that
you have a good night. Meaning just, you know,
I hope that you're still happy, you know, and
even the things that harmed you, you're still
okay with. But then realizing that like, no,
I'm talking about myself. So having that realization
after the fact of like, no, I didn't intend to
write that down as meaning in here, we're all
a little bent, we're all twisted, we're all a
little broken. Now I can't hear it any other
way. I still see the characters. It's still about
the characters. It's still about the story. But
realizing that this world that I've created,
that these characters live on, this world called
PAR, P -A -R. Look, I wish I could come up with
better names, but sometimes when the universe
speaks to you and says, your world is called
PAR, you just go with it. But that is my brain
at the end of the day. I'm writing about this
world that is my brain. and my soul and my heart
and and uh it's not just brain it's it's way
more than that but it was all completely unintentional
and it's why when i'm when i'm when i'm doing
uh and again i'm the world's worst business person
i'm i'm a creative through and through and when
it comes to the business side of things how to
market i'm horrible i'm just terrible at i can
make the donuts but i don't really know how to
sell the donuts so i'm terrible at selling the
donuts so when we were talking about I was filling
in the team, my management team and the people
at 1RPM who are the distribution company and
I'm publicist about the record, they all latched
onto the depression neurodivergent. This record
was written about... And I had to stop and say,
no, it was not written about that. That's why
I don't lead with that normally, because it's
like, I don't want people to think that, oh,
I set out to write this record and I just made
them characters. No, that's not what happened.
I'm writing about these characters. These characters
are genuine. They're real. The story exists.
It is what it is. It's just that I was writing
so honestly about the subject matter that, and
I didn't realize how much of myself I was pouring
into this thing. And then when it was finished,
it's like, oh, wow, man, you've just bared it
all out here through these characters. And here's
the interesting thing about that is some people
will listen to it and maybe not get that wholly.
They won't understand, well, in this song, what
is this about? What does this mean? That's good.
I don't want it to be a distraction when people
are listening to the record. I don't want them
thinking, oh, this is Eric having a sad dad moment.
He just wrote this record about being depressed.
No, man, it's not at all. Ultimately, the story...
This record and this book are just the first
of four books that are going to be written and
told. I don't know if I'll do a record for every
single one, but ultimately at the end of that
story, there's triumph down the road, but you
got to start somewhere, you know, and right now
we're in the, you know, you got to start in the
darkness to get to the light. But yeah, man,
I hope that people listen to it and can pull
something from it that will be helpful to them.
Because at the end of the day, I realized as
I've gotten older that... you know my job on
earth isn't to be a musician my job is to help
people and it's really something i'm passionate
about and i only really know one way to do that
to help people and that's just through the silly
little things that i make you know whatever that
is whether it's a song or a video or a album
or and and somebody won't say it's silly but
i like calling them myself my silly little things
you know because it is it's playtime man it's
it's frivolous you know it's it's insane that
a 50 year old man can make a living making songs
but that's you know that's what we do so i would
be dishonest if i didn't talk about those things
because part of me look at one point i was like
maybe i shouldn't even bring this up about Because
I don't want it to distract from the story or
from the record. But I realized how important
these things are. And there's not enough hope
in the world. There's a lot of hope, but there's
not enough of it. And so if someone can listen
to a song like A World Unseen or All Good Children
or Goodnight Goodnight or Can't Go Home, if they
can listen to those things and pull something,
mind control, if they can pull something out
of it that helps them with what they're going
through, then that's what matters. And so that's
why I thought that it was probably pretty important
to talk about. Maybe not to lead with it, but
to talk about it for sure. Well, you had talked
about mind control earlier. I want to play a
clip of that as that was the song that was chosen
as the first single and video for the album.
I was just a lad I knew what I'd become I knew
what I'd become Now, I've always wondered about
the mindset of a single from within a concept
album, because while I love hearing individual
songs, let's use Planet Zero or Dead Don't Die
from Planet Zero or Devil or the Human Radio
from Attention Attention. As much as I love listening
to them when they come on shuffle, I feel like
they hit harder. When you listen to the album
as a whole, maybe that's just me getting the
quote unquote full experience of the song from
the artist's vision. But with that said, was
it a challenge for you to decide which of these
songs would be the best representation of the
album in the months leading up to this release?
