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Not Beating Around The Bush With BRENT SMITH From SHINEDOWN · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's going on everyone. My name is Prince Smith.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: I'm the lead singer of the band Shine Down and
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: we are coming to New Zealand and to Australia on
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: the Dance Kid Dance Act too, with our very very
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: good friends in Bush.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: So here we go, Chris take it away.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: Fantastic, Brent, thanks for joining us today.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Rather it's my pleasure. Thank I'm in your house.
• 0:20
  Speaker 4: So as you say about Shutdown to hit Australia for
• 0:22
  Speaker 4: the first time since twenty ten this September. Grunham Choice
• 0:26
  Speaker 4: with Porch starting in Oakland Home September seven eight and
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide are finishing in Birth
• 0:32
  Speaker 4: on September twenty ninth.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: My life.
• 0:34
  Speaker 4: The big question I guess is why have you neglected
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: us for sixteen years?
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: I deserve that, I deserve all of that. I would
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: tell you that there has been no neglect in regards
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: to I think that I'm not going to be the
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: type of individual that says like timing or this wasn't
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: right or that wasn't right.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: The reality is that like over the last like six years, just.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: In general, International has been at the forefront of everything
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: that we're doing as a band. And there's a lot
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: of territories where we just in recent like couple of
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: years now, Like we played Mexico for the very first
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: time last year. We're working on South America. We'd only
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: been once. We're working on that for twenty twenty seven.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: I was just you know, talking to Japan earlier today.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: You know, obviously this album, you know a has a
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: broader approach internationally. You know, the goal on this album
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: is to play all seven continents.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: But for Australia and New.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Zealand and everybody down under, that's really been you know,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: that's been the one place that I've said to everyone
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: and the band feels really strongly where everyone just wants
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: to talk about like the finances and like it costs
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: a lot, And was like, you know what, we're done
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: with that conversation, Like we're gonna go, like we can't
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: wait any longer.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: The audience is there.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: And you know you can talk about you know, well
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: when the time is right and everything like that, and
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: like when is the time ever going to be right?
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Like you have to we got to do it, man,
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: It's been sixteen years and you know I got to
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: say a huge thank you to Gavin and the guys
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: in Bush because they were with us on tour last
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: year for the Dance Kid Dance Act one that we
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: did last year last year when we're toured and I
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: talked to Gavin about, like, you've been to Australia like
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: quite a few times. He's like yeah, and so he
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: was telling me about everything, and then we went to
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: them and I just said, would you do it with us?
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: And he was like He's like absolutely. And it made
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: sense because one of the reasons why the audience was like,
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: we don't care. It could be a club, it could
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: be a theater, it could be like it'd be a
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: street corner like just just come, you know, And we
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: were like, no, we hear you.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: We want to do it in an arena.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: So everything that you see on YouTube and these other territories,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: we're able to give you that show. So when I
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: tell you, we know that it's been sixteen years and
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: we're bringing all the bells and whistles.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: So so get ready, man, because we're gonna throw down.
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: Fantastic broan. It goes without time. The sixty eighty is
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: is a long time mate. So what's changed for Shining
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: Down since you're out of your list.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: I mean just you know, the trajectory of the band,
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: the album's you know, life experience, you know, just being.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: The thing that I never take for granted is that
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: I can look back and say to myself, I feel very,
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: very fortunate that from the moment I could have a
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: conscious thought like what I wanted to do with my life,
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: I'm doing and to still be twenty five years into
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: being in this band, and you know, you don't ever
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: want to have like this big meteoric rise because like.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: I don't know the way that I should say it.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: I can only in the most authentic way as possible.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Like, experience is something that you need in this industry.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: And sometimes when you get a big jump, you know
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: you can have you know, there can be a heavy fall,
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: and you know, it's a very difficult industry to navigate,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: this business, the music business and every you know, however
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: you want to look at it. But the reality is
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: that it all comes down to the audience and the artists.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Like I've said this before and I mean it, like
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: in Shinedown, we only have one boss. It's just everybody
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: in the audience, and Shinedown is also everyone's band. Why
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: I say that is like, you know, we've been with
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Atlantic Records in the Warner Music Group for twenty five years,
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: you know, and we're the only artists on their roster
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: that's on six formats with radio and multiple playlisting from
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: different styles of music. Because we we swim in a
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: lot of creative oceans. Our audience, whether they've been there
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: from day one or they're just kind of finding out
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: who we are, they've always been very they've always been
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: They've always allowed us to be ourselves.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: They've allowed us to evolve.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: They've allowed us not to write the same song over
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: and over again and do our best to never make
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: the same record twice, to just you know, to be
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: creative and to you know, take chances with us and
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: take risks with us and allow us to you know,
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: it's art, so it's subjective. You're being creative, and you know,
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: everybody's going to have their opinions. But our audience has
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: always allowed us to grow. And I think that's one
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: of the most humbling things that we have in the band,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: is that the audience knows that they run the show.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: Like they've given us a platform to be ourselves. But
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: at the same time, that's what we want for them
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: as well, for them to be themselves. And we're also
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: a band that's never been afraid of talking about you know,
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: we're I'm in a band that's been talking about mental
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: health for the better.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Part of two decades, you know, almost three now.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: And it's the connection in the camaraderie and the human
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: spirit and the human condition is you know something that
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: you know we gravitate towards in our music. And I
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: would just say, you know, in these last sixteen years,
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: we've just tried to maintain growth so that we're steadily
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: you know, climbing because we always want to go to
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: we always want to find the other gear to go to.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: But we're just not built to phone it in man,
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: And I think our audience keeps us humble.
