The Sound of Madness Meets the Sound of Success

By Jeannette Madden
Staff Writer

Florida rockers Shinedown kick ass. If you have any doubts, check out their newest album, 2009’s “The Sound of Madness.” From their message to George Bush in “Devour” to the social accountability expressed in the lyrics of “What A Shame,” this band has it going on. And Fargo will experience Shinedown’s awesome live show when they hit the Fargodome with Breaking Benjamin and Sick Puppies in support of Nickelback on May 27. Barry Kelch, Shinedown’s drummer and a founding member, spent some time talking with HPR, not just about “The Sound of Madness,” but also how Shinedown got started and why they are in such a good place.

Shinedown formed in 2001 and released their first album, “Like A Whisper,” in 2003. The record marked a successful debut for the band, which was unusual after being together just two years. “Brent [Smith – lead vocals] had been signed to Atlantic previously with another band and the band got dropped so he ended up in Jacksonville.” Kelch said. “They kept him on as a potential songwriter where he was writing out of a studio, and we all met and started writing songs together. He went back to Atlantic and said he had a band and we said let’s give it a shot. Next thing you know, we’re in LA in the studio and the rest is history.”

In 2005 and 2008, Shinedown experienced lineup changes, including losing lead guitarist Jason Todd and bass player Brad Stewart. Kelch explained how they found new band members that would fit in and work with the band without upsetting their success.

“They were people that were already friends.” Kelch said. “Zach [Myers – lead guitar] had played with us previously. Eric [Bass] had filled in when our original bass player was having a baby. They’re people we knew. We had to have people we could trust, people we get along with, and it was not the easiest thing to do, going through that transition. Actually, physically, it was like going through a divorce. You spend more time with guys on the road than you do with your own family back home and to lose them was not easy, but this band wouldn’t stick around if we didn’t make the changes that we made. Eric and Zach have made this band stronger and better than it ever has been. Definitely the musicianship has grown. The vocals have grown because now we have two guys that can do harmonies with Brent and it’s just a better environment overall.”

Known for their non-stop touring and live shows, Shinedown has to be able to bring it to the fans every night. Kelch explained how the band does it now and what it was like back when they first started touring together six years ago, opening for Van Halen, in support of their first album, Leave A Whisper.

“We truly love it. We really do. We love being on the road and playing for our fans. We love playing live shows. Yeah, some days we’re tired and not feeling it as much, but as soon as we get onstage we get it together and we do it all over again. That’s what we hope for, that’s what we do this for. We’re just excited and we’re having a great time doing what we do. Of course, the band is at a much healthier place than it was during the previous two records so it’s just a joy to be out here.”

“To open up for a band like Van Halen, that was just legendary. Such nice guys…you know they hate each other…but each one of them individually would come say hi to us just about every show and hang out for a minute showing us the ropes. Doing those things was great but doing those things for such big productions, it gave us something to look forward to, to strive for, just seeing how they did it. 3 Doors Down, touring with them during ‘Leave a Whisper,’ they taught us everything we know. We were a bunch of green idiots, a bunch of young kids and instead of them getting frustrated with us they went ‘Man, here’s how you need to do it.’ They taught us how to be a good band and now we’ll try to give that respect back to the bands that we open for, but when we do a headlining show the bands that open for us, if it’s a younger band that needs a little bit of help, we don’t chastise them. We try to teach them the ropes now and how to run a smooth family kind of environment where everybody gets along.”

Kelch also talked about working with producer Rob Cavallo on “The Sound of Madness,” versus Bob Marlette (“Leave a Whisper”) and Tony Battaglia (“Us and Them”).

“Rob Cavallo is what they call an ‘A List’ and Bob Marlette is a ‘B List,’” Kelch explained. “At the time, when we worked with Bob, Bob was perfect. He is great with new bands to get them working as a unit and in the studio writing great songs. Then we transitioned through the second record, which was absolutely a nightmare – we won’t even go there [laughs]. With Rob, it’s just a whole other level. He is an absolute genius, not only in the music side but the business side. He’s looking at all of the aspects. Are we writing good songs? How do we make this a great song? And we came to the table with really good material and he said this is great, now here’s how we’re going to make it even better. And he has Doug McKean with him, his engineer and pretty much the hands-on guy. He’s the one setting up the mics, working the computer and getting the right sound. Having that dynamic between them is great. Rob will just sit back in a chair or lay on the couch and then he’d hop up and he’d have a great idea and he runs out there and says ‘Try this!’ and all of a sudden the producer aspect of it kicks in.“

Shinedown is bringing the bigger sound of The Sound of Madness to their live shows. Kelch says they are doing “The best we can [laughs]. Really, it was written for a live show. I think it transfers really well. The other guys being able to sing along really helped. Then when it comes to strings and stuff like that we have a track behind us. We’re not shy about saying there’s a track of strings behind us because we can’t afford to bring an orchestra with us, but everybody’s still playing their parts. But yeah, we put that in there, with the bells and whistles and stuff like that and make it sound as good as possible.”

Kelch ended the interview by explaining how Shinedown’s song, ‘Her Name Is Alice,’ came to be on the ‘Alice In Wonderland’ soundtrack. For those that have not heard it, check out the video on the band’s website, http://www.shinedown.com

“Disney approached us really interested. We said absolutely, a Johnny Depp/Tim Burton movie and ‘Alice In Wonderland,’ which is one of Brent’s favorite childhood books. We sat in a room just writing our impressions of Alice In Wonderland without seeing a trailer or anything about the movie, so we wrote about what we were feeling and it was all done while we were on the road, either in dressing rooms, back of the tour bus or back or in the hotel room, all of the guitar, drums, everything except Brent’s voice. That had to be done in the studio. We wrote it and then Brent came with his lyrics and we started to record it and at the time the trailer had just been released on the Internet and we decided maybe we should watch the trailer. We’re really glad we did because he wrote it more as the actual novel and not the movie. He watched Johnny Depp and thought ‘Ah, I’ve got to redo my lyrics!’ [laughs]. So, changed it up and it came out better and we also have another soundtrack song coming out with the ‘Expendables,’ a new Stallone movie, actually the song that’s in the background on the trailer. We’ll be playing that [Alice] live on the Carnival of Madness tour this summer.”

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If You Go

What: Nickelback, Breaking Benjamin, Shinedown, Sick Puppies
Where: FargoDome
When: Thurs, May 27, 6:15pm
Info: 701.241.9100