Months, try days. There was no single written
for this record. So this has been its own dark
comedy. in and of itself this single picking
business for this record because unlike a shinedown
record i can listen to the songs that we have
written before we've ever recorded them for a
shine down record and go that's a single that's
a single that's a single that's a single that's
a single for sure sometimes all of them have
potential to be singles if we've been blessed
right but with this record i intentionally just
said i'm not worried about time i'm not worried
about Don't bore us, get to the chorus. I'm not
worried about any of that stuff. I'm just going
to write these pieces of music that maybe take
a left turn here and come back. Maybe they take
a right turn and never come back. I'm just going
to write these songs and they're just going to
be what they are. I want to make pieces of art.
I just want to make music. That's all I want
to do. And so that's how I went about this whole
record. Then when I finally decided to release
the record, which actually wasn't that long ago,
I said days, not months. It was only a few months
ago that I decided that I was really going to...
go at this in earnest. I'd say probably, honestly,
probably July, but the record was finished. So
that was, that's a big part of it now. But, but
then the question of single came up and I was
like, you know, I've never thought about it.
I never thought about this going to radio. I
never thought about this having to be on playlists
or yeah, I just thought about people listening
to the record beginning to end. That's what it's
about. And so I couldn't pick it. I thought maybe
a song called Azalea would be the single, but
it's a little long, you know, for a single for
certain people that you have to placate. But
I'm not going to edit it. I don't want to edit
any of these songs. I don't want to pull anything
out of it. If I were to pull the middle of Azalea
out, it's just another rock song. I love the
fact that it has this piano interlude thing in
the middle, and it's what makes the song itself.
So I sent the record around to a bunch of friends
and other business, I say business people, that's
a terrible way to put them, people in our camp
who I'm very close to, and just said, hey, let
me know what you think the single is. And everybody
came back with a different answer. Brent thought
a song called New Graves was the single. I thought
Azalea was the single. Some other people thought
Goodnight Goodnight was a single. All Good Children
got thrown out there and Mind Control. Ultimately,
everyone's saying, there were a couple of songs
that were outliers that no one talked about.
so then we had to have a call and it's like what
are we what are we doing like this is i don't
i don't know i i was almost like take this out
of my hands because i don't know what the single
is like i've told you that from the beginning
like i love all of these songs let's just find
one and everyone thought that that it came down
to azalea or mind control and Everyone thought
mind control was a lot more straightforward.
The song starts immediately with the lyric and
it's high energy. And so that's how it happened,
man. I mean, I wish there was some sexy way to
put it, but it's like I've had just as much trouble
figuring this out as anybody else. And I was
in the midst of making the videos too, and I
had to stop and I'm directing the videos and
editing the videos and everything. So I had to
make the mind control video. And I think it confused
people because again, One thing you learn in
the record business is there is no perfect plan.
You just do it. Just put something out. Don't
think about it too much. Don't try to be too
calculated. If you're too calculated, it'll all
fall apart. So this whole rolling out mind control,
while not perfect in my mind, it's like, okay,
that's what we're doing. We're rolling out mind
control. Well, the WAL and Legion, which is like
the two entities that make up the government
in my world, their logo is that purple diamond
looking thing. And so that... Devarn's video
is purple. Like that's every, every character's
video has a color. And so I was like, man, we're,
we're rolling right back out with the planet
zero colors. You know, it's like, people are
going to think like, A, they're going to be confused
or B, they're going to think that we're not that
creative or I'm not that creative, but that's
why purple again. So again, not in a perfect
world, not, not what I would have done, but through
this record making process and just trying to
make the right decisions. I talked earlier about
coming back into my faith and, and this is my
father passed away. you know picked back up the
bible and and got back into my faith and one
thing i did with with this record was i just
said ask for god's help with it i was like because
i didn't know what to do i didn't know how to
how to do it i was like hey i'll do the work
please you know of course i'm gonna do the work
but i'm putting this in your hands you just leave
me leave me around and so when mind control is
just supposed to be the first single that's what
it is i'm not questioning anything at all there's
a lot of peace in that man a lot of peace and
not questioning and just doing and so uh because
believe me man this especially the video making
process has tried to fall apart a couple of times,
you know, like pretty hard. And it's just like,
I just pivot something up and pivot back to something
else. And there's a lot of peace in that of just
knowing that I put this in a higher power's hands
and that there's no wrong answers. It's just
doing the thing. I'll give you a perfect example.