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: Really, it's built as a coe headlining show with yourselves
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: and Bushy doesn't mean.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: You're gonna be alternating closing every artery, just.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: Laws I think that I think we're closing each night
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: except for Sydney.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: I think bush closes Sydney, right.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: But it's the same time frame, same amount of time,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: same full access staging.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: They've got, they got all their bells and whistles. We
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: got all our bells and whistles.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: You know, it's just it's the same, uh time frame
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: on stage. But man, we're such those guys, assault of
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: the earth man we have we We've toured with them
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: multiple times. They're the best of the best. Man, We
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: love those dudes. Sure.
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: Shout Out recently reached out to the shinedown Nation, after
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: which local Australian bands deserved to sort of be playing
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: the bigger audiences. So have you had a chance to
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: listen to those with sports in or are you using
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: that as a guide maybe to be type of support.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: So yeah, so a thousand percent.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: So yeah, we're we're definitely listening to I haven't got
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: all the names of everything. We're starting to kind of
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: get some It's funny you would bring that up. We're
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: just now starting to get some of that funneled in.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: But uh, yeah, that was the whole principle of each city,
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: like we were going to kind of like listen to
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: that city and the territory and you know what local
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: bands in those areas that everybody is kind of like,
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: these are the you know, these are the peeps you
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: know that we think you guys, should you know, bring
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: out obviously, you know, if we could bring you know,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: two openers, we would.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: I think we're only gonna be able to pull off one.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: But we're just now starting to you know, see those
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: recommendations come in. But yeah, that was the That was
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: the plan was to be like we're in you know,
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: we're in your country. So it's just like, you know,
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: what are the bands you like? What band do you
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: want to open up? Yeah?
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: Just say someone's coming along to see Bush and they're
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: not really familiar with Shine Down, mate, like songs your
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: should they listen to you before they come?
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: You get to know the band better, all of them.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: There's eight records now listen to all of it.
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: I love those lines made on the back of your
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: recent album, which was Cold eight.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: So how's the only reception maage that that doesn't be
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: long with?
