Fighting & Violence: Brent Smith

Shinedown have a song called Bully. Were you a victim of bullying and violence when you were young?

Growing up I had people push me around but I pushed back. I got my ass kicked sometimes but I never backed down. That’s how I gained respect. People didn’t like me because I was different but I wasn’t going to change. They didn’t like that so we’d get into an altercation.

Is fighting back the best response in those situations?

I’m not condoning beating somebody up but if somebody comes into your personal space and tries to mess with you physically, you have every right to push back.

Have you seen violence in the crowd at your shows?

We’ve had to stop shows before because the pits have got really insane. I did the Wall Of Death in Kansas City one time with sixty-two thousand people. Crazy!

What’s the worst thing that’s happened to you at a Shinedown show?

One time I was holding the mic stand and the base of the stand wasn’t screwed on all the way. I threw it forward and it flew out into the audience and I accidentally cracked this girl in the side of the head. She missed the whole show because she had to go to the hospital and get stitches. Thank god she wasn’t badly hurt. We paid for the doctor bills and she has a lifetime backstage pass to every Shinedown show.

Rich Chamberlain has written for Classic Rock, Musicradar.com, Total Guitar, Nuts, FourFourTwo, Billboard, Classic Rock Presents The Blues and Classic Rock Presents Country.