The mind control video, I didn't realize until
three days ago when I put headphones on, was
in mono. How about that? Everybody's been listening
to the video in mono and I didn't know it. And...
That would have spun me out before. Like a couple
of years ago, I would be like, ah, you know,
this is in mono. Oh my God, we got to fix this.
I just very calmly went in and found, it was
my mistake, found out what had happened. It wasn't
my mistake. It was something that had happened
in an import that I didn't catch. I hate it when
that happens. Somehow it had imported, instead
of importing a left channel and a right channel,
it imported two left channels. Oh, wow. Yeah,
very, very strange. So left and left, which is
better than left and right down the middle, but
left and left. So probably why it still sounded
pretty good. It's probably why I didn't notice
it. There's nothing phasey about it coming through
my speakers. I didn't think about it. But I just
very calmly went in, rebounced another audio
file and called the team like, hey, can we get
YouTube to let us upload another? I don't know
if they fixed it yet or not, but it's in the
process. But just something like that, man, just
being more at peace with things maybe not going
the way that I think they should go. because
you realize that, again, I feel like I'm here
to help people. And so whatever I have to do
to make that happen, there is no fire to get
to. There's no reason to get angry about things
like that. I mean, I get frustrated, of course,
I'm a human, but I'm not a monk, you know, but
it's been very calming to kind of release. a
record this way and just sort of not have it
have to have all of this gravity around it. That's
what tends to happen when you're releasing records
and big projects is all this gravity and seriousness
to it. And it's like, I'm very serious about
this. I've spent a lot of time and a lot of effort
on it. I've spent a lot of money to put this
thing out, but it doesn't feel like that. It
feels like it's just, this is... what it's supposed
to be it feels it's very calming it's almost
off -putting for me in a way like personally
to feel this way because it's like this isn't
how it's supposed to be it's supposed to be chaotic
and you know it just it just hasn't been that
but that sort of calming stuff started with the
single it was like yeah man there is no wrong
answer like cool mind control is the single i
wish i wish i had a sexy answer i was like i
knew from the beginning that was the single no
man i didn't know from the beginning i'm still
not sure i don't even know if it's the best song
on the record but it's there I happen to love
the album. I have a favorite on the album. If
I could throw it out there and play a clip from
that one, it's actually, I'll say one of my favorites
on the album because there's a couple that are
kind of vying for that top spot, but you talked
about it before. Let's play a clip from Azalea.
To me, what stands out about this song is the
dynamics in it. There are several different musical
tones throughout this 4 minutes and 20 second
runtime. The open almost feels like this whimsical,
swirling dream sequence. The chorus is fucking
pummeling. Pardon my language there, but it is.
And then you have the melodic bridge you talked
about earlier. But it all feels... perfectly
at home together and i think the reason for that
and this is something i would love to ask you
as you're a producer as well as a musician there's
actual dynamics in this song The loudness wars
aren't happening here. When you're quiet with
just your voice and a piano, the song is quieter.
It's not as loud as when the entire band is playing
and it's a heavy, mountainous, thunderous part
of the song. There's actual dynamics in the music.
As a producer, I'd love to know your thoughts
on is that something that you were looking to
do? Because I know in modern rock music, everybody's
trying to push towards louder is better. because
of earbuds. But there are people out there that
genuinely care about dynamics and sound. And
as a producer, I'd love to know your thoughts
on that. Yeah. I mean, for me, emotion has always
been in the dynamics. Even in a loud song, I
want the chorus to be a little louder than the
verses. And I've, I wish I said, I haven't, you
know, I've developed a sense for that stuff over
the years and I've developed a technical way
of making it happen in a mix. that if anyone
is curious about it, if they ever want to ask
me, I'm happy to divulge. I don't have any secrets.
