Lacey Sturm on Suicide Prevention, Shinedown, New Music + More

2017-07-21

Story by Anne Erickson

Lacey Sturm chats about her mission as a musician, touring with Shinedown and new tunes

Lacey Sturm has been busy on the road with Shinedown through much of July, and it’s a bill that excites her. Sturm has fond memories of touring with Shinedown years ago in Flyleaf, and she’s proud of how they’ve grown.

“I’m glad to be out with them again,” Sturm told Audio Ink Radio backstage at Common Ground Music Festival in Lansing, Michigan. “There’s this thing they’ve overcome that makes them that much more inspiring. Their songs are real inspiring and positive, which is really cool.”

Sturm remembers first hearing Shinedown sing brutally honest songs such as “45,” and now, she loves the hope-filled message in tracks such as “How Did You Love?”

“I think it’s so good to have an honest song you can relate to, but to watch them this time (on tour) signing about how important it is, especially if you’re a praying person and thinking, ‘Oh, I’m doing all this good by being religious,’ but he’s like, ‘But how did you love?’ That’s the real question,” she said.

Sturm is all about love and hope. Her message is a strong one– especially in the wake of Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell committing suicide this year.

“My story is that I planned to commit suicide, and on this day that I planned to commit suicide, I had an encounter with God, and it saved my life,” she said. “So, my (focus) is on suicide. If I can convince someone that they’re worth more than giving up, that it’s worth it, that there’s more to overcome…”

“If I can convince someone that they’re worth more than they think they are, then I’m shooting at the right enemy, because that one of suicide is that feeling of hopelessness and worthlessness,” she added. “That’s a big part of my story and why I sing and why I do what I do.”

While Sturm doesn’t have any immediate plans on when she’ll release a follow-up to her solo debut, 2016’s “Life Screams,” she and her band are “always writing.”

“We sit around the with the guitar and make up songs,” she said. “Sometimes on stage, too, there’s a spot where we free-flow with a couple notes and sing stuff over top of it, so we’re always working on stuff. We don’t have any plans right now to put another record out yet, but we’re definitely still writing.”

Video filming: Chris Behnan
Video editing: Anne Erickson

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Anne Erickson

Meet the expert - Author, writer and editor Anne Erickson is a Detroit-based music reporter and radio host. She has written for the USA Today Network, Consequence.net, Blabbermouth.net, Loudwire.com and many more. Anne holds a master's degree from Michigan State University. Contact Anne at anne@audioinkradio.com.