It’s not uncommon for members of well known bands to take some time out and do a bit of solo material. Sometimes it’s derivative of their main project, other times it’s wildly different. In the case of Shinedown’s Eric Bass, I Had A Name hints at its bigger brother but still veers well into “wildly different”. If you had no idea of its source, a listen through would have you thinking that it sounded like something familiar, but not enough for you to jump at it.
As Eric discussed in our recent interview, and on the bumph that came with our promo copy, I Had A Name is largely self-referential… but accidentally so. It wasn’t until he listened to the final recordings that he realised there was so much of him, about him, in it. Bass is open about his struggles with many facets of the mental health spectrum as well as his own faith, and these are reflected throughout the dozen tracks presented here.
This is a concept album, and a graphic adaptation is to follow later in the year which will hopefully help tie it all together. Musically there’s no real obvious thread other than “rock music”. Impressively Bass not only wrote every song, he performed every musical part, sang all of the lyrics, and produced the whole thing. This is less surprising when you know that his only real happy space is when he’s creating. This works out well for the rest of us because what he created is very good indeed.
I Had A Name could so easily have been left over material from a Shinedown album, but instead it’s taken the foundations of what makes a Shinedown record great and runs off at a tangent with them. The hooks are there, but the little experimental bits that are toned down in the arena act’s sound are allowed free range. It’s tempting to say it’s a little avant-garde or experimental but it doesn’t go quite that far, just remaining on the cusp of familiarity.
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The two current singles (I suspect a third will come out on album release day, they usually do), “Mind Control” and “Azalia” give an idea of the more mainstream songs. Both are belters, and good choices as singles but don’t really represent how wide-ranging the rest of the songs are. “A World Unseen” which opens the album is unsettling, “Goodnight Goodnight” is circus-level crazy, “All Good Children – Our Guts” is a soulful lament, and I don’t mind admitting that some of the lyrics in “Modenhardt” had me in tears. This isn’t just Eric Bass exploring, inadvertently, his own psyche… it can bring forth a kinship in the listener as well.
While I love Shinedown and can’t wait for them to come around again with new music and a new stage show, I Had A Name is more than just a filler to keep me going until then. Every bit as good as a Shinedown album while being wildly different, and all the product of one complicated and gifted mind.
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I Had A Name is out on February 28th
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