Shinedown frontman Brent Smith recently offered an update on the band’s upcoming eighth studio album, revealing it is approximately 85 percent complete. Speaking with James Wilson-Taylor of Rock Sound at the recent Download festival in Leicestershire, United Kingdom, Smith confirmed that the new record will be a “traditional” collection of songs, departing from the conceptual nature of their last two albums, Planet Zero (2022) and Attention Attention (2018).
Smith elaborated on the creative process for the new material, emphasizing the band’s commitment to quality over speed.
“85 percent. A couple of songs that we are still in a writing phase with. ‘Cause that’s the thing — you’ll go in… Again, too, we appreciate our record label, we appreciate the fanbase that’s continuously growing. They always allow us to be ourselves. So when we’re in there, obviously you have a bit of a schedule that you need to keep — you have deadlines; there’s a timeframe for what have you — but you can’t rush the art because it’s forever. And we still believe that the album is the most important element of all of this, and all those songs need to live on that record, and you really have to make sure that you’ve basically gone to the wall on all of it and done your absolute best, and then the public will tell you how you did”, he said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
When asked about the conceptual structure, Smith clarified the album’s direction: “To use the word ‘traditional’ in a very positive light, it’s a collection of songs. So it’s a traditional record where no, they’re not attached to one another. But the other thing that’s really freeing about that in a lot of ways too, is all of the songs belong together, but they’re all over the map.”
The discussion also touched upon Shinedown‘s recent singles, “Three Six Five” and “Dance, Kid, Dance,” which were released on January 24 via Atlantic Records. Wilson-Taylor noted that these tracks have helped diversify the band’s fanbase.
Smith affirmed this strategy: “That’s the big principle of everything that we’re doing. ‘Cause I think some people are, like, ‘Oh, you’re doing the single thing.’ And it’s, like, no, we’re doing what we feel is necessary. Coming off the last two albums as, essentially they’re concepts, so we’ve spent a lot of time in the studio working on songs for what they need to do and speak to us when we’re looking at the broad aspect of who Shinedown is and the audience. Again, we wanna grow the audience. That’s why ‘Three Six Five‘ and ‘Dance, Kid, Dance‘, they’re completely two sides of the band. We’re also gonna be releasing two more singles in late July. [We] should be announcing the record in November of this year, and then hopefully by March of next year, the record will be out. But a lot is going on right now. And we’re just happy to still be doing what we do. But we’ve also said it pretty straightforward: we’re very proud of the last 20 years; we’re focused on the next 20 years and beyond.”
Shinedown‘s long-standing philosophy emphasizes music that transcends genre boundaries. Brent Smith reiterated the band’s dedication to authentic creativity.
“Look, rock and roll is very much about a way of life and a community and a spirit, and we know that tried and true, but the thing for us is, we’ve always said, it’s not necessarily about metal music or rock music or pop music or alternative music — it’s about all music. And I’ve always felt like Shinedown is everyone’s band. And so the dynamic is we have to push ourselves as songwriters and musicians. As long as you’re being authentic, you should lean in to your creativity and where you’re at at that stage in your career.”
