Last year, Shinedown came up with a killer idea which they dubbed ’10 Songs in 10 Days’. They asked fans via the band’s s Facebook page, to suggest songs they would like to hear one half of Shinedown (singer Brent Smith and guitarist Zach Myers) do as ‘covers’ which would be recorded live off the floor in a ten day period.
“They could put in any song they could think of that they wanted to hear me and Zach cover,” Smith says in an interview. “And, no B.S., I think there was somewhere in the neighborhood of four or 5,000 songs submitted from people all over the world. It pretty much crashed our server every single day.”
The duo and producer DAvid Bassett chose the ultimate 10 songs by letting the top choices subsequently do “battle” for fan votes, again on Facebook.
“(Acoustic Sessions)” made some news last fall when reports surfaced that Bon Jovi was not allowing Smith & Myers to release their version of “Wanted Dead or Alive.” The issue, according to Smith, was that Bon Jovi and three others — Phil Collins (“In the Air Tonight”), Adele (“Someone Like You”) and Pearl Jam (“Black”) — did not check off on Shinedown’s plan to post the videos online and effectively give the performances away. “Some of the artists were cool with letting us put (the videos up) and some weren’t, and that’s totally their decision,” Smith explains. “The six songs we’re going to be releasing are the ones that have videos with them, then we’re going to go back and re-record the other four songs,” which he says will be made available later this year.
Songs that made the cut:
The Clash (“London Calling”), Otis Redding (“Sitting on the Dock of the Bay”), Metallica (“Nothing Else Matters”), the Black Crowes (“She Talks to Angels”), Soul Asylum (“Runaway Train”) and Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s “Blue on Black” featuring Shepherd himself, who was recording in a nearby studio. Each acoustic song is going to be accompanied by a video of the duo performing it acoustic, and digital audio will be available on iTunes January 28, under the branding of Smith & Myers Acoustic Sessions.
Have a listen of Zach and Brent’s version of The Clash London Calling, below. And check out the band’s Youtube account for Sitting on the Dock of the Bay (embedding disabled) as well as subsequent videos.