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Shinedown Drummer: Barry Kerch
Photo: Kristina Allen
Shinedown has been on the road for over 22 months touring in support of
their debut album “Leave a Whisper”. It’s not often in the climate of
today’s industry that a new band gets to do more than leave a whisper.
Shinedown is taking out a gauge and leaving a mark. Not only has “Leave
a Whisper” gone gold, but the band has offered up four singles, all of
which have received major airplay, while many bands of their stature
struggle for even one single to do well.
Planning on hitting the studio in
April to record a new album, they have plenty to share about their
experiences with their debut album, life as a band, the industry, and
what it’s like being Shinedown.
Out of Jacksonville, Florida, and consisting of lead
singer Brent Smith, bassist Brad Stewart, guitarist Jasin Todd, and
drummer Barry Kerch, Shinedown made a stop in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
while starting to wind down their tour. Barry Kerch took the time to
step aside and have a talk. Offering both respectful candor and
intelligence, Kerch wraps up Shinedown’s experience their first time
through as they near time to wrap up their tour.
Interview Conducted by:
Emmy Boyce
Photo: Kristina Allen
Photo: Kristina Allen
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Emmy
Boyce sat down on behalf of Alternative Addiction to conduct an
interview with Shinedown drummer Barry Kerch.
Emmy: Alright! Let’s get started. How is being signed to a major label
like and not like how you thought it would be?
Barry: Um, wow. That’s a tough one. You know, it… it’s your dream.
You’ve always wanted that dream. You have the dream and it’s very
exciting, but it’s a lot more business oriented than probably I thought
it was. You think you’re just going to be an instant millionaire and
doing everything you want to do, but it’s a lot of hard work, and
there’s a lot of politics involved in it. That’s just kind of the way it
goes. You just gotta push it aside.
E: Do you feel that you’re better off signed to a major label, or that
you were better off before unsigned and trying to make it?
B: Nah. I think you’re better off when you’re signed to a label because
you’ve got a lot more backing, and they’re able to do things that you
wouldn’t be able to do on your own. “The band” can survive, but you’re
not an indie label, or even like Phish where they have label support for
distribution but they kind of own their own thing. But that’s a jam band
thing, or something like that, or an indie band. But for a mainstream
rock band like us you have to have the support of a major label, I
think, to succeed.
E: How does that come into play with gaining radio success?
B: That’s two different sides of the coin. The radio comes from two
different things. You have the label, which has their radio people that
their job is to get your album to the radio stations. Then it’s up to
the radio stations if they want to play it and that comes back on
research. If your song researches well for that station, then you’re
going to be doing well on that station. They’ll play your song more. If
it doesn’t do well then you’re going to fall off the chart because they
go by research. We’ve been lucky in the radio aspect because we’ve built
very good relationships, but you have to go in and you have to be good
to them and they’ll be good to you.
E: Can you tell me what you mean by “be good to them”?
B: Be nice. Be friendly. Treat them well. No payola. We don’t do that.
<<long pause>> We can’t afford that. We’re a rock band. That’s what the
hip-hop bands do.
E: That’s a big thing that I wonder about is payola in the industry. And
that’s the reason why I ask is because it seems if you don’t have the
backing of a major label it’s impossible to get some kind of radio
success.
B: It is, and you know that maybe payola is still going on, but if they
do they have different words for it. Hush hush. But even so you have to
have a team. A major label is a major corporation just like Microsoft is
a major corporation. More people are going to have that in offices
because it’s a huge team and everybody uses it and it gets along. Same
with the radio stations. They’ve always worked with major labels, so
it’s easier to have a better relationship. If you’re an indie label
they’re less likely to give you the time of day, or let you even talk to
them about a record.
E: Moving on, tell us how the band chose the name Shinedown and what
that name is supposed to mean.
B: Long story short, when we were trying to come up with a band name and
we had a list of, god, it had to have been about a hundred and just
nothing fit. It was coming down to the wire, we really needed to come up
with some sort of name, it was coming time to put a record together, and
um, Brent, our singer was at our bass player’s house, Brad, and there
was a painting that a mutual friend of ours had done for Brad. It was
hanging at his house. Brent said, “Hey, that would be really cool if you
had a light shining down on it.” The next day we all came into the
rehearsal space and Brad said, “Hey, what about Shining Down?” It was a
little too foo-foo and we kind of shortened it to Shinedown. But it kind
of fits the music with what we do, you know, the yin and yang of life.
Tons of ups and tons of downs. If you listen to the lyrics and stuff
like that I think it fits it pretty well.
E: The last time that you were here you were saying that Shinedown
really wanted to play Minnesota.
B: Yep.
E: So, you pay attention to, obviously, how your record is doing in this
state. Is that why you wanted to play here because you were doing well
here?
B: Yeah. Our album sales have been really good here. We’re selling a lot
of records here. We hadn’t been able to hit this market, plus the radio
station here has always been very good to us, but our tours have never
landed us here. We felt that we really needed to hit this market. We
still feel that way and we’re really excited to be here tonight and make
it happen.
E: Just as someone who, before you ever toured in Shinedown, had you
been to Minnesota before?
B: Yes! I actually have family from St. Paul. I have family in
Wisconsin. I’ve been here.
E: I’m just curious to know, as a Florida boy…
B: It’s cold! (laughs)
E: What’s your impression? You’re just sitting at home, Minnesota comes
to mind, what do you think?
B: Cold.
E: Cold?
