Shinedown Think Having Number One Song is ‘Pretty Crazy’

Shinedown bassist Eric Bass calls his band's hit "Second Chance" "a gift." When the Jacksonville, Fla.-based act penned the song, its members didn't realize they were going to score their first number one Top 40 tune.

"We've always been known as a rock band," Bass said during an interview with Noisecreep from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. "We've had a lot of success on the rock charts -- both Active and Alternative charts. We also had our first number one Hot AC (adult contemporary) song, which is pretty cool, with 'Second Chance.' We had a few number one songs on the rock charts, but we've never had a number one song in the country. It's pretty huge to have to hear Ryan Seacrest say 'Here's Shinedown with the number song in the country.' It's pretty crazy."

"Second Chance" appears on Shinedown's 2008 album 'The Sound of Madness.' As well, the title track recently stormed to number six at Active Rock, continuing the band's run of 10 consecutive Top 10 hits at the format.

Produced by multiple Grammy award winner Rob Cavallo (Kid Rock, Green Day), 'The Sound of Madness' was certified gold, certifying sales of 500,000, after debuting at number eight on The Billboard 200 chart upon release almost exactly a year ago. Bass -- who is joined in the band by singer Brent Smith, drummer Barry Kerch and guitarist Zach Myers -- said the album title reflects the group's state of mind during the recording process.

"That particular song is written from Brent's perspective, some things he went through with previous members of the band," Bass said. "But we started thinking about what the sound of madness is. It's what surrounds your every day life. It encapsulates your existence. It's the sound of the cars outside. It's the baby crying. It's your friend calling you to tell you he's in trouble. It's a metaphor for everyday life. The sound of madness, it's not necessarily a negative thing. It lets you know you're alive. Madness doesn't have to be bad. It can be many things. It seemed like the right title. In your everyday life you go through these different things that equal madness."

Currently, Shinedown are witnessing the madness of the road. It is on tour with Chevelle, Staind and Halestorm as part of the "Stimulate This!" tour, a jaunt that kicks off July 1.

"It's going to be a blast," Bass said of the tour. "We did a couple of dates with Staind in Europe. We did a couple of festivals with them. We got to hang out with everybody. Everybody's really excited about it. Both bands are super excited. I haven't seen the Chevelle guys in a long time. Halestorm, we toured quite extensively with. I'm really looking forward to seeing Chevelle. I haven't seen them in a long time."

The point of the jaunt is to give fans an affordable concert to attend in dire economic times.

"That's the state of our nation right now, state of the world actually," Bass said. "People don't want to go out and spend. On average, with a normal concert, for one person to go to the concert, pay for the parking, buy concessions buy T-shirts, all of that from A-Z all the way through the whole process you're going to spend around $200, maybe $250.

"Our goal was to have (a show) where one person can come and maybe get out of there maybe spending $75 to $100. That's with reduced parking prices, reduced ticket prices, reduced concession prices, reduced merchandise prices. But we're actually ramping up a bigger show. We're bringing out more lights than we've ever brought out before. We're giving people more of a show than they've ever seen before and for less money."