Hard rockers Shinedown will perform at the South Carolina stop of Kid Rock’s “Rock The Country” tour set for July 25-26. The tour will be headlined by Kid Rock and also feature performances from Jason Aldean, Creed, Brantley Gilbert and Nelly, among others. Rapper Ludacris was also on the bill when “Rock The Country” was announced earlier this month, but Rolling Stone reported that the Grammy winner dropped off the tour shortly after.
During an appearance on The Vinyl Road podcast, Shinedown drummer Barry Kersh was asked if the band got any pushback for agreeing to play what some feel is a pro-Donald Trump tour. “There’s been tons,” he said. “The knives come out when they don’t like it, especially now politically. And we are an apolitical band. But the knives have come out. It’s crazy. And to be honest, I had no idea, and neither did singer Brent [Smith] — I think (guitarist) Zach [Myers] maybe had a clue — I had no idea this was Kid Rock’s thing. It was just, ‘Hey, here’s an offer. It looks like a cool lineup, and it’s a mix of country and rock. Okay, we’ll play it.’ We took the offer and played it, and then all of a sudden we find out, ‘Oh, this has got some political leaning to it.'”
Kersh continued, and called out Ludacris for backing out. “I don’t care,” he said. “I’m just gonna go play a show. I really, really don’t care. You can keep your politics to yourself. I have no opinion one way or the other on Kid Rock. I love his music. This is about music. Ludacris wasn’t tough… I mean, it’s not like he needs the money, Jeez. If he’s not tough enough to stick it out, that’s just silly. That’s him being a coward, in my opinion.”
Kersh was then asked if Shinedown would ever turn down performing a show because of another band or artist’s political leanings. “I would hope not, but Shinedown is a democracy,” he said. “There’s four of us to vote. My vote would be no, but if three of the other guys vote against it, then, again, it’s a democracy. I can’t change their vote. But I would hope not. ‘Cause I like to stick by my grounds. And listen, I don’t do politics when it comes to the business of Shinedown. I have my own beliefs. I keep those to myself, and so do the other three guys. I just wanna go play a rock show with some country bands ’cause it looks like fun.”
