Shinedown
We caught up with Barry during Shinedown's recent UK tour!
Shinedown hit the UK recently for a few select shows, and whilst the rest of the band were line checking guitars at Islington Academy in London, we grabbed drummer Barry for a quick chat about the band and their upcoming new record...
Rocklouder: Hello Barry. So this is your first headline tour in the UK?
Barry: Hey! And yeah, first headline tour of the UK and Europe.
RL: But you've toured here with Disturbed before, right?
B: Yeah, we've only done one major tour, that was the Disturbed tour. We've been over one other time
for press and then we played Rock am Ring, Rock im Park and the Astoria.
RL: How did you like the Astoria?
B: Beautiful. Beautiful venue.
RL: You know it closed down last week? (followed by brief explanation of events!)
B: Oh you're kidding, what a bummer. That was the first proper venue we ever played in Europe. It's got all the cool stairwells and corridors. Aw man...
RL: So that aside, how d'you like it over here?
B: I love it. With Disturbed, we couldn't have asked for a better introductory tour. Opening up for a band that's well established over here, playing for thousands of people a night. We're not known here. Over in the States we've done well, we've sold millions of records and we have our own fanbase there.
Coming here, it's like starting over. It's almost fun, it's really invigorating. It's like 8 or 9 years ago, back to the little clubs. I love it.
RL: And things seem to be going well so far. Tonight was upgraded and sold out again...
B: Yeah, I dunno how that happened haha... It's a trip. I don't even know who the hell's coming tonight. We don't even have an album out here yet for god's sakes. I'm happy!
RL: The album that's coming out here in March was produced by Rob Cavallo. Obviously he's somewhat of a mega producer so is he someone you've been wanting to work with for a while?
B: He's done amazing work, but to be honest, we didn't even know who the hell who was. We really didn't. I mean, I and Brent, both of us have listened to Green Day, listened to My Chemical Romance records. So we'd heard all these but we'd not sat there and paid attention to who produced them, we just thought 'hey, those are great songs'. So when it came to thinking about a producer, we didn't even know he was in the picture. Rob was played a bunch of records by the head of Atlantic Records over in New York, and he said 'would you wanna work with any of these bands?' so Rob said 'what was that one band you played', and he told him 'that's a band called Shindedown', and he said, 'yeah, i wouldn't mind working with those guys'. So then he met Brent and next thing you know, he's doing our record, and right before we got into the studio with him at the last meeting with the A&R guy, Steve Robinson, he says to Brent 'you realise who this is, don't you?' and he says 'no?', so he reels off a list of the records that Rob Cavallo had produced. Brent turns round and says 'that's great, but i'm not in any one of those bands!' And from there, Rob just laughed, as Rob's a really sweet guy, and there was this mutual respect level. We just had a blast making the record.
RL: It was released in the States last summer, so you must've recorded in 2007?
B: Yeah. We recorded for pretty much most of 2007 and a little bit of 2008. It took about 18 months to write and record.
RL: Where did you record it?
B: In LA. We did drums and bass at Capitol Studios, and the rest was done in his [Rob's] home studio, also in LA.
RL: So after it came out back home last Summer, all the reviews that are floating around the internet have it as being massively well recieved...
B: We've been lucky. There are some people out there that thought the different line-up wouldn't work. We were worried about this record and how it would be recieved with our fanbase, and for the most part, 99% of them seem to think that it still sounds and looks like Shinedown, and if anything it's gotten better.
We were really trying hard on this record, we had a grand vision. We knew what wanted going into it... we wanted a really nice sounding record. A big rock record.
RL: It's really heavy, but it's still very radio friendly...
B: Yeah, and that was intentional. A lot people will go 'oh you're sellouts, you're selling records' but that's kinda the point. But yeah, it was intentional. We're very proud of this record.
RL: So the line-up changes that you've talked about... were these whilst you were recording or before?
B: It was just before. Before and during... The bass player had enough of touring after the last record, and him and Brent just couldn't get along. That happens.... and it's not easy. It's like a divorce, we'd spent years with the guy. And then the guitar player; he just had so many personal issues that he couldn't get over, that he was unable to do the record. And that happens. Luckily we were able to reach out to our friends, people we knew. They're not hired guns. We didn't go and hire the best guitar player out of LA... So on the record we had session guys playing on the record yeah, 'cause we needed someone to play!
RL: So was Shindown still in its original line-up before the changes?:
B: Yeah, all original. And now it's me and Brent that are the only original guys left.
RL: You had Chris Cheney playing on the record, right?!
B: Yeah! He is awesome. He is such a good player and a sweetheart. And then we had Tim Pierce playing guitars.
RL: The new guys you've got now... they joined after the recording? They're not on the album?
B: Correct.
RL: And how's that all going? How long have you been touring with those guys?
B: Well last year we did like, 131 shows, and we started touring in like April. So yeah, it's all good. I mean, we've known these guys for years so it was an easy transition. And it's better now. These guys sing backing vocals. I can't sing to save my life, so to have that background vocals now just brings a whole new level to the band.
RL: So onto future plans... have you got more touring for this record back home?
B: Yeah. Oh yeah. We're not gonna be done touring for another year and a half on this record. And we've gotta come back here too.
RL: Well yeah, with tonight sold out there must be plans for a quick return?
B: Yeah, we're gonna go back to the States, tour for the Spring, and then I believe we're coming back to Europe, at least for some of the festivals. And then probably another Fall tour here. And we wanna come back in nice weather, that'd be cool! I don't think i've ever been hear when it's not been cold or raining or both haha...
RL: Maybe you'll get lucky one day in the Summer eh?
B: You never know!
Shinedown release 'The Sound Of Madness' on March 2nd.
RSS Feed
