Shinedown Check In From Uproar Tour – Interview + Photo Gallery

The gentlemen of Shinedown are knee-deep in promotion for their latest album, ‘Amaryllis,’ and the hard work is paying off, as the rock group already have two No. 1 singles in ‘Bully’ and ‘Unity’ off the album. Shinedown are currently headlining the 2012 Uproar Festival, which boasts a lineup that also features heavy-hitters such as Staind, P.O.D., Godsmack, Adelitas Way and others.

Loudwire caught up with Shinedown drummer Barry Kerch backstage at the 2012 Uproar Festival stop in Clarkston, Mich., for a brief Q&A to talk about the band’s experience on the tour, their brand new single, ‘Enemies,’ and why the guys are anything but enemies even after months and months of touring together. Check out the interview and exclusive photos from the show below:

Shinedown, of course, are headlining Uproar this year, and there are so many great bands on the bill. How has the journey been so far?

It’s been just a fun tour overall! There are so many great bands. There have been some of the younger bands rotating out. We had In This Moment out here in the beginning and really enjoyed them. We’ve been getting to know the guys of Fozzy, and they’re really fun. And it’s also humbling. We’ve been friends and toured with Godsmack and Staind and those guys so many times over, and typically, we would have opened up for them, so now to be headlining and having them open up for us -- or with us, I look at it more as with us -- it’s really humbling and fun.

Congratulations on the success of ‘Amaryllis’ and all the singles coming off the album! Do you know what the next single will be?

Right now, ‘Enemies’ is just starting to come out. I think next week is its official add date. After that, it’s looking like maybe ‘I’ll Follow You,’ but that’s much down the road. It probably won’t come out until next year. So, right now it’s ‘Enemies.’

'Enemies' is a bit of a heavier track than the previous singles.

It’s a pretty heavy track. The video is the four of us beating each other up, and the video was a lot of fun to make. It’s really just about standing up against your enemies and calling them out… and I think the video captures our personalities really well. Even though we beat each other up in the video, we’re still friends... [In real life] we still like each other and hang out with each other, and that’s rare sometimes.

What’s next for Shinedown after Uproar?

After Uproar, we’re going to head over to Europe for about a e month. We’re going to go see mostly western Europe, the UK, Germany… so we’re going to do a big tour there. Then, November and December we’re not really sure. There’s a possible trip to India and probably some radio-type Christmas shows, but nothing really booked right now, and we’ll take the holidays off and kick it off again next year with another big tour.