But it just involves, and I'm sure I'm not, I
know I'm not the only person that does this,
but it involves working the master fader on the
output of a song. You know, when it's like, I
want that chorus to move. A great example of
that is Black Soul on Attention, Attention. Like
the way that chorus hits, you know, that chorus
rips your head off when it kicks in. I love that,
man. It's just. And Azalea does that too. And
I'm glad you could feel that. And I appreciate
that. Thank you to Ted Jensen, the legendary
Ted Jensen, mastering engineer at Sterling Sound.
Because he masters all of Shinedown's records
and all of my records and anything I work on,
I have him master. Because he appreciates that
stuff too. And believe me, man, it's something
I have to come to terms with when I listen back
to a mastered record that I've made, which is...
This is not going to be as loud as everybody
else's record probably, like comparatively. It's
just not. But there's a volume knob there. And
if you turn it up three clicks, three dB, whatever
that is, then it will be as loud as everybody
else's record and it'll have dynamics. And so
that is a conscious thing I do. I realized that
I have to give up some loudness shock value in
that. Everybody wants a loud record, man. I want
a loud record. I want a really loud record. I
want the loudest record out there. Everybody
does. But you can't have it both ways. And so,
yeah, man, it's a conscious thing. I definitely
make those decisions. I'd much rather... I want
something to breathe. I want it to move. I want
it to... For me, it just makes the exciting parts
more exciting. And that's what I'm after. I'm
after that... I want the hair on my arm to stand
up. And I know when I'm working on a mix when
that happens. I'm like, that's it. That's the
one. And there's something to learning how to
play a mixing board like an instrument. I mean,
even in my mixes. So even aside from working
the master fader in the mix itself, where there
are drum fills, I'm turning the whole drum kit
up and down on drum fills. And then when the
chorus hits, the drums are coming up. a db maybe
a db and a half on the chorus and then back down
and then maybe some of that guitar is coming
in a little bit louder on the chorus and you
know you just sort of i want this thing to breathe
and be open like like there's a tendency Not
everybody, it's not a broad stroke I'm painting
here. I'm not saying every mixer does this or
every, and I'm also not saying that I know what
I'm doing. You know, I just, I just end up in
a, I end up with a result that I like, but there's
a tendency to just compress, compress, compress,
compress, compress until you don't have to move
any faders, especially with vocals. Like just
compress the vocal till it just sits on top of
everything all the time. You don't have to move
anything. I've always been a fan of compress
less and automate more. So automating, like I'll
listen through the vocal and I'll mouth the vocal
with my eyes closed. And if there's any lyric
in there that I feel, or any syllable that I
feel like gets lost, there's a T in there that
gets lost or an S or the end of this word gets
lost. I'm going to automate that up. And if you
look at my automation on my sessions, my drums,
my vocals, mainly. or just up and down and up
and down and up and down there's just dots everywhere
all over the screen where that vocal is getting
automated uh and then my master bus is kind of
is the same way my master bus my master fader
is going to be the same way what's interesting
is when i sometimes i mix out to my master fader
on the analog console and so then i'm actually
doing it in real time too you know so it just
depends on what the it's a lot easier if you
keep the master fader in the box to do it but
in the computer but yeah man that's just uh why
record anything quiet if you don't want it quiet
yeah i don't want it to disappear completely
but you get the idea oh 100 when i listen to
a symptom of being human in the album listen
to planet zero that's taking down in a moment
on the album and i think Because of how you thought
about dynamics is why that song really took off
the way it did. I truly feel the music in that
song. Obviously the message is what resonated
with so many people, but the music that sits
underneath this message is so calming, but then
it builds. And the way the drums come in, Barry's
not doing some like progressive rock opus. He's
playing to the song. But it's so big because
of the way the song has such dynamics. Where
in other songs, if it was just a loud overall
mix, you'd have to almost play more to try to
fight the loudness wars. Yep. Yeah. And it's
not just dynamics with that either. You talk
about the last chorus of Symptom of Being Human.
