Shinedown
Shinedown live in 2009
Background information
Origin	Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Genres	alternative rock, hard rock, post-grunge, southern rock
Years active	2001 - present
Labels	Atlantic Records
Associated acts	Alter Bridge, Fuel, Avenged Sevenfold, Black Stone Cherry, Chevelle, Daughtry, Halestorm, Saliva, Seether, Staind, Theory of a Deadman, 12 Stones, 3 Doors Down, Silvertide, Sevendust
Website	www.shinedown.com
Members
Brent Smith Zach Myers Eric Bass Barry Kerch
Former members
Nick Perri Jasin Todd Brad Stewart

Shinedown is an American rock band from Jacksonville, Florida, formed in 2001 and founded by members Brent Smith, Brad Stewart, Jasin Todd, and Barry Kerch. Zach Myers joined Shinedown as a touring rhythm guitarist in 2005, before becoming their temporary bassist after the departure of Brad Stewart in 2007. In early 2008, he assumed the role of permanent rhythm guitarist. On December 18, 2008 Nick Perri, who was the lead guitarist after the departure of Jasin Todd, also departed Shinedown, leaving Zach to assume the role of the band's rhythm and lead guitarist. The group has released three albums on Atlantic Records. They have issued several popular singles, such as "45", "Heroes", "Save Me", "Devour", "Sound of Madness", "Second Chance", "If You Only Knew", and "The Crow & the Butterfly." They have sold over 8 million albums worldwide.^[1]

[edit] History

[edit] Leave a Whisper (2003–2005)

Leave a Whisper was the band's debut album, released in July 2003. It featured successful tracks such as "Fly From the Inside", "Burning Bright", the emotionally-charged "45" and the popular cover of the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic "Simple Man". The acoustic cover jolted the band to popularity, and was later made a tribute to Dimebag Darrell during concert performances.

In 2004 the band released a live DVD of the album entitled Live From the Inside which also contained a documentary. The recording featured the final concert of the LAW touring schedule.

[edit] Us and Them (2005–2007)

After the hugely successful Leave a Whisper and accompanying tour, the band went back into the studio in 2005 to record their second album. On October 4, 2005, the band released Us and Them, which went on to produce three singles; "Save Me", "I Dare You", and "Heroes". The lead single, "Save Me", maintained the #1 position of the Active Rock Charts for twelve weeks straight, setting a record for the band. The two other singles had similar success – "I Dare You" was notably performed on American Idol by Chris Daughtry. Us and Them was certified Gold by the RIAA in November 2006.

The album has three versions for release; the regular thirteen-track version, a limited edition with three bonus acoustic tracks, and a store-specific version with two bonus tracks: "Break" and "Carried Away". On itunes, there is a 25 track 'Deluxe' version, containing live songs and acoustic versions of songs. After the album's release the band took part in 2007's SnoCore Tour with Seether, Flyleaf, and Halestorm. After that the band joined Trapt for the Equinox Tour. The band then proceeded to play their first overseas concert at the London Astoria on June 6, 2006, supporting Alter Bridge. In the summer of 2006, the band then opened for Godsmack and Rob Zombie on their tour of North America, effectively ending their rigorous touring schedule.

On December 12, 2006, Shinedown played a concert in Knoxville, Tennessee at The Tennessee Theatre which was filmed for a DVD the band was expected release later in 2007. However, after a show in Waukesha, WI on July 21, 2007, the band made it known that the DVD was scrapped by Atlantic Records. "We don't want to put anything out if the band is gonna be presented in the wrong way," Smith said. "I might be able to bootleg it later on ... but as of now I don't see it coming out anytime soon." In late 2007 after taking some time off, the band returned to studio to record a new album.

[edit] The Sound of Madness (2007–present)

The band began recording their new album in Los Angeles on September 20, 2007. It was released officially on June 24th, 2008. A deluxe edition was released as well including three extra tracks, digitally. Their first single, "Devour", was released on May 6, 2008, and has proven a successful single, with it becoming their second #1 on the active rock chart.

"Devour" was also the theme song for the WWE pay-per-view Night of Champions 2008, as well as part of the soundtrack to the 2009 film, The Final Destination. It can also be found on the soundtrack from Madden NFL 09. The video for the song was released on June 25, 2008. Sound of Madness was also used as a song for WWE Wrestlemania 25 review aired on NBC on August 30, 2009 for the Shawn Michaels/The Undertaker match.

"Second Chance", the second single off of The Sound of Madness, is Shinedown's biggest hit to date, being their first top 10 song on the Billboard Hot 100. The song peaked at number 7 during its duration on the chart. "Second Chance" has since gone double platinum. Ironically for the song "that broke into everything", it was one the band hated when they first wrote it.^[2]

On April 11, 2008, lead singer Brent Smith announced that Jasin Todd was no longer a member of the band, saying "at this time, he's no longer with us in Shinedown." In the liner notes of The Sound of Madness, Smith says that he loves Todd and considers him the "brother [he] never had". Since parting ways with Shinedown, Todd has remained out of the public eye. Although rumors briefly surfaced that he had joined Soil (the band promptly denied this),^[3] there is no confirmed news as to what he will do next.

Shinedown is re-releasing their albums, "Leave A Whisper" and "Us and Them" as Deluxe Editions. The albums will only be available digitally. Between the two albums, the band will release 25 unreleased tracks, seven of which were never before heard. The deluxe editions are scheduled for a July 7, 2009 release.

November 18th, 2009 brought the release of "The Sight of Madness", the band's first digital video album. The album features the band's videos and five live videos from an early 2009 performance at the Tabernacle in Atlanta, Georgia. This release is only available on iTunes On December 18th, the video for "Second Chance" ranked #7 on VH1's Top 40 Music Video's of 2009. It was helped to that ranking due to being on the countdown for 20 weeks. Other singles from the album are "If You Only Knew", and "The Crow and the Butterfly."

Shinedown was nominated for, but did not win, the "Alternative Rock" category at the American Music Awards in 2009. The nomination was due to the radio success of their hit single "Second Chance".

During shows on December 15, 2009 in Rockford, Illinois and December 18th in Biloxi, Mississippi, the band joined Papa Roach on stage to record a live version of U2's "Beautiful Day" for Papa Roach's forthcoming live album.

Moving into 2010, Shinedown released two songs for movie soundtracks. The track "Her Name is Alice" was done for the movie Alice in Wonderland and released on the respective soundtrack named Almost Alice. Shinedown also contributed a track to the Sylvester Stallone movie The Expendables, due out in August 2010. The song is titled "Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom)" and is in the newest trailer for the movie.^[4] On June 21, 2010, Diamond Eyes was released on online retailers.^[5]

"The Crow and the Butterfly" was chosen as the 5th single from The Sound of Madness. It began receiving airplay on April 6th 2010. Shinedown are currently headlining the "Carnival of Madness” Tour. This United States tour began July 16 and will wrap up September 3, 2010 at the Alaska State Fair.

In late August, both Brent Smith and Zach Myers announced on their Twitter that they were recording the Carnival Of Madness in Kennewick, Washington to be released in a Full-Length DVD.

[edit] Band members

Current members

• Brent Smith - lead vocals (2001-Present)
• Zach Myers - guitar, backing vocals (2008-present)
• Eric Bass - bass guitar, backing vocals (2007-present)
• Barry Kerch - drums (2001-present)

Former members

• Jasin Todd - guitar (2001-2008)
• Nick Perri - guitar (2008)
• Brad Stewart - bass guitar (2001-2007)

[edit] Discography

Studio albums

• Leave a Whisper (2003)
• Us and Them (2005)
• The Sound of Madness (2008)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Shinedown

• Official website

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