Shinedown Guitarist Has 3-Word Message for Critics Audio Ink Radio

Shinedown Guitarist Has 3-Word Message for Critics

2025-06-22

Shinedown and members Brent Smith and Zach Myers

Shinedown guitarist Zach Smith and Brent Smith rocking out. – Author: Charles Ken, Photo from Audio Ink Radio

Shinedown guitarist Zach Smith is speaking out about those who criticize the band, or any band, for using backing tracks live. It’s a hot topic right now in the music industry about just how reliant bands should be on backing tracks.

Speaking with American Musical Supply, Myers stood up for bands using backing tracks during live shows and said that if it’s good enough for some of the best classic rock bands out there, it’s good enough for him.

Chatting with AMS’ Ryan Dacey at the 2025 Welcome to Rockville festival, Myers talked about a lot of topics. During the talk, Myers talked about Shinedown not using click tracks but added, “there are some songs, obviously, we still do because we run string tracks and things like that.”

Shinedown Guitarist Zach Smith Talks Click Tracks

Dacey said, “Well, you have to. I mean, if you’re going to recreate something that essentially was perfect in the studio, you wanna bring it there and you wanna represent it as a good representation of it without it being note for note the same exact thing.”

So, in three words, Myers summed up something that he believes when it comes to click tracks, saying there’s “a big misconception” about them.

For full context, he said, “Absolutely,” adding that he believes “there’s a big misconception about” it, “like – I see all these bands that like – it’s become this cool trend to brag about not using tracks. Like, shut up, dude. Who cares? Queen did it, so shut up. If Queen did it, shut up. Don’t say anything else, and if you wanna do it, that’s great. But, like, people wanna hear the symphony on ‘Second Chance,’ and I don’t feel like bringing up.”

He added, “Now, if you’re running vocals and you’re running guitars and you’re not playing things, I’m not for that. That’s – yeah. I think people think that when you run tracks, that’s what you’re doing. I’m like, ‘Dude, there’s not, like, . . . a guitar track out there. There’s not a bass track. Everything you’re hearing is coming from us unless you hear a cello or a violin.”

Shinedown Bassist Eric Bass on Music as Therapy

Shinedown bass player Eric Bass recently spoke with Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio about his new solo music and the band. He talked about how doing music is really a form of therapy. He has always been very open and candid about the importance of bringing awareness to mental health issues, also talked about how making music is therapeutic.

“Any record is therapeutic. It’s a double-edged sword. Sometimes, I call this room the hurt locker, and sometimes it’s the therapy room, or it can be both,” he said in the interview. “Anytime you’re writing music, I feel like you’re exercising demons of some sort. That might be a brash way of saying it, but you’re letting a piece of yourself out that’s pent up that has something to say.”

Listen to Audio Ink Radio’s interview with Eric Bass of Shinedown via this YouTube player or on the podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Podcasts.

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Charles Ken

Meet the expert - Charles Ken is a trending news writer for Audio Ink Radio. He is a graduate of Michigan State University, where he studied writing and history. He's a longtime music buff and covers classic rock for Audio Ink Radio. Contact him at ken@audioinkradio.com.