Shinedown: Hot Sauces and Sizzling Rock (Part 1 of 2)

Launched 23 years ago in Jacksonville, Florida, Shinedown makes its own brand of passionate, high-energy alt-rock. With seven albums to its credit (2022’s Planet Zero is the latest), Shinedown is both a consistent chart success and a hot concert attraction. Fronted by singer, songwriter and guitarist Brent Smith, the group holds the record for the most #1 singles on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart (19 to date). In fact every single one of Shinedown’s singles has made it into that charts Top 5.

And rocking isn’t all that the group is up to these days. Drummer Barry Kerch has recently taken the lead in developing a line of Shinedown custom-branded hot sauces. Working with Torchbearer, Kerch has applied his hot sauce expertise – he has grown peppers at home for his family – to whip up three unique flavors. The flagship flavor is Symptom Garlic Chipotle Sauce; it features a subtle kick, a hint of smokiness, just the right amount of thickness, and a lovely finish. Two additional varieties will debut this year; I’ve tried them and would love to tell you in great detail about how great they are, but I’m sworn to secrecy. Trust me, though: they’re excellent.

Barry Kerch was happy to speak with me about his band. Those delicious hot sauces certainly came up in the conversation, too.

Let’s go way back to the beginning. How did you find out about the audition opportunity for Shinedown?

That came about through my brother. He’s a radio deejay here in Jacksonville. And he had gotten a CD at the station of this Brent Smith demo project, and heard that they were looking for drummers. Brent already had the original bass player and guitar player. I had just moved up here to Jacksonville from Orlando for a job. And I said, “Man, I love this guy’s voice. Let me go to audition.” I called them. Brent said, “Let’s have a meeting first. And we met at a Hooters, of all places. We had a couple of beers and he said, “All right, let’s try you out.” The next day I worked my way into the position I’m in now.

I read that you were the seventh drummer to try out! Did you know that going in?

I knew that they had tried out a few. At the time I didn’t know that I was the seventh, because were still establishing that relationship. But I knew one of my good friends had also auditioned, a guy named Matt Brown. And he’s a fantastic drummer, so I knew that. But seven is my lucky number. I was born in the seventies on the August 7. So it’s kind of been my thing.

When you joined, what did you understand as the vision or goal for the group?

When they said, “Okay, let’s audition,” we went to their little practice space. I played the song “45,” and I played a song called “Lacerated,” because they wanted to see what I would do with that. It went great, and they said, “How about tomorrow, we’re going to go into the studio and we’ll record ‘45,’ because we want to see if you can record in the studio.” Because some people get “red light fever.”

I went in, we recorded “45.” They said, “This is great. You’re with us.” Fast forward, we finally come up with a band name. We get the approval from Atlantic. We’re in L.A., recording the first record, we do this grandiose version of “45” with orchestra and all this stuff, and it was great. We turn everything into the label. And our A&R guy says, “Man, there’s just something about that original demo version.” So that version you hear on the record is actually my audition.

Brent was previously in a band called Dreve. They were signed to Atlantic, and made an album that never got released. But at that time, Ahmet Ertegun was still the head of Atlantic, and he was known for developing artists back when they actually did artist development.

So Ertegun said to Brent, “I know you have something, but you’re not there yet.” And that’s when Brent ended up down here and started forming what is now Shinedown. Brent made it very clear early on to Atlantic: “I do not want to be a solo artist. I will not be a solo artist. I want to be in a band. That’s my goal.” And that was the vision: “We’re going to be in a band, and we’re going to try to take over the world.”

Looking back at 20 years, it was never given to us, and it was never easy, and we never rose to the top real quick, like a lot of the bands did… ones that are no longer here. And I’m so thankful. It took so much hard work and really taught us a lot of life lessons, because in those early days, if we would have shot to the top, we’d be gone.

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