Something interesting happens there too with
the drums. And musicians are going to get this.
I'm not getting too inside baseball. But all
of the chord changes. at that last chorus, once
it builds in, they all take place on the and,
and not on the beat. So it causes the last chorus
to hop and kind of move differently. If we had
just left, shout out to Barry Kirsch, if we had
left the kick drums just right on the beat, sometimes
I'm in a clue where I boom, clack, boom, and
instead it's doom, when I don't doom, boom, boom,
clack, like that, that'll and move right there
at the end, lifts that song a ton. Like, it's
unbelievable how much that changed everything
when that happened. You know, things like that
are the flourish on the end of the painting.
You know, like we're painting on air. And if
you've ever watched someone paint, I get to watch
my buddy Rob Pryor paint. Rob is doing all of
the artwork for my graphic novel. He did all
the artwork in the album cover. He's a phenomenal
artist. P -R -I -O -R, Rob Pryor. Pryor2art is
his Instagram. You should check it out. but I
get to watch him paint. And there's always some
flourish at the end of the painting. You'll think
the painting's done and you're sitting there
looking at it and then he'll do like one more
thing to it. And that's it. And you realize that
one last thing is the thing that's like, it's
like the sign off, the signature, you know, it's
not the signature, and it makes the painting.
That one little thing is what gives it its flavor
that you didn't know it needed. And so there
are little things like that, like the last chorus
on Symptom where you just change the kind of
causal hop where the bass notes are changing
on the ands instead of on the ones. Or there's
a pickup on the and, I guess is a better way
of putting it. The chords aren't changing on
that. But that's that little flourish, man, that
you didn't know you needed that makes the song
live and makes it breathe. And that along with
the dynamics, you know, it just, I don't know,
man. It's funny you say that we're talking about
this because I think about some of the music
that I love and there's other stuff, man, that
has no dynamics in it whatsoever that I just
absolutely love. Sometimes I love being pummeled.
Oh, of course. If I'm listening to a metal album,
dynamics be damned at that point. I don't want
any dynamics in that at all. If I'm listening
to System of a Down or something like that, man,
I want to be annihilated, slipknot or something.
Yeah. Lamb of God for me, but you know. Totally.
Same thing, man. Yeah. Yeah. I don't, I don't
want dynamics. What are you talking about? So
I have to, if you don't mind, this has been such
an amazing conversation, but I have a couple
of, I will kick myself if I don't ask short shine
down questions for you that are going to come
from a fan perspective, my personal shine down
fandom. Sure. And the first one is I'm a huge
fan of cover songs and no, I'm not talking about
simple man. The Warner Sound Live Room EP that
you guys put out, you covered I Feel the Earth
Move from Carole King. Yeah. I'd love to know
whose idea that was and how that came into the
band because you guys frigging slayed that cover.
I love the gender flip on it. I love everything
about it. Cool. Thanks, man. Glad you noticed
that too. Yeah. So the gist of that was we recorded
in Henson Studios in Los Angeles. And so it was.
they wanted each artist that came in and did
that so there were multiple artists that went
in and did the in in the live room and it was
a live recording like there's no there's no overdubs
well on i feel the earth moving on uh on i'll
follow you i did overdub the bass because i couldn't
play the piano and the bass wait wait you can't
come on but uh but technically it's all live
in the room so the piano and the and the guitar
and the drums and the vocals were all done live
And no punch -ins either. Like, it's like, you're
just going to do this song. This is what you're
going to do. Do these songs. I think there were
four of your own songs that you wanted to do.
And then one song that had been recorded in Henson
Studios. And so the list was long of stuff that
we could do. I mean, the Black Album was done
in Henson Studios. Appetite for Destruction was
done at Henson Studios. I mean, the list goes
on and on. But, you know, we wanted... I just
always wanted to do something unique. You know,
it's like, what are people not going to expect?
And Brent and I had thrown around multiple ideas
and he called me and he's like, hey man, what
about Carole King? And I'm like, I had not thought
of that. Like that's not even one that came up
in conversation at all. And he's like, yeah,
I feel the earth move and you make me feel like
a woman. All those songs were done in Henson.
And I'm like, oh man, awesome. So I got to work
on it, man. I was like, let me throw something
together. Let me throw an arrangement together.
and so uh this we put you make me feel is the
bridge to the song basically so to speak i had
to find a way to get down there but we we threw
that hook in there at the end of the guitar solo
but i uh i threw together an arrangement sent
it out to the guys everybody loved it and that
was the first time we played it together was
in that session i think wow yeah we'd all rehearsed
it on our own But we hadn't rehearsed it as a
band. I think we all showed up at Los Angeles
the day before that and just went in and did
it. The interesting thing about that version,
man, is that's the same piano that she recorded
that song on. So if you listen to my intro and
her intro, it's obviously the same instrument.
That gives me chills to this day. Because when
I hear her version of it, it's like, I know that
piano, man. But yeah, man, we just wanted to
do something people didn't expect, I guess. If
there's one thing that makes us tick as a band,
that's what it is, is trying to, because a lot
of people second guess us a lot. And it's caused
us to walk around with a little chip on our shoulder.
So just to kind of make the chip bigger, sometimes
we want to do things that people don't expect
as well. All right. Second question. Attention,
attention, album. A New Way to Die was a bonus
track that you can only get if you purchase the
album at Walmart and you had to download it and
it was only an MP3. So being such a huge fan
of this one, I have to ask, and it's a small
minor gripe of all the years I've been a Shinedown
fan. How did A New Way to Die not make the original
Attention to Tension album? I don't remember
why that's not on the record. And honestly, you
just brought up a song that I had not thought
about in a lot of years. I hadn't thought about
that song in a minute. Wow, man. I remember recording
that song for sure. Zach played bass on that.
Oh, really? Yeah, on that song. I played guitar
on that song. He played bass on that song. We
do that a lot. We switch. If you write the riff
in Shinedown, you generally are going to play
the song on the record. Like there's no... A
song like Dead Don't Die, the intro is Zach.
The intro and verses is Zach, because he wrote
that. And then it gets to the chorus. And I wrote
the chorus riff, so I played the choruses on
that song. And so there's a lot of flip -flop
switching around kind of stuff that happens on
our records like that. Zach played bass on A
New Way to Die. I don't know. I don't have an
answer for you. I don't know why that's not on
the record. Here's the thing. Obviously, at the
end of the day, we decided. The word committee
sounds awful. Everything happens by committee,
meaning the four band members decide. Like, what
do we think the record is? And at some point
that was decided that didn't belong on the record
for whatever reason. So that's the best answer
I have for you. I wish I had something more,
more, more woo -woo than that, but that's it.
Okay. So then for this third question, I wouldn't
be doing my part as a podcaster if I didn't ask
if there was any dirt that you'd be willing to
share on Shinedown 8 with the My Weekly Mixtape
listeners. Ooh, dirt about it. I'm trying to
see the dirt at this point. Man, I don't know
why this is the first thing that popped in my
head, and I apologize if this is not what you're
looking for. The first set of songs that we wrote
for the record, it was me, Brent, and Dave Bassett
wrote. I was not well. I was not mentally well
the whole time. And there's a song called The
Killing Fields, which is a song that I love very
much. Dance Kids Dance is another one that we
wrote. Searchlight is another song that we wrote.
But there's one in particular called The Pilot.
that is, it's one of the sweetest things. I don't
know if anyone's ever given me a sweeter gift
than this. And I wish I could take credit for
the writing of the song, but it wasn't me. There's
a song called The Pilot that's going to be on
the record that I had a moment, man, where I
just like kind of unloaded and vented to Dave
and to Brent, because we're all great friends.
And it was just one of those things about how
like, man, I'm not in a good place and not, you
know, I don't know what's happening with my brain.
And, you know. I'm not sure I want to be here
and all of that stuff. It helps to talk about
those things with people. I encourage everyone
to talk about those things. Even the stuff you
don't want to say. When I say I don't want to
be here, that's a heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy,
heavy, heavy thing to say. But sometimes, man,
you have to make your friends your therapist.
And sometimes you have to just, they don't have
to have the answers, but it just helps for you
to articulate those things to somebody. But I
got done articulating these things to him. And
the next day we got back to writing and it wasn't
going well. Brent looked at Dave and he said,
do you want to play it for me? I was like, what
are you talking about? And evidently Brent had
gone by Dave's hotel room that night after we
got finished and Dave was working on this song
and he played it for Brent. And Brent was like,
man, you got to play that for Eric. And Dave's
like, I don't know, man. He's like, that's super
personal. Like, I don't know. And I think Dave
thought maybe I'd be mad or something. I was
like, that was nothing of the sort. And he played
me this song called The Pilot that he wrote about
me and about what I was going through from my
perspective. And dude, it's like. i i can't wait
for everybody to hear it it's um again i wish
i could claim songwriting on it i don't have
any songwriting whatsoever i played the acoustic
guitar on it and recorded it but it's a very
different place for brent's voice too because
it's soft you know there's no trying to overpower
the song at all ever once in the song he's singing
he's basically singing in a speaking voice the
whole song and it's uh i don't know just just
probably the the i don't know when i think about
gifts that that people have given me over the
years like i that's just one that you know, and
I probably don't tell him and I probably don't
tell Dave enough about it either, but yeah, there
you go. There's some, there's some, sorry, this
kind of solemn dirt or, but it's, but it's dirt
in nonetheless others dirt or not, but it's just
something that that's the first inside scoop
on the record. Anybody's had, how about that?
All right. Well, the one thing I will follow
it up with then attention, attention, concept
album. I have a name concept album, planet zero
concept album, shine down eight, not a concept
album. All right. Not a concept album. Back to
more of what Threat to Survival was, what Sound
of Madness was, which is just a collection of
songs. And definitely all from a real place.
Nothing's changed in that department. It's just
that was sort of something agreed upon before
we even started writing. It's like, let's just,
you know. And again, it's like, I think everyone's
gaze kind of shoots at me when they say concept
record, because it's like, I've been responsible
for those three records and they're all three
concept records. But all of those were unintentional,
other than my record. My record was not an unintentional
concept record, but the rest of them were pretty
unintentional. They ended up just being what
they are. So this time we're like, let's just
try to spread the subject matter around a little
more this time and see if we can't come up with
some interesting things. So with the new album
dropping this Friday, are there any plans to
tour on the album this year? Or is the touring
going to be dedicated to more Shinedown throughout
2025? Yeah, the beautiful thing about all of
this is that I'm in a band that's really successful,
man. And I'm so blessed. And our entire universe
as individuals revolves around that. And so I
have to get the Shinedown record made. And then
once the Shinedown record's made, I probably
need to take... Probably need to take a quick
breath before the touring starts. But look, so
no immediate plans for touring. But if I had
a crystal ball, I had to look forward. When the
graphic novel comes out next year, that will
probably be around November, December, if I have
my way. If nothing's on the books for Shinedown
at that point, possibly. It might be a possible
time to do something. And I've sort of talked
to a couple of friends and other bands that people
would know. and said, hey, man, you want to do
like an all -star band sort of thing? And I've
had a couple of people say yes. I've also got
a couple of people that don't know that I have
them in mind, you know, kind of thing. But if
it were to happen, that's how and when it would
probably happen. But I actually don't know at
this point. It would be interesting to try out
some frontman genes on stage for sure. Well,
I Had a Name drops February 25th. You can hear
this unique and complex concept album in its
entirety. Finally, I'm also going to have the
album embedded on the episode page at myweeklymixtape
.com so you can check it out there as well. Eric,
this has been an absolute honor talking music
with you tonight. Thank you first for all of
the music that you've created since joining the
band and what you've done with them. Shine Down
is a band that's extremely important to me. I
love what you're doing with the solo album. And
I just love the message. And I love the stories
that you're telling and the art that you continue
to create. So thank you for that. But more importantly,
thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule
to join me on my weekly mixtape. Brian, that
is so kind, man. Thank you for the words. And
thank you for taking the time to listen to the
record and to be a fan of the band and of what
I do, man. That means a lot to me. Thank you.
And to those listening, you can find My Weekly
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next time, enjoy the tunes.