Songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Eric Bass of Shinedown has shared his new single Azalia, taken from his forthcoming debut solo album I Had A Name. “Azalia is one of the two main protagonists in our story,” explains Eric. “She is a former warrior monk who has thrown off her religion to become an assassin. Dedicating her life to the insurgency against the WAL and Legion, and to killing every official who had anything to do with her mother’s death.”
Eric Bass
He continues: “In the song Azalia we find her on the run for her life with the government’s demons close behind. She will have to rely on her tenacity in order to not give up, and on her natural abilities to survive. The keys to which are contained within a gift her mother gave her as a child. Eric Bass presents…Azalia.” Fans can look forward to more new music as Bass prepares for the release of I Had A Name on February 28th.
Eric Bass is best known as the co-songwriter, producer, and bassist for multiplatinum rock institution Shinedown, who holds the record for most No. 1 singles on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart. On November 2024, he unveiled Mind Control, the inaugural single from his debut solo album, slated for release on February 28, 2025. Eric Bass Presents: I Had a Name is an immersive, expansive, and richly thematic work. As well versed in KISS and Van Halen as Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, Bass poured passion and creativity into I Had a Name.
Shinedown @ Wembley Arena
The initial storytelling spark behind I Had a Name ignited in a hotel room in Milan, Italy, as Shinedown toured behind 2018’s Attention Attention. “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.”
As with much of Attention Attention and Planet Zero, Shinedown’s first No. 1 on Billboard’s Album Sales chart, I Had a Name looks both outward at society and inward, as darker emotions seep out from within the more significant metaphors and storylines on the surface.
“I’ve spoken about my struggles with depression and neurodivergent issues before,” Bass points out. “When I finished writing this record, I looked back at these characters I’ve created and realised I’d written the most autobiographical record of my life, which wasn’t conscious as I was writing it. The album is an epic odyssey. I don’t want mental health to be an ‘angle’ that obscures that,” he adds. “But I don’t mind talking about it. Anytime I talk about it, I hope it’s helpful to someone else.”
With his Shinedown bandmates’ full support and encouragement, Bass challenged himself to write every lyric, compose every song, perform every instrument, and produce and mix the entire affair. Ultimately, as with every endeavour of the South Carolina native’s career, Eric Bass Presents: I Had a Name is about authenticity. “I’m always about honesty in art,” he says. “When I listen to something, I want to hear that the person dug into the dirt and bled for it to happen. The truth always prevails.”
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