[Cover photo credit to Sanjay Parikh]

Songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and Producer Eric Bass of Shinedown has shared his debut solo album I Had A Name. Featuring latest single “Goodnight Goodnight” as well as previous releases “Azalia” and “Mind Control”, I Had A Name was written, recorded, and produced entirely by Bass. The album serves as an introduction into a dystopian world of the artist’s own creation.

Bass explains:

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. 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 initial storytelling spark behind I Had a Name began in a hotel room in Milan, Italy, as Shinedown toured behind 2018’s Attention Attention.

Bass says:

I sat on the bed with a pen and paper and wrote for two hours. 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.