Shinedown Bassist Eric Bass Announces Debut Album, “I Had A Name”
Shinedown’s Eric Bass is stepping out front by announcing his debut solo album, Eric Bass Presents: I Had A Name. The well-named bassist and songwriter’s first outing is a concept album he wrote, recorded, and produced himself.
“We live in a world right now where music gets homogenized and maybe everything sounds and feels the same. I wanted to create something different, and I hope listeners hear that,” Bass said in a press release. “Lyrically and emotionally I hope it empowers them and they can see themselves in the characters and stories I sing about. We all go through dark times and hardships, but there’s always a way out. I think that’s what being a human being is about. I feel like Earth is a test and we’re here to prove ourselves, go through things and come out better on the other side.”
The album is slated to be released on February 28, 2025. It’s been in the works for seven years, as he started writing the initial story and songs while on tour in a hotel room in Milan, Italy.
“I sat on the bed with a pen and paper and wrote for two hours,” he explains. “It turned into a synopsis for a prequel to the story I’m telling on the album. When I started writing music, I thought about these characters. The album doesn’t chronologically tell the story, but it depicts various scenes from it – bits and pieces that happen throughout it.”
Bass is giving fans a preview of the project with a video for the first single, “Mind Control.”
“’Mind Control’ is part of a larger story than I’m telling on this record and in the graphic novel that goes along with it. We’re following this character Devaren as he’s talking about his disdain for the population and how he can’t stand them, but at the end of the song he has this reflective moment where he actually regrets everything he’s been doing,” Bass writes. “The interesting thing about the characters in this story is that they represent a different part of my neurodivergence and mental health journey. In ‘Mind Control’ Devaren represents the depression that has crept into my life over the years that I didn’t see coming. I just had to personify that in a character so in ‘Mind Control’ it has taken over, but ultimately in our story it will be defeated.”
The song features a snarling bass tone that adds urgency to the track.
Eric Bass Presents: I Had A Name will be out February 28th, but you can pre-save it on Apple, Amazon, and other streaming platforms.
In his time with No Treble, Kevin has met hundreds of amazing bassists and interviewed icons like Jack Casady, Victor Wooten, Les Claypool, Marcus Miller, and more. He's a gigging bassist performing jazz in Northern Virginia and bluegrass with The Plate Scrapers up and down the East Coast. Kevin appreciates all genres of music, from R&B to metal and everything in between. Connect with Kevin on Facebook and check his performance schedule on his website.
