During a recent appearance on the “Beardo & Weirdo” podcast, co-hosted by Five Finger Death Punch bassist Chris Kael and comedian Craig Gass, Shinedown guitarist Zach Myers opened up about the emotional weight of interacting with the band’s dedicated audience.
When asked if it blows his mind that his band’s music connects with people the same way his musical heroes connected with him, the guitarist admitted that hearing such heavy, tragic stories from fans simply became too much to handle.
“Yes. But it also at times doesn’t feel real, because it’s true. Your music does mean as much to you as Bruce Springsteen meant to me or U2 meant to me or Steve Ray Vaughan or whatever. But when it’s you, it’s hard to… I get a lot of imposter syndrome, so it’s hard to go, ‘Oh.’ Like when people say, ‘Dude, your song saved my life,’ the computer just stops working for me. And I go, ‘Oh, man.’ And I don’t want it to make it look like it goes in one ear and out the other, ’cause the truth is people saying those types of things to me are the reason we stop doing meet-and-greets. Because I’ve got kids, and I would go to a meet-and-greet…”
Elaborating on the psychological toll of those intimate fan encounters, the guitarist detailed how the band’s specific, time-intensive approach to pre-show gatherings ultimately led to their decision to stop hosting them entirely in 2019.
“We would do [our meet-and-greets] very different. Some people just do a photo line. It’s, like, quick — in, out. We’ve toured with bands — they do 150 people in 30 minutes. It took us 90 minutes to do 40 people. ‘Cause me and Brent [Smith] would start at one end, Eric [Bass] and Barry [Kerch] at the other, and we would just chat for five minutes with each person. And you’d get these people, and they would go, ‘Man, I’ve got a seven-year-old boy. He died of cancer.’ And I’m, like, under my shirt, texting my wife, like, ‘Take our kid to the hospital right now.’ She’s, like, ‘What? He’s on the trampoline.’ I’m, like, ‘He might have cancer.’ And God bless those people, and I want our songs to help them. I am man enough to admit I don’t have the emotional barricade to not walk on stage with that. By the end of it — I think [it was] 2019 when we stopped doing meet-and-greets — I walked out of 11, just walked out. Because I was literally, like, I would start to tear up. And you go to the guy next to you, and he’s, like, ‘Dude, [I’ve] seen you guys 25 times, bro. Stoked to be here.’ And you’re, like, ‘Sorry, man. I can’t turn this off. I’m gonna think about this kid for a year.’ And you feel for the families. But now what it’s done for us, I think not doing them, is when you meet people out on the street, it becomes more real. It’s not this formulative thing, the construct of a meet-and-greet. It’s, like, they get to see the real you.”
Shinedown is currently gearing up for the release of their eighth full-length studio album. Titled Ei8ht, the highly anticipated record is officially slated to drop on May 29 via Atlantic Records.
‘Ei8ht’ Tracklist:
- “At The Bottom“
- “Dance, Kid, Dance“
- “Burning Down The Disco“
- “Three Six Five“
- “Young Again“
- “Dizzy“
- “Imposter“
- “Machine Gun“
- “Outlaw“
- “Safe And Sound“
- “Searchlight“
- “Bear With Me“
- “Deep End“
- “Killing Fields“
- “Back To The Living“
- “Wide Open“
- “So Glad That You Asked”
- “The Pilot“
“Dance, Kid, Dance Act II” 2026 World Tour Dates:
North America:
- May 13 – Green Bay, WI @ Resch Center *^%
- May 15 – Columbus, OH @ Sonic Temple Festival
- May 16 – Madison, WI @ Kohl Center *^%
- May 18 – Sioux Falls, SD @ Denny Sanford PREMIER Center *^%
- May 19 – Wichita, KS @ INTRUST Bank Arena *^%%
- May 22 – Austin, TX @ Moody Center *^%
- May 23 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Paycom Center *^%
- May 26 – Jacksonville, FL @ VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena *^%
- May 28 – Estero, FL @ Hertz Center *^%
- May 30 – Tampa, FL @ Benchmark International Arena *^%
- June 2 – Biloxi, MS @ Mississippi Coast Coliseum *^%
- June 5 – Norfolk, VA @ Chartway Arena *^%
- June 6 – Hershey, PA @ GIANT Center *^%
- July 11 – Mt. Pleasant, MI @ Soaring Eagle *#%
- July 13 – Toronto, ON @ Coca-Cola Coliseum *%
- July 15 – Quebec City, QC @ Centre Vidéotron *#%
- July 17 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena *%
- July 18 – Albany, NY @ MVP Arena *#%
- July 20 – Manchester, NH @ SNHU Arena *%
- July 21 – Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center *%
- July 23 – Philadelphia, PA @ Xfinity Mobile Arena *%
- July 25 – Knoxville, TN @ Food City Center *#%
- July 30 – Lubbock, TX @ United Supermarkets Arena *#%
- July 31 – Colorado Springs, CO @ Weidner Field *%
- August 2 – El Paso, TX @ UTEP Don Haskins Center *#%
- August 4 – Tucson, AZ @ Tucson Arena *#%
- August 6 – Ontario, CA @ Toyota Arena *%
- August 7 – Las Vegas, NV @ Michelob ULTRA Arena *#%
- August 9 – Sparks, NV @ Nugget Event Center *%
- August 10 – Boise, ID @ ExtraMile Arena *#%
- August 12 – Billings, MT @ First Interstate Arena at Metrapark *#%
- August 14 – Spokane, WA @ Numerica Veterans Arena *#%
- August 15 – Vancouver, BC @ PNE Pacific Coliseum *#%
- August 17 – Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place *#%
- August 20 – Fargo, ND @ Fargodome *#%
- August 21 – Welch, MN @ Treasure Island Resort *%
- August 23 – Springfield, IL @ Illinois State Fair #%
- September 4 – Dyersville, IA @ Velocity Festival
- September 10 – McHenry, IL @ McHenry Music Festival
Europe/UK:
- October 31 – Paris, FR @ Zénith Paris – La Villette &
- November 2 – Milan, IT @ Alcatraz &
- November 4 – Tilburg, NL @ O13 &
- November 6 – Prague, CZ @ Forum Karlín &
- November 8 – Copenhagen, DK @ Falkonersalen &
- November 9 – Stockholm, SE @ Annexet &
- November 11 – Berlin, DE @ Columbiahalle &
- November 12 – Düsseldorf, DE @ Mitsubishi Electric Halle &
- November 14 – Birmingham, UK @ bp pulse LIVE *&
- November 16 – Glasgow, UK @ OVO Hydro *&
- November 17 – Nottingham, UK @ Motorpoint Arena *&
- November 19 – London, UK @ OVO Arena Wembley *&
- November 20 – Manchester, UK @ AO Arena *&
- November 22 – Dublin, IE @ 3Olympia Theatre &
- * with Coheed And Cambria
- ^ with Black Stone Cherry
- # with From Ashes To New
- & with Those Damn Crows
- % with DJ Rock Feed
