Shinedown has ear for radio hits

By John Benson

The band writes songs with radio play in mind, the drummer said.

Over the past five years, Shinedown has quietly become one of the more consistent rock acts of its era. While the band has yet to pack arenas as a headliner or sell a gazillion albums, it has put together an impressive streak of nine-straight top 10 U.S. mainstream rock hits, including “Fly From the Inside,” “Burning Bright” and “Heroes.”

The group’s latest single is radio hit “Second Chance,” from the band’s third studio effort “The Sound of Madness.”

Normally, writing for radio airplay is a dangerous game. Bands can find themselves in quicksand attempting to write for ever-shifting audience tastes; however, Shinedown drummer Barry Kerch said that’s exactly what the Florida-based band does when it’s writing material.

“We’ve been very lucky, but we do pay attention to radio hits,” said Kerch, calling from Bloomington, Ill. “It’s our livelihood. We’re very lucky that we were able to do three records and very lucky that we’ve had so much success, and we’re not going to let that go away without being noticed. So you have to be conscious.

“This is the music business, so being able to do what you love is important, and part of the other side of it is you have to stay relevant in order to keep yourself and a record label happy. And in doing that, you want your songs put on radio and you want songs that can be played on radio. But you still write from the heart and write songs that matter to you. And hopefully in that, they translate to the fans and people will also enjoy those.”

In very short order, Kerch has distinguished himself from countless other artists who often go on the offensive to dispel any notion of writing with radio or hit singles in mind. While the drummer should be commended for his honesty, the truth is the approach is risky. More so, how does he reconcile any thought that Shinedown has sold out?

“I don’t think there is such a thing as selling out,” Kerch said. “Is it my fault that we’ve been successful and some other bands haven’t? I don’t see that as selling out as much as we wrote songs that a lot of people relate to, and people are listening to your music. Did Nickelback sell out? No. I’m shocked at how well they’ve done it. It’s awesome. Good for them. They found what works for them, and people relate to their music. Same with Metallica. They still write heavy tunes, but people relate to what they do. So I don’t think it’s selling out.”

He added, “Selling out is a term people use who are frustrated or jealous of your successes, and that’s unfortunate. We worked very hard to get to where we’re at and have the successes that we’ve had.”

Part of that success includes the band touring incessantly. You can see Shinedown opening for Buckcherry and Avenged Sevenfold on Saturday at the Chevy Centre. Even though Shinedown comes from the Sunshine State, Kerch feels there’s a shared kinship between work and play that unites the rock band with its Northeast Ohio fans.

“I think our style of music transfers well to the blue-collar working class, middle of America, as well as to where we’re from,” Kerch said. “It’s a very similar kind of mind-set [in Youngstown]. It’s rock ’n’ roll, and not the big city where it’s the artsy type of rock ’n’ roll.

“So rock ’n’ roll is still that middle America vibe, and as long as people keep latching onto it, we’ll keep coming back as long as people listen.”