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Last Updated:
Feb 2nd, 2010 - 13:42:13 |
Shinedown
Shining Through The Madness
Shinedown can bring out the fierceness of rock in such a way that you can almost taste the passion behind their force of sound. Then they can bring you back down to earth for quieter moments with their more melodic songs. Their newest album, The Madness of Sound, is a testament to these seemingly contradictory musical philosophies. Guitarist Zach Myers shares his experiences with Real Detroit.
You started touring at a really young age — around 14 or so. What was it like being on the road so young?
I grew up really fast. It’s not like a woe is me thing, but I didn’t have a whole lot of friends when I was younger. All I really did was play guitar, so it was cool to tour and meet people that I idolized as a kid. It was fun, and I had my dad out with me.
When you were asked to fill in for two weeks with Shinedown, did you have any kind of intuition that they were going to ask you to stay?
I had no idea. I thought when I was done I was going to go back to Three Doors Down and keep doing my band. There was talk about it. Me and Brent were in Tampa, Florida, walking down the street and he said, “Man, I’d really like for you to be here all the time, but I just don’t know how it would fit.” I said, “I’d love to be here, but I totally get it. This thing has been going for three years and it’s kind of a hard deal to break,” and literally they played three shows without me and then I was back.
In your experience of being a musician what have been some of the highlights of your career?
I got to play with Buddy Guy and BB King when I was 16-years-old. I’ve met everyone I ever wanted to meet except for Bono, Michael Stipe and Stevie Wonder. There’s so much stuff that happened, it’s one of those things you think about when you’re not doing an interview. Casey Kasem did his last Top 40 show about four months ago and the last song he signed off on was “Second Chance.” I remember listening to him when I was a kid all the time.
What is the message or theme being conveyed with the new album, The Sound of Madness?
There’s a line in the previous record in “I Dare You” [that goes]: “Even in madness, you still believe.” And that’s kind of what this record is about. In this band it’s always been about madness. I think every record should have been called The Sound of Madness: Volume 1, Volume 2, and Volume 3. This band has never had it easy. Our singer struggled with many, many demons. Now he’s clean from drugs and he’s got a new perspective on life. This record is about girlfriends; it’s about old band members ... it’s a lot about old band members. It’s about life, it’s about his family, it’s about us being in a band together, it’s about everything, — and it’s about madness. You know, madness isn’t always a bad thing — it can be the sound of your girlfriend calling you, your wife, it can be the sound of your baby crying in the morning, your friend calling you at four a.m. because he’s in jail. It can be the city, it can be a train, it can be good things and it can be bad things. We take a few brushes with madness as a good thing. | RDW
Shinedown with Puddle of Mudd, Skillet and Like A Storm • 2/5 & 2/6, 7:30 p.m. • The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Avenue, Detroit; 313.961.5451 • livenation.com
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