Shinedown guitarist Zach Myers recently opened up about why the band decided to stop doing meet and greets with their fans. He shared his personal struggles with the emotional impact of these interactions in an interview with Beardo & Weirdo.
Myers explained how the band’s approach to meet and greets differed from other artists. This led to deeply personal conversations that took an emotional toll on him.
“Your music does mean as much to you as Bruce Springsteen meant to me or U2 meant to me or Steve Ray Vaughan or whatever. But when it’s you, it’s hard to… I get a lot of imposter syndrome, so it’s hard to go, ‘Oh.’ Like when people say, ‘Dude, your song saved my life,’ the computer just stops working for me. And I go, ‘Oh, man.’ And I don’t want it to make it look like it goes in one ear and out the other, ’cause the truth is people saying those types of things to me are the reason we stop doing meet-and-greets. Because I’ve got kids, and I would go to a meet-and-greet,” Myers said.
The guitarist described how Shinedown’s meet and greets were more personal and time-intensive compared to other bands.
“We would do [our meet-and-greets] very different. Some people just do a photo line. It’s, like, quick — in, out. We’ve toured with bands — they do 150 people in 30 minutes. It took us 90 minutes to do 40 people,” he explained. “‘Cause me and [Shinedown singer] Brent [Smith] would start at one end, [Shinedown bassist] Eric [Bass] and [Shinedown drummer] Barry [Kerch] at the other, and we would just chat for five minutes with each person. And you’d get these people, and they would go, ‘Man, I’ve got a seven-year-old boy. He died of cancer.’ And I’m, like, under my shirt, texting my wife, like, ‘Take our kid to the hospital right now.’ She’s, like, ‘What? He’s on the trampoline.’ I’m, like, ‘He might have cancer.’ And God bless those people, and I want our songs to help them.”
Myers admitted that the emotional weight of these interactions eventually became too much to handle while performing.
“I am man enough to admit I don’t have the emotional barricade to not walk on stage with that. By the end of it — I think [it was] 2019 when we stopped doing meet-and-greets — I walked out of 11, just walked out. Because I was literally, like, I would start to tear up. And you go to the guy next to you, and he’s, like, ‘Dude, [I’ve] seen you guys 25 times, bro. Stoked to be here.’ And you’re, like, ‘Sorry, man. I can’t turn this off. I’m gonna think about this kid for a year.’ And you feel for the families. But now what it’s done for us, I think not doing them, is when you meet people out on the street, it becomes more real. It’s not this formulative thing, the construct of a meet-and-greet. It’s, like, they get to see the real you,” he continued.
The timing of this decision coincided with one of the band’s most intensive touring periods. This may have contributed to the emotional strain Myers experienced.
Alternative Press reported that Shinedown launched their 2019 ATTENTION ATTENTION world tour on February 20 in Estero, Florida, ending March 20 in Loveland, Colorado. This extensive touring schedule featured support acts like Papa Roach and Asking Alexandria. It placed significant demands on the band during the same period when Myers was struggling with the emotional weight of fan interactions.
The band has since restructured their approach to fan engagement. They have implemented more controlled methods of connection. AXS ticketing information reveals that Shinedown’s current VIP packages explicitly state that purchasing them does not grant access to venue-specific VIP or backstage areas. This reflects a deliberate shift toward structured, limited fan interaction policies that avoid unstructured personal encounters.
Instead of traditional meet and greets, the band has embraced alternative ways to connect with their fanbase. Shinedown’s official website shows they now prioritize digital engagement through text updates, merchandise bundles, and controlled fan connections. This allows them to maintain their relationship with supporters while protecting their emotional well-being.
This approach allows Shinedown to continue fostering communal energy at their shows through general admission pit setups and all-ages performances. They maintain the deliberate boundaries necessary to sustain long-term fan relationships without the individual emotional strain that led to their 2019 decision to end meet and greets.
