The band, along with Bush and Airbourne, will play the MassMutual Center in Springfield on Wednesday.
It’s hard to believe Shinedown has been playing its brand of hard rock for more than a decade.One reason reason behind the band’s longevity is its ability to grow and change as needed, according to drummer Barry Kerch.
The band, along with Bush and Airbourne, will play the MassMutual Center in Springfield on Wednesday.
Kerch took time out from the tour to answer a few questions about the latest album and the band's growth.
Your latest album, "Amaryllis" seems to mark a new era for the band. Can you talk about how changes have affected the band's growth?
It's funny to think I've had a career of more than a decade in a band. And that we've come as far as we have come. It's grown just as fast and just as nice as I'd want it to. It's been a slow growth you know, success didn't happen overnight. And we worked really hard at it and continue to work hard at it. I think with the lineup changes, the lineup we have now is the best we've ever had. Earlier, we were young punks and we are happy just to be out on the road but it was very damaging. Now we're little older, a little wiser in a little bit more mature and and I think it shows not only in our stage presence but also in our musicianship and our albums.
"Amaryllis," has been out for about a year now. Since there's been that much time between its release and now, how do you look back on it? Do you even listen to it? And what are your feelings now?
Occasionally I listen to it. You know, it's very hard listening to yourself because no matter what you do – and I'm very proud of the record – it was also a year ago, so the songs have changed, they've developed a lot as we played them out on the road. So if I could go back and record them right now, would they be better? Who knows? They may be different, maybe with a different feel because I love the way they're played now. Because when you going to studio, you write a song, you record it, and then you don't think about it they have to start playing it on the road. So once you play at a number of times and really rehearsing it has a whole new life to it. That being said, I love the record and I love what we did. Would I change anything? Absolutely not, because that's what we did in that moment of time.
That seems to be true in the progression of all your albums, especially between the last two, “The Sound of Madness” and “Amaryllis.” “Amaryllis" really seems to have more of a positive vibe to it than the other ones. Was that something you set out to achieve or was that just the way it happened?
I think it's just the way it happened. Honestly, it making "The Sound of Madness," the band had fallen apart. That's where we were at the time and there was a lot of anger and angst, and you can hear that in the record. Brent (Smith) writes all the lyrics and he writes from the heart. We don't fake anything. Going into "Amaryllis," Brent was finally sober and he was getting healthy. That's not to say there aren't songs and album that have a little bit of angst to them, there are. But overall it is a much more positive record. Today this band is the healthiest and happiest we've ever been.
And in the time between the last two albums, you also have a daughter too, didn't you? That has to change your perspective a bit.
Yes, she's two now. And yes, you lose that selfishness. I've always been a relatively selfish person cause that's who I was. I'm in a rock 'n roll band and I could afford to be a little selfish. Those days are gone. We have a two-year-old and it's all about her and that's a great thing. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Being a parent totally changes your outlook on life.
Speaking of "Amaryllis," how did the title come about. It's a bit odd for a hard rock band to have the name of a flower for the title of their album, isn't it?
There's absolutely a reason for it. Brent was watching a TV show or reading an article or something and he saw this flower, Amaryllis, and thought it was beautiful. And when he read about it, he realized the particular one he was looking at grows in the African desert and out of nothing comes as beautiful flower. And that's kind of a good metaphor for the album in general. Out of all this darkness we went through came this beautiful flower. So it was definitely meaningful and meant a lot to us. So I think the "Amaryllis" title really captures our regrowth and where we are as a band. But, yeah, when he came to me with the name, I was like "What are you talking about?" (Laughs.) Then when he explained it, I thought it was cool. But at first I was the same way. I was like, "You want to name it after a flower?" (Laughs.)