BayFest

Jacksonville, Fla., has traditionally been known in the music industry for one band: Lynyrd Skynyrd. This all changed when vocalist Brad Stewart, guitarist Jasin Todd, bassist Brad Stewart and drummer Barry Kerch crossed paths to form mainstream rock giants Shinedown.

Blending influences from old school R&B, metal and Southern rock, Shinedown brought their powerful sound to the Jacksonville locals. At first, the industry wasn’t interested in Shinedown in its entirety. In an interview with Volume Entertainment Magazine, Brad Stewart explained the twisted tale that brought their combined sound to the ears of millions.

“Brent Smith had a development deal in place with another band,” Stewart says. “The label decided to move forward with Brent but not the rest of the band. With that, they pretty much afforded him to work with anyone he wanted to.”

Stewart was already known in the music industry for his efforts in co-writing the song “Control” with fellow Floridians Puddle of Mud. Stewart and Smith had an instant creative connection and wrote three songs in one day. Jasin Todd had grown weary of singing and playing in the band he was in at the time and jumped at the opportunity to exclusively play guitar with Shinedown. Barry Kerch was the last addition to the Shinedown line-up, and before they knew it, they were flying out to Los Angeles to do the contract formalities and cut a record on Atlantic Records. This record turned out to be their stellar debut “Leave a Whisper.”

Shinedown was getting radio play nationwide, which created quite a dedicated multitude of “Shiners.” Shinedown even took time to pay homage to their musical forefathers in Jacksonville and recorded a version of “Simple Man.”

Their 2005 sophomore release “Us and Them” also proved to be quite favorable with their fan base, especially with the song “Save Me” shooting up the charts to number one and holding. Their sounds also reached the ears of World Wrestling Entertainment’s CEO Vince McMahon. “Save Me” became the theme song for “WWE No Mercy,” and its album companion “I Dare You” was chosen as one of the theme songs for WrestleMania XXII. Their cooperation with WWE earned them a new multitude of fans.

This year has turned into quite a busy one. They hit the road with fellow mainstream rockers Seether, Flyleaf and Halestorm for the SnoCore. Shinedown also joined forces with Trapt, Evans Blue, Halestorm and Mercy Fall for the Equinox tour. In June, they crossed the pond into Europe to play various dates. Rob Zombie recruited Shinedown along with Godsmack for his latest tour. All the Shiners were ecstatic when they released an EP featuring various acoustic versions and B-sides. In more recent news, Shinedown gave a surprise performance to a legion of American military at Fort Bliss.

If the buzz on the street is worth anything, then there should be huge crowd at the Pepsi Stage at 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7.

Stephen Centanni is Lagniappe music editor. Contact him at scentanni@lagniappemobile.com.

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