Spiritbox Guitarist on Shinedown Singer’s $ 10,000 Donation: “I’m Still Speechless”
Spiritbox guitarist Mike Stringer recently joined The MetalSucks podcast to discuss their new album, Eternal blue, the standalone singles release strategy to introduce fans to the project, how a Canadian government program helped them start Spiritbox and its hopes of touring nonstop in 2022.
Stringer also shed light on the group’s summer tour with Limp Bizkit, which was only canceled a few dates due to Covid-19 and left Spiritbox, which had already spent money on merch, gear, crew. tour, etc., high and dry.
Recounting how Shinedown frontman Brent Smith offered the group $ 10,000 out of the blue after learning of the tour’s cancellation and how We Came As Romans decided not to charge for the rental of their lighting package , he explained :
“Oh man. So we’re two for two [tours getting cancelled mid-way], which is a shame.
“For example, Brent [Smith] from Shinedown, it just came out of nowhere. We’ve never even met him before, and he just wanted to help. He contacted our management and said, “I felt horribly bad about what happened and I would hate that this band couldn’t continue because of it and I just want to contribute.” And he sent us $ 10,000… which is fair. I am still speechless. I don’t even know what we could do to pay him and those guys back. And even just him who thinks of us that way is so amazing.
“So many other things… like We Came As Romans, they loaned us a full light package, we rented them for the tour and when we returned them they didn’t even charge us. They were like, ‘You know what, don’t worry. We feel awful. And just the companies that helped us, like [bus rental company] Working.
“There are so many people who are so nice these days and it’s just amazing to see musicians helping other musicians. It is certainly a great opportunity for us to pay it forward when we can. This is the first thing I thought of. Man, I can’t wait until, if we ever get to be able to do this for someone else, I can’t wait until we can do it. Just a wild situation to be in. [laughs]
You can listen to our full chat with Stringer here or through the integration below.