Despite success, Jacksonville band Shinedown continues to tour to maintain momentum

They spend the majority of their days constantly on the road, playing every night and doing what they can to make sure everyone has a chance to hear their music.

But this isn't about a band who is trying to get people to know who they are. This is about a band that's already on top.

Shinedown is arguably the most successful group to come out of Jacksonville since Limp Bizkit in the 1990s. The band has sold millions of records and have had 17 No. 1 singles. They just wrapped up a tour with 3 Days Grace and will come back home to play Jacksonville's Welcome to Rockville at the end of the month.

But just because a band has seen massive success doesn't mean it can become complacent and depend on that success to continue, said Shinedown's Barry Kerch, the band's drummer and a founding member. Kerch and singer Brent Smith founded the band in 2001.

"There's a lot of history here [in Jacksonville]. You can't pay me to leave. Being from Jacksonville is part of who we are," said Kerch, the only current member of Shinedown who still lives here. Kerch spoke to the Times-Union the day after Shinedown wrapped up its tour in North Dakota.

Shinedown doesn't have the typical struggling band beginnings as many other bands starting out. Smith created the band with a development deal with a record company already in place. Kerch auditioned for the band 11 years ago after his brother, Chad Kerch, who is a DJ at Rock 104.5, told him the band needed a drummer.

Although their path to success is a bit shorter than most, the band still had to play several local venues and network heavily to become known in the city.

"We had to sweat it out practicing in small storage spaces, but it builds character, and I'll never forget that," Kerch said.

Part of Kerch's favorite early memories during Shinedown's early days in Jacksonville were playing Freebird Live, which he said is one of the main things he misses.

"If it wasn't for that club, we wouldn't be where we are today," Kerch said.

Part of Shinedown's early success was covering one of Lynyrd Skynyrd's most well-known hits, "Simple Man," in 2003.

In a few weeks, Shinedown will share the stage with Lynyrd Skynyrd on the second day of Rockville. It will be only the second time Shinedown has played the same event as Lynyrd Skynyrd - the first time was in Milan, Italy, Kerch said.

And even though the group no longer has to practice in storage spaces, Shinedown still has to keep a forward momentum, Kerch said.

"It's always a struggle, but we give ourselves more breaks," Kerch said. "But we're in a rock band. You've got to be able to sell records."

The band still constantly tours. In fact, the band toured for 2½ years and performed 440 shows while they promoted the 2008 album, "Sound of Madness." After just finishing a tour, they will hit the road again in a couple of weeks starting in Texas, then at Rockville, along the East Coast and Midwest in May, the Gulfport Music Festival on May 10 and spend most of July playing shows in Canada.

It's all to promote the band's fourth full-length album, 2012's "Amaryllis," which has already had three No. 1 hits. It's the first record to feature the band's new members, Zach Myers and Eric Bass. Because of this, coming back to Jacksonville and playing shows like Rockville can sometimes be bittersweet because it's where the original lineup was formed, Kerch said. Original bassist Brad Stewart is now in the band Fuel, and guitarist Jasin Todd also briefly played with Fuel.

The band is planning some acoustic sets at the end of this tour and, though much of the material is ready, Shinedown won't be focusing on the next album until they finish touring with this one. However, the band will create a 10-track acoustic album of cover songs selected by fans.

"There's been some weird ones, like a Michael Jackson song," Kerch said. "But I'm really excited to see what the fans pick. It would be nice to hear Brent sing a pop song."