Brent Smith of Shinedown celebrates his birthday today (1/10) and we can’t help but recall the outstanding performance that he and the band delivered at last year’s MMRBQ. Their headlining set was the perfect way to wrap up one of the best festivals we’ve ever had – just look at the concert shots below.
Before they took the stage, Brent Smith and Zach Myers hung out backstage with Pierre Robert and Brent Porche. They talked about their latest album Planet Zero, the weird way they met Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, and they also revealed a very interesting warm-up that they “doo-doo” before every Shinedown show. When we first heard about this bizarre ritual, it did sound unpleasant, and we thought that perhaps it was inspired by a Police or Rolling Stones song.
Brent breaks it down: “I know what it sounds like it is… Years ago, we had a lighting director named Scott Ali, and when he would get excited he would clap his hands and go “doo-doo”… So him and Barry (Kerch) started cheers-ing each other and screaming doo, doo, doo… It can sometimes grow to be like 50 people. You have to do it an hour before we go on deck. You can either get a soda or a shot or a beer or a water… You watch Barry, he counts down, 3-2-1, and you scream as loud as you possibly can, “doo, doo, doo,” until you see stars, and then you have to give everybody a weird look and cheers… Then you have 5 minutes to get your drink drunk and then get out, unless you’re in the band. And that’s doo-doo.”
Whatever gets you hype to put on a killer show!
During the interview, which you can watch below, they also touched on the topic of mental health. When Pierre asked them how they manage to get through tough times while lifting up so many of Shinedown fans with their music, Zach commented: “There’s no right or wrong way to go through life. There’s no right or wrong way to deal with it. I think for us, leaning on each other is important… leaning on the crowd, leaning on the show… those people out there have gone through it with us.”
Brent added: “It comes down to the audience… We’re a band that’s been talking about mental health for the better part of 20 years. But how we summon it, is we’ve been given a responsibility by the people that have given us the platform to be ourselves… We always stay focused on staying honest and staying true to who we are… but we want to empower people. It’s all we’ve ever wanted to do.”