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here’s a list of AMRAP (as many reps as
possible) exercises taped to Shinedown’s
room backstage at London’s Brixton
Academy, listing things like crunches,
push-ups and something scary sounding
called wall slams. It all makes sense when Brent Smith
arrives, making sharp, swift strides. What he lacks in
height he makes up for in brawn and precision
movement. In conversation he’s similarly disciplined;
slick and earnest but likeable with it, his voice carrying
the broad inflection of his native Knoxville, Tennessee.
It’s like talking to a friendly punk trapped
in a marine’s body. Accordingly, the
defining records and musicians in his life
are an interesting mix.THE FIRST MUSIC
I REMEMBER HEARING
Good Ol’ Boys, from the TV show Dukes Of
Hazzard, performed by Waylon Jennings.THE RECORD I ASSOCIATE
WITH MY FAMILYwith my mum, cos he would play that
song and they would get along a little bit
better. It might take a couple of days or
what have you, but it was very endearing.Soundgarden. It came into my life in
my sophomore year in high school.
That was a moment in my life where
for the first time I knew what freedom
really was. I was sixteen, I could drive
and I had a car that I’d worked for, I had
a real girlfriend, on the weekends I could
go to Nashville or Atlanta, and that was
my soundtrack.THE SINGER
Otis Redding. I was heavily influenced
by punk when I was around thirteen or
fourteen – GG Allin, The Exploited, the Sex
Pistols, The Dwarves, stuff like that. I remember my dad
coming into my room – I think I’m blaring The Cramps
or something – and he hands me a tape. It was an Otiswhere the universe kind of shot me, right in my bell. Cos
I’d never heard that kind of power out of a vocal.THE SONGWRITER
Carole King and Ta p e s t r y. We did a thing in Henson
Studios where we had to play four new songs and
cover someone else’s song that was also recorded in
the studio. So we did I Feel The Earth Move... I mean,
she wrote Locomotion and all these songs. She was
a songwriting machine. And still to this day she’s like,
‘Maybe not as much as it used to be, but I gotta write
a song, at least two or three a week.’THE FIRST SONG I PERFORMED LIVE
The very first band I got into was in Tennessee. I was
fifteen, it was called Blind Thought and my audition
was a house party. We ended up playing for, like, four
hours, basically writing songs, and there was Alice In
Chains somewhere in there, Pearl Jam... The first cover
song was probably Smells like Teen Spirit.THE BEST RECORD I’VE MADE
I haven’t made it yet. That’s the only way I know how to
answer that.THE WORST RECORD I’VE MADE
believe everything does happen for
a reason. Because had it not been for
Zach [Myers] and Eric [Bass], who joined
for follow-up Sound Of Madness in 2008]
I probably wouldn’t be sitting here with
you right now.
I remember when [2003 debut] Leave
A Whisper came out. I had this idea we were
gonna be on the cover of Rolling Stone and
on MTV, and I was quickly smacked back
into reality. But radio embraced us from
the beginning. We went from all these big
people in the industry going: “This band
will be lucky to sell five hundred records”
to a platinum album. We didn’t really
know how to digest it, cos we’d never left
the road.THE MOST UNDERRATED
BAND EVER
Social Distortion. There’s a mystique
under Mike Ness and who he is and the
story of Social D. They have a massive cult
following all over the globe, but definitely
underrated, not only as musicians but
as songwriters. You know what Social
Distortion is to me? That shit is necessary.young lady that I was with for six years
ended in 2016, and the decade before
I was with my son’s mother. So I was
in a relationship for sixteen years, but I’ve been single
since 2016. And everybody is just like: “And you’ve not
had a relationship with anyone or even had any fun
with anyone?!” But I don’t look at women like that, I’m
a romantic. But my in the mood for love song? The one
that’s kinda cheeky and not so serious is Hello, I Love You
by The Doors, cos there’s something in the pattern of
the organ and the bass line, and his very free and fun
vocal on it... There’s something very unique and fun
and lovely about that song.THE SONG THAT MAKES ME CRY
Supermarket Flowers by Ed Sheeran. That does it.MY GUILTY PLEASURE
Madonna, definitely Like A Prayer.THE SONG I WANT PLAYED AT MY FUNERAL
I don’t want anyone to play a song at my funeral. What
I want people to do at my funeral is write a song.
Everyone. [And then perform it?] Hell yeah! [At the
same time?] Hell yeah!Attention Attention is out now via Atlantic.“Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay: I’d never
heard that kind of power out of a vocal.”
The
Soundtrack
Of My Life
Shinedown
singer BRENT
SMITH
on the records,
artists and gigs
that are of lasting
significance
to him.
Interview: Polly Glass