Zach Myers has given the first extended comment from inside Shinedown on Eric Bass‘s decision to sit out the current North American tour.
The guitarist spoke with “Razor of Rock 102.1 KFMA” about his bandmate’s absence, the two musicians covering for him, and why the band handles its stage time the way it does.
Myers described the split of responsibilities within the band and where the workload lands on Bass.
“This band is a full-time job, and it’s very busy, and we do a lot. We tour a lot, and there’s a lot of stuff going on. And for somebody like Eric who — we all have our kind of different jobs in the band. For me, it all comes to the touring side, like designing the production, designing the stage, making the setlist, kind of picking where we play, picking the bands we play with. On Eric‘s side, it’s writing, making the record, mixing the record — all these things. And I think that when you do that and you go back on the road, I just think he needed a little bit of a break. I’ve definitely needed those breaks before too. Luckily, they just kind of fell when we weren’t on tour. So I think it was important for him to kind of take a mental stock and take a step back and just kind of take some time at home, and that’s what he’s doing right now. I think he’ll be back sooner than later, if I’m being honest. But yeah, we had two incredible musicians — Josh Sturm, who’s married to Lacey Sturm of Flyleaf, and my buddy Zack Mack, who plays with Brent [Smith]] and I in Smith & Myers, who came out. And I told Eric, I go, ‘You gotta take some pride in the fact that it takes two people to fill in for you, because you do so many things.’ It’s been amazing, though, man. Josh knew most of the catalog, but pretty much both those guys learned 45 songs in four days,” he explained (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
Bass has been Shinedown‘s bassist since 2008 and doubles as the band’s producer and co-songwriter. He produced Ei8ht, the album released May 29 through Atlantic Records and recorded at Big Animal Studio in Charleston, South Carolina. His first solo record, Eric Bass Presents: I Had A Name, came out in 2025.
Josh Sturm plays in Kairos. Zack Mack works with Myers and singer Brent Smith in their side project Smith & Myers.
Bass announced the leave in an Instagram video on July 10, the day before the tour leg opened.
He said at the time: “ Hey, everybody. It’s Eric from Shinedown. I don’t really know any other way to do this than to just do it off the cuff. None of this is prepared. But I have an announcement to make. I’m not going to be joining the band on the beginning of this tour that starts in a few days.”
“I had a pretty serious mental health crash, I guess you could say, a few weeks ago, couple of weeks ago. And I don’t really feel it’s the wise thing for me to do to go out on tour right now.”
“I’ve debated whether or not to make this announcement at all and just not be there and then show back up when it’s time. But mental health being such a thing that I have championed and the band has championed, I thought that it would be not the best look to maybe seem like I’m ashamed of it.”
“So, yeah, I can’t go into any details about it. I’m doing a really great treatment at the Medical University of South Carolina called TMS. It’s actually an electrical stimulation protocol that helps with depression. That mixed in with talk therapy and that kind of thing. And I’m feeling way better, so that’s good.”
“But I just want everyone to know that I wanna be out there. It’s killing me to not be there. Josh Sturm and Zack Mack, two of our great friends, are coming out to help fill in for my stuff until I can come back out. I don’t have a timeline for that right now. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later, but I wanna make sure that I’m safe.”
“I’m very blessed to be able to take a break like this. I know a lot of people can’t. And I would encourage anyone who maybe is a business owner out there, if you’ve got someone in your company who’s having issues like this, to give them some time if they need it. And also, if you’re going through a mental health crisis, to give yourself time as well, and to reach out to people.”
“I did something I’d never done before in my fifty-one years on Earth, is I reached out to someone and I said, ‘I can’t do this on my own and I need help.’ And it led to some healing that I’m going through right now. It’s not an easy thing to do, to ask for help, but it has to be done.”
“I love all of you. Thank you all for your understanding. I can’t wait to get back up on stage again. So, go out there and support Shinedown on the ‘Dance, Kid, Dance Act II‘ world tour. I will be back out there as soon as possible. And, yeah, thank you all for your understanding. Love everybody.”
Shinedown have spent more than a decade working on mental health awareness and suicide prevention, partnering with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention through ticket donations and by hosting local AFSP chapters at shows.
Myers explained: “I think that us talking about it [during our live shows], it means a lot to a lot of people because if it even opens up the conversation… We live inside of these things. This is not a good place to live, because it can cater to you or it can hurt you. We always joke about, like, you’ll post something, and there’ll be — whatever — 11,000 comments. And you’ll instantly go to the bad one, and you’re just skipping all… We live in a world where we skip positivity to search for negativity. That’s just human nature. So the fact that that is a thing, to us, when people get out and they get in that room and they get into an arena with us… We talked about this the other day. I forgot who I was talking about this. It was the guys from Skillet. I love all music. I love going to shows. It’s my favorite thing to do. Every time we have a day off in a city and there’s a band playing, even if I’ve never even heard of the band, I’m gonna go see the show. But we live in a world where it’s, like, a lot of bands go on stage and just kind of yell at people all the time, and ‘M.F. this’. It’s, like, we just choose not to do that. I have no problem with people who do it, but I’d rather just kind of… If I got your attention for two hours, I’m gonna try to uplift you and make you feel better and do all these things. So it’s, like, I get it. Again, I enjoy all music. Everyone knows that about me. I go see live shows. If there’s a show three hours away on a day off, I will literally rent a car and go see it. But, yeah, for us, if you’re gonna come to our show… Also, there’s a lot of kids in the crowd, so it’s, like, you can take time. If these parents trust you with their kids’ ears, why not try to uplift that and make something positive out of it instead of just screaming at ’em?”
The Tour Ahead
The North American leg of “Dance, Kid, Dance Act II” opened July 11 in Mount Pleasant, Michigan and runs through early September.
Shinedown are also hosting their first curated festival, “Shinedown’s Lunatic Ball Beach Weekend“, from October 23 to 25 in Miramar Beach, Florida. The band plays two separate headline sets across the weekend, joined by Bush, Hanson, Flyleaf with Lacey Sturm, Living Colour, From Ashes To New, Guardians Of The Jukebox and Neon Mooners.
“Dance, Kid, Dance Act II” 2026 World Tour Dates:
North America:
- Aug 4 – Tucson, AZ @ Tucson Arena *#%
- Aug 6 – Ontario, CA @ Toyota Arena *%
- Aug 7 – Las Vegas, NV @ Michelob ULTRA Arena *#%
- Aug 9 – Sparks, NV @ Nugget Event Center *%
- Aug 10 – Boise, ID @ ExtraMile Arena *#%
- Aug 12 – Billings, MT @ First Interstate Arena at Metrapark *#%
- Aug 14 – Spokane, WA @ Numerica Veterans Arena *#%
- Aug 15 – Vancouver, BC @ PNE Pacific Coliseum *#%
- Aug 17 – Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place *#%
- Aug 20 – Fargo, ND @ Fargodome *#%
- Aug 21 – Welch, MN @ Treasure Island Resort *%
- Aug 23 – Springfield, IL @ Illinois State Fair #%
- Sep 4 – Dyersville, IA @ Velocity Festival
- Sep 10 – McHenry, IL @ McHenry Music Festival
Europe/UK:
- Oct 31 – Paris, FR @ Zénith Paris – La Villette &
- Nov 2 – Milan, IT @ Alcatraz &
- Nov 4 – Tilburg, NL @ O13 &
- Nov 6 – Prague, CZ @ Forum Karlín &
- Nov 8 – Copenhagen, DK @ Falkonersalen &
- Nov 9 – Stockholm, SE @ Annexet &
- Nov 11 – Berlin, DE @ Columbiahalle &
- Nov 12 – Düsseldorf, DE @ Mitsubishi Electric Halle &
- Nov 14 – Birmingham, UK @ bp pulse LIVE *&
- Nov 16 – Glasgow, UK @ OVO Hydro *&
- Nov 17 – Nottingham, UK @ Motorpoint Arena *&
- Nov 19 – London, UK @ OVO Arena Wembley *&
- Nov 20 – Manchester, UK @ AO Arena *&
- Nov 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
