Ambar Ramirez Carmen Macri
In Conversation with Damien Starkey and Jasin Todd
Words by Carmen Macri and Ambar Ramirez
Wednesday started like any other work day for us—until it wasn’t. Why? Because we had the unique opportunity to sit down with Jasin Todd, former Shinedown guitarist, and Damien Starkey, former member of Burn Season and Puddle of Mudd. Over beers, burgers, chicken fingers and french fries, we chatted with the pair about memories and experiences that are, unfortunately for you, struck off the record —as requested, many times, by the entire table. We will leave that up to your imagination.
That’s not to say we didn’t land a fully on-the-record interview with the duo later that evening. They were more than happy to reflect on their time in the spotlight during Jacksonville’s explosive late ’90s and early ’00s music scene.
Starkey Unplugged
The Beginning
The year was 1998. Jacksonville was still riding the wave of local music legends while continuing to birth a new generation. At 16, Starkey, alongside drummer Bobby Amaru, looked to the trailblazers like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the rising stars like Limp Bizkit. Inspired by their success, they thought, “If these Jacksonville bands can land record deals, so can we.”
Smakt Down, later Burn Season, started like any other rock band — in a high schooler’s garage. Their earliest demos were recorded at the Music Factory studio in Jacksonville Beach with Starkey on lead vocals, Amaru on drums and studio owner Michael Ray FitzGerald filling in on bass. They then went on to record a set of demos at the Hole of The Pigeon Studio where Limp Bizkit’s Sam Rivers was the production assistant. That set off a domino effect: Rivers connected the band with Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst, who had his own record label. With Flawless Records showing interest, other labels soon followed, leading to the band signing with Elektra Records.
From there it was smooth sailing until they hit a small but potentially costly snag — their name. They were called Smakt Down, which, while not the same as World Wrestling Entertainment’s SmackDown, was close enough to raise legal red flags. Rather than risk a drawn-out lawsuit, the band and their lawyers decided it was time for a rebrand. “Out with the old, in with the new,” as Starkey put it.
That’s when he came up with Burn Season. At the time, he was dating someone in Middleburg where the local farmers regularly set fire to their fields in a process known as burn season. Driving to his girlfriend’s house, he kept seeing signs announcing its arrival, and the name just stuck.
“We got our first deal two months after graduating high school, and we didn’t think for a second that we weren’t going to get a deal because all of our friends’ bands were getting deals… Everybody was doing that in Jacksonville, and people just didn’t understand how prevalent that was,” Starkey recalled. “They were all blowing up, all those things were happening. So it didn’t seem out of touch for us, you know what I mean? It seemed like this was normalcy.”
During
With a binding record deal, the band went on to record their first debut album in the City of Angels — Los Angeles. But the album never made it out of the studio. In 2004, Elektra Records merged with Atlantic, leaving Burn Season and many other acts without a label. But then in comes Bieler Bros. Records, a South Florida-based independent label, to save the day… or in this case, to save the record. Bieler bought four of the songs from the unreleased Elektra record and gave Burn Season studio time to record eight new ones.
With the album finished, Burn Season hit the road with Skindred, Nonpoint, Sevendust and Papa Roach, building buzz ahead of its release. Their efforts paid off when “Carry On” dropped as a single, giving the band the momentum they had been hoping for. But the momentum wasn’t enough, Burn Season faced a harsh reality when they finally released their debut album and prepared to hit the road. They entered a crowded landscape with countless other artists vying for tour spots at the same time — creating fierce competition for bookings, audiences and industry attention.
“When I was 16, I would have told you that I knew everything, I could have convinced you that I knew everything. And then at 19, I would have looked at my 16-year-old self and been like, you’re a f*cking idiot. You know nothing. But then once again, probably try to convince you that I knew everything,” Starkey said. “And on a professional side, I feel like you just gain wisdom over time. There’s no other way to gain it. That’s how it works.”
After two record deals and more than 40 recorded songs, the band ultimately parted ways in 2007 to explore new projects. From 2007 to 2011, Starkey took on the role of singer and songwriter for Society Red, alongside former Puddle of Mudd rhythm guitarist Adam Latiff, ex-Puddle of Mudd lead guitarist Paul Phillips and Brad Stewart of Shinedown. In 2009, Burn Season briefly reunited, independently releasing their second album, “This Long Time Coming,” and playing a show at the dearly missed Jacksonville music venue Freebird Live. Over the years, the band would sporadically come together — writing a few songs, releasing an album — engaging in a game of cat and mouse that carried on until 2020, when they put out their final (