SHINEDOWN's ZACH MYERS On ERIC BASS's Absence From Current Tour: 'It Was Important For Him To Take A Step Back And Take Some Time At Home'

In a new interview with Rock 102.1 KFMA's Razor, SHINEDOWN guitarist Zach Myers addressed bassist Eric Bass's recent announcement that Eric was stepping away from touring with the band to focus on his mental health. Bass revealed that Josh Sturm of the band KAIROS and Zack Mack would be taking his place while he's on leave.

Myers said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "This band is a full-time job, and it's very busy, and we do a lot. We tour a lot, and there's a lot of stuff going on. And for somebody like Eric who — we all have our kind of different jobs in the band. For me, it all comes to the touring side, like designing the production, designing the stage, making the setlist, kind of picking where we play, picking the bands we play with. On Eric's side, it's writing, making the record, mixing the record — all these things. And I think that when you do that and you go back on the road, I just think he needed a little bit of a break. I've definitely needed those breaks before too. Luckily, they just kind of fell when we weren't on tour. So I think it was important for him to kind of take a mental stock and take a step back and just kind of take some time at home, and that's what he's doing right now. I think he'll be back sooner than later, if I'm being honest. But yeah, we had two incredible musicians — Josh Sturm, who's married to Lacey Sturm of FLYLEAF, and my buddy Zack Mack, who plays with Brent [Smith, SHINEDOWN singer] and I in SMITH & MYERS, who came out. And I told Eric, I go, 'You gotta take some pride in the fact that it takes two people to fill in for you, because you do so many things.' It's been amazing, though, man. Josh knew most of the catalog, but pretty much both those guys learned 45 songs in four days."

Referencing the fact that SHINEDOWN has spent over a decade advocating for mental health awareness and suicide prevention, partnering extensively with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) by donating ticket sales, hosting local chapters on tour and writing and speaking candidly about depression and addiction, Zach said: "I think that us talking about it [during our live shows], it means a lot to a lot of people because if it even opens up the conversation… We live inside of these things [holding up his smartphone]. This is not a good place to live, because it can cater to you or it can hurt you. We always joke about, like, you'll post something, and there'll be — whatever — 11,000 comments. And you'll instantly go to the bad one, and you're just skipping all... We live in a world where we skip positivity to search for negativity. That's just human nature. So the fact that that is a thing, to us, when people get out and they get in that room and they get into an arena with us… We talked about this the other day. I forgot who I was talking about this. It was the guys from SKILLET. I love all music. I love going to shows. It's my favorite thing to do. Every time we have a day off in a city and there's a band playing, even if I've never even heard of the band, I'm gonna go see the show. But we live in a world where it's, like, a lot of bands go on stage and just kind of yell at people all the time, and 'M.F. this'. It's, like, we just choose not to do that. I have no problem with people who do it, but I'd rather just kind of... If I got your attention for two hours, I'm gonna try to uplift you and make you feel better and do all these things. So it's, like, I get it. Again, I enjoy all music. Everyone knows that about me. I go see live shows. If there's a show three hours away on a day off, I will literally rent a car and go see it. But, yeah, for us, if you're gonna come to our show... Also, there's a lot of kids in the crowd, so it's, like, you can take time. If these parents trust you with their kids' ears, why not try to uplift that and make something positive out of it instead of just screaming at 'em?"

On July 10, Bass shared an Instagram Reel announcing his decision to "take a break" ahead of the current North American leg of SHINEDOWN's "Dance, Kid, Dance Act II" world tour.

"I'm not gonna be joining the band on the beginning of this tour that starts in a few days," Bass said in the video. "I had a pretty serious mental health crash, I guess you could say, a few weeks ago, and I don't really feel it's the wise thing for me to do to go out on tour right now."

He added: "I debated whether to make this announcement at all and just not be there and show back up when it's time, but mental health being such a thing that I have championed and the band has championed that it would be not the best look to maybe seem like I'm ashamed of it."

Bass then revealed that he was undergoing talk therapy as well as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) at The Medical University of South Carolina, which, according to Mayo Clinic, "uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain to improve symptoms of major depression" and can help treat obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

While Bass noted he didn't have a "timeline" for his return, he expressed hope that it would "be sooner rather than later."

"I'm very blessed to be able to take a break like this," he said. "I know a lot of people can't. And I would encourage anyone who maybe is a business owner out there, if you've got someone in your company who's having issues like this, to give them some time if they need it."

Bass also encouraged fans to "reach out to people" if they're going through a mental health crisis.

"I did something I'd never done before in my 51 years on earth, is I reached out to someone and I said, 'I can't do this on my own, and I need help,'" he admitted. "And it led to some healing that I'm going through right now. It's not an easy thing to do, to ask for help, but it has to be done."

The current North American leg of "Dance, Kid, Dance Act II" kicked off on July 11 in Mount Pleasant, Michigan and will wrap up in early September.

Having been SHINEDOWN's bassist since 2008, Eric released his first solo LP, "Eric Bass Presents: I Had A Name", in 2025.

Bass is best known as the co-songwriter, producer, and bassist for SHINEDOWN, which holds the record for most No. 1 singles on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart.

"Eric Bass Presents: I Had a Name" was described in a press release as "an immersive, expansive, and richly thematic work.

Photo credit: Sanjay Parikh