SHINEDOWN Frontman Says 'Attention Attention' Album Is About 'Not Being Afraid To Fail'

In a recent interview with Mindy Novotny of Milwaukee radio station 102.9 The Hog, SHINEDOWN frontman Brent Smith spoke about the full-scale concept behind their latest studio album, "Attention Attention", which addresses a society both enabled and blinded by technology and the decline and rise of an individual in that society.

"We can't write anything that's made up; we can't pull things out of thin air," said Brent. "We have to write about the situations that we've been in, where we've been, the people that we've met. Subject matter with us has to come from a very organic part of who we are, from an emotional and psychological place. The thing about the concept album is when that's been brought up, is when I think about a concept record from a traditional standpoint, I think of PINK FLOYD's 'The Wall' or QUEENSRŸCHE's 'Operation: Mindcrime', or even THE WHO when they did 'Tommy', because 'Attention Attention' is a very specific, from an artistic standpoint, this is an album meant to be heard, if you want to experience it the way we intended it. Of course, people are going to have their favorite songs on it and what have you and singles and all of that, but the fact is, is that it is a story album and the listener is who we want to put inside of the story because on the record, everything that happens is inside of a room on a chair, and if you watch the 'Devil' video, you could see, as 'Devil' is the beginning of the story. Then we released the second track which was 'The Human Radio', it was kind of 'Pulp Fictioning' a lot of stuff, if you will, with the story because the one thing is that there's going to be a video for every song on the album. We should be finished with all of the band details by the time we get back from Europe in June going into July, but there's going to be a video for every song on the album because we're going to tell the story."

Smith then went onto elaborate further on the concept behind "Attention Attention", one that according to the frontman, was partially born from their close relationship to their fans. "'Attention Attention' is a record about not being afraid to fail because I don't think people are going to be defined by your failures," he said. "I think you'll be defined by the fact that you didn't give up. You have to keep your eyes and your ears open at all times and study everything and everyone around you, then really have a vision moving forward because we're all people, we all have different opinions, we all have different likes and different needs, but we're also human. I don't want people to lose their humility. Definitely, that's the main focus in a nutshell. It's an album that's about 'Don't be afraid to fail because you're not going to be defined by that. You're going to be defined by the fact that you didn't give up.'"

"Attention Attention" was released May 4 via Atlantic Records. The follow-up to 2015's "Threat To Survival", "Attention Attention" marks SHINEDOWN's first full-length effort to be produced entirely by bassist Eric Bass.

SHINEDOWN will join GODSMACK for a co-headlining North American trek which kicks of July 22 in Clarkston, Michigan and will make stops in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Dallas, Atlanta, New York and many more before wrapping September 2.