B: Cold.
E: Like barren wasteland cold?
B: Cold, good German food, and lots of Norwegians. That’s the impression
that most people have. I mean, for me I know what Minnesota is. I’ve
been here, so it’s different for me. I know what to expect and I know
the people here somewhat. I like Minnesota. It’s not a place I would
move to. I’m a Florida boy for life, but it’s a nice place to visit.
Prince is from here. You can’t beat that. He’s one of my idols.
E: That’s good to hear. I know a lot of people from bands who say, “Oh,
I love Minneapolis!” I’m like, why?! I don’t get it.
B: It’s a good city. It’s a good city to play. There’s history here.
Because of that bands that respect that like to play here. The fans
here, you know if you play someplace like New York, or if you play in
L.A., maybe even sometimes Chicago, we’re lucky to do well in Chicago,
but a lot of bands don’t… Those areas get so many good bands and so many
good concerts that they’re kind of jaded and they really could care
less. They’re more judging you than having a good time at a show. When
you come to the Midwest, such as Minnesota, or any of these places in
this area, people are more hungry to see a rock show and they have a
better time. The crowd’s really fired up to see a band.
E: Let’s talk about touring.
B: Yes.
E: Do you eat and sleep well on the road?
B: I don’t think any band eats or sleeps well on the road… You can’t.
You don’t know where your next meal is coming from, you’ve got to find
the closest place to do it, and as far as sleeping… I’m an insomniac, so
it doesn’t matter, but you don’t. Everybody’s up at different times,
goes to bed at different times, there’s parties going on when you’re
asleep or sick or whatever, so no, nobody gets sleep. You just do what
you can.
E: Total chaos all the time?
B: Yeah.
E: When you are on the road what do you miss the most about being home?
B: I miss my wife, my dog, family, and my kitchen. I love to cook. Other
than that it’s good to be out here. It’s a dream come true. You’ve got
to look at it that way no matter how hard it gets. Not much bull shit
goes on. You have to enjoy it.
E: There is that trade-off. How many singles have you had off of your
album?
B: We’ve done four singles – “Fly from the Inside”, “45”, “Simple Man”,
and now “Burning Bright”.
E: It seems to me like an up and coming band might get that kind of
notoriety, and they might not. Do you feel like four singles is an
achievement for you and the decision makers are putting faith in you?
B: It was luck. It was luck. We probably would have gotten three singles
if “Simple Man” wouldn’t have happened, but because that happened we
were able to get four. A lot of bands don’t get four. Most bands are,
like, maybe two. It would be your Smile Empty Soul’s and things like
that. It’s a great band and they only get two singles. I think the label
kind of dropped the ball on their record. But we’re lucky. It’s been a
long time coming. This band has had very slow development to get where
we’re at. Seven hundred thousand records took a long time. We’ve been
touring non-stop for this album, so they had to make this record worth
while for them. And also we refused to stop until at least we got to
gold. We still hope to take it to platinum. There was no rest for the
wicked until that happened.
E: There’s going to be someone out there reading this who wants to be in
your shoes. What advice would you give that person?
B: Work hard and don’t give up. You know? It comes down to hard work
like anything you want to do in life. Nothing comes easy. You either
want it, or you don’t. I’ve been playing drums for twenty years now,
I’ve had lots of band failures, I’ve had lots of downs, and I’ve had
lots of ups. I’ve had lots of things that I’ve enjoyed… I went to
college, got my degree, played through college, I paid my way through
college. You have to have a back-up plan because it is a one in a
million shot. It is a lottery, but if you believe enough and work your
ass off you’re going to get somewhere. You know? And Shinedown could end
tomorrow, you don’t know, and I could be back doing biology, but I’m
enjoying what I’m doing now.
E: When you do hit those rough patches, there were times, I’m sure, that
you knew things were going to be hard, but then you found yourself in
the middle of something and you’re thinking, “My god, this is not what I
thought it was going to be.” Did you want to turn back ever?
B: No. You can’t turn back. You already sold your soul. You’ve got to
keep going with it. If you turn back you’re cheating yourself because it
could get better… And even if it doesn’t, you’ve got to make the effort.
You’ve got to make the effort. You might be on the losing football team,
but you’re still going to play your game and try to kill ‘em. Next
season you might have a good one. You know, so you’ve just got to roll
with the punches and take it as it comes.
E: Are you going to have any more singles coming off of the album?
B: No. We’re done with this album (laughs). We’re done. We’re tired.
We’ve got to make another one. The fans that have been there since the
beginning… that have had this album for a long time are ready for
something new. We’re ready for something new. I think Shinedown has
changed, the band has changed, the sound has changed a little bit, our
live show has gotten better, and we’ve even gotten better as a band, and
as musicians. It’s time for us to put that down on something... It’s
definitely time for a new record.
E: Are you nervous about it?
B: No.
E: No?
B: You can’t be nervous.
E: Really?
B: You can’t be nervous. You’re nervous if it’s going to sell, but as
far as going in there and doing the record and recording?
E: That’s what I mean, like, the selling and measuring up to what you’ve
already achieved.
B: Of course. You’ve got to be nervous. There’s that whole sophomore
slump mystique going on. Luckily we didn’t go six times platinum like
Evanescence. They’ve got their work cut out for them because if they
sell two million it’s a failure. We sell two million it’s a great
success. I’d be scared is I was Evanescence. I’m not scared because I’m
Shinedown (laughs). |
