SHINEDOWN's BRENT SMITH On 'Ei8ht' LP: 'I'm The Most Proud Of This Album, Of Any Of Them'

In a new interview with Donny Fandango of the St. Louis radio station 105.7 The Point, SHINEDOWN singer Brent Smith and guitarist Zach Myers addressed the fact that the band's upcoming album, "Ei8ht", contains 18 songs, which is almost enough for a double LP. Brent said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think overall, the idea was that we just kept writing, and when we felt like we were in a place that it felt complete... What's the saying about songwriting and putting a record out? It's, like, you don't ever finish it; you just run out of time."

Added Zach: "Yeah, yeah. That's basically what happens. That was what happened the last three records, for sure. I think that we just kind of knew that these songs were supposed to be on this record, and, again, we kept writing. And that was kind of the main thing for us."

Brent continued: "The biggest thing, too, was the fact that, like, last year, we have to look at... So we're always taking a step back to look at the peripheral. We have a lot of people in our crew that are on retainers, because they're the best in the business. But also, too, as we're developing certain things, you have these timeframes that go by where you're off the road, but you need to facilitate, what's the next visual aspect, the next sonic aspect of things. So we knew that we weren't gonna be able to get a record completely finished before we actually started to release music and/or put a completely different stage together, which Zach did.

"Coming off of 'Planet Zero', we decided that we were gonna release these singles. We knew of the four," Smith explained. "'Searchlight' was actually a surprise, releasing that last year. And then, obviously, with the announce of the album this year, 'Safe And Sound', which is out currently, we just decided to release singles last year, but it was always gonna be a part of this album. But also, Zach built a show from the ground up, which was not an easy feat. We all work with him on it, but a lot of times he has to put it in motion… But on top of that also, I will tell you this. Of the years we've been doing this, it doesn't really have to do with the fact that this is the most current body of work. Me personally, I'm the most proud of this album, of any of them. There's a difference in writing songs or putting singles out, and then artists that still understand that the album is king, or queen, however you wanna look at it. And we still make albums, man. There's a lot of work that went into this. This is a record that took a year and a half to make."

After Fandango noted that the members of SHINEDOWN have always been so supportive of radio in the U.S., Zach said: "[Brent] has a great statement that he kind of said on a whim last year, which was, like, 'If you wanna get your music heard, it's fine streaming, but if you wanna have a career, go to radio.' And that's really the truth. And honestly, when we came out, we weren't these MTV darlings. We weren't on the cover of Rolling Stone. We weren't on the cover of these magazines. We pushed radio, and radio helped us, and we drove around in cars and went to every radio station at 6:00 a.m. and played all of 'em. And I think from that moment on, radio was with us and we were with radio. And also, man, it's like getting in your car and listening to the radio, there's something so spiritual to me about that. It's such a moment that, like... And I think, I feel like it's coming back with vinyl and all these things. People just don't wanna listen to a playlist anymore. They wanna hear someone talk to them and tell them about a song. And for us, man, everything we have was built on radio and playing live. That's it. We weren't on VH1. We weren't on MTV. We were a little bit later, but at the beginning, our live shows and radio is how we built this thing. So how can you not support and love something that made you who you are? And I just think it's just who we've always been."

Added Brent: "And honestly, to the newer artists that are out there, don't disrespect radio, especially in North America and Canada. And radio's a little different in the U.K. and Europe and some of the other parts of the world, and Australia and what have you. But the fact of the matter is, from day one, radio has always been very, very upfront with us. Like, 'Hey, we like what you're doing, but it's a mutual relationship.' And at the end of the day, you guys and girls are what bring the music to the people, and then the people will decide whether you stay or whether you go. But we wanna build those relationships. We're the only band or artist that I know of — we've been with Atlantic Records for over two decades, but we're the only artist that I know of on the label that's on six different formats. And why am I bringing that up? Radio, from all the formats, have always embraced us if we had the songs. It always came down to the songs. You either have it or you don't. And that's all about, we see it firsthand… And I do understand what streaming is in the modern day, but yeah, that gets your music played, but radio will give you a career if you're respectful to radio. Because you're going into these towns and into these cities and into these different countries and what have you, and it's very specific to what those legacies are, what those towns are about, how they represent themselves. There's a culture there. So yeah, it's a lot of work, but the fact of the matter is, is we've always just wanted to grow our audience, and then radio has allowed us to do that. So for all those young ones that are out there in any kind of genre of music, I'm telling you right now, if you want a career, make sure that you're respectful to radio because they're a deciding factor in that."

"Ei8ht" will arrive on May 29 via Atlantic Records. The LP was produced by SHINEDOWN bassist and songwriter Eric Bass at his Big Animal Studio in Charleston, South Carolina.

SHINEDOWN recently announced a massive "Dance, Kid, Dance Act II" world tour, taking the band to 11 countries across 54 dates, including stops throughout North America and Europe at some of the world's biggest venues.

Joining SHINEDOWN on the massive worldwide tour are COHEED AND CAMBRIA, BLACK STONE CHERRY, FROM ASHES TO NEW, DJ Rock Feed and THOSE DAMN CROWS on various dates.

Photo credit: Ryan Camp