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: I gotta be honest with you, it's uh.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: It's actually kind of taken my breath away. The reviews
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: just from a global standpoint, not just like in the
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: US and Canada, like the international response and like the
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: amount of people that got it. Because I told the label,
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: you know, and you know it's the Warner Music Group,
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: but it's Atlantic in.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: America. I told them, I said, I want you to
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: send this.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: You know, obviously it's password protected you know when it
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: goes out, But I'm like, send it to anyone that
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: will listen, Like I don't care, Like I mean, I care,
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: but I was just like, send it to everybody, like
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: have every and you know, sometimes when you do that,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: you don't get like necessarily really any rebuttal or anything
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: like that. Even the label was shocked, like everybody RSVP'd
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: for it to come in because they have it on
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: the computer system. They know who like takes it and
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: downloads it and listens to it.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Because you have to go in, you have to do
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: a whole system to it.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: You have to put a password in and then they
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: can actually see you listen to it, you know. And
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: it was it was overwhelming the amount of reviews that
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: came in. But the consensus, I think of a lot
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: of people are like, it took a long time to
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: make this record.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: It took a year and a half.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: And you know, it's very interesting to have a skill
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: set a band member with a skill set like Eric Bass,
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: you know, because Eric has produced, engineered, and mixed the
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: last three full length records. Obviously, we do it all together, myself, Eric,
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: Zach and Berry, but a lot of the times like
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: it's me and him in there, like kind of curating
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: everything and doing a lot of the more of.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: The tedious side of things.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: But Eric is such a savant man in the way
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: that he does things, and he doesn't rule with an
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: iron fist in the studio. He's very very supportive, he's
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: really positive. He's gonna push you, but he's not gonna
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: push you any harder than he would push himself, you know.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: And you have to be able to lean on each
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: other so that there's not a lot of separation between
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: the four of us. Like you know, usually you'll go
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: and you'll make a record with the producer. The producer
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: makes the record, it goes on his way, and then
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: you go do it like we're with each other all
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: the time. But I don't think that we would be
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: capable of making a record like eight if we did
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: it any other way. And we've also had a lot
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: of great teachers over the years in multiple records, you know,
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: engineers and producers that we worked with, male and female,
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: And you know, I just I think more than anything,
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: you know, being able.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: To have the time to go in and really curate this.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: It was one of the reasons why.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: We released five singles last year building up to the
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: announced this year, because I know there are a lot
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: of people who are like, they don't have a record.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: If they have anything, they've got an EP, they may
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: have like four more songs. They'll give us ten songs,
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: that's what it is. So when people saw that it
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: was eighteen songs, they were like, it was interesting because
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: then it turned into like, oh god, it is.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: This like two and a half hours long. Yeah, and then.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: People were like, it's only sixty four minutes long, you know.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: And then people were like, well, it's probably just like
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: acoustic things are a little segues like they did the
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: last time. It's like, no, it's not a concept record,
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: it's a traditional record, but these are eighteen songs, you know.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: I think that being able to have the time to
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: develop it in the way that we did is why
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: people are identifying with it that it's what is I'm
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: finding from people.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: A lot of people are saying it is.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: There are a couple of people saying that it might
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: be the rock record.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: Of the year, you know, which I'm like, I'm not
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: saying that, but a lot of people are and I'm
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: just kind of taken back by that.
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, before I let you go just quickly, but do
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: you remember the first time you heard one of your
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: songs on radio?
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: And what song was it?
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: And wait, Well, when I was growing up, I grew
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: I grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Knoxville, Tennessee actually
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: had an incredible local scene musically.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: I grew up like I went I.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: Mean early nineties, so like I was in high school
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: from ninety one to ninety six, so there was a
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: great time for music and a lot of great records.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: So I mean it would have been local radio station
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: because I was in local bands.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: I started playing in bands when I was thirteen.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: I recorded my first like EP when I was fourteen,
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: so like they would have like locals nights and I
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: would hear stuff on that as far as like the
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: first time I heard the major label as Shine Down,
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: you know, and all of that was in Jacksonville, Florida
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: on Planet Rock Radio. I was driving down the interstate.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: Fly from the Inside is the was the first single ever.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: I knew that it had shipped to radio that week.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: I didn't know I was always listening to Planet Radio. Anyway,
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: it was three o'clock in the afternoon and I was
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: driving down the Interstate and I heard the intro Rift
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: come on, and I almost ran off the road, and
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: uh but I pulled off the exit and.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: I turned it up as loud as it would go,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: and I just I just.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Sobbed, like I just I just I just I just
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: bawled my eyes out, like it.
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: Was you know.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: And to this day, people will ask me, like, if
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: you hear your song like in a store or on
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: the radio or somewhere, and You're like, you know, you're
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: what no one knows or what, like what do you do?
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: And I'm like they're like, do you turn it off
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: or or or or do you turn it up? And
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: I'm like, I turned it up. Man, I'm proud of it,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: you know. But no, I definitely remember the first time
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: I heard it as a as a major label artist,
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: you know, hearing your first single for the first time.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: I was on the Interstate or the intro Riff, pulled
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: off to the side of the road and and just
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: kind of wept, man, just because like it was an
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: I still get emotional when I hear the stuff come
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: on that's fantastic.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: Thank very much for you, John brother.
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: You will be out here all on September seventeen, kicking
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: off in Oakland with Bush, then hit Overst.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: Beth de Bluck and take care of yourself and John.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: I appreciate you man, Thanks so much for all the time.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: Thanks for hanging out with me today. I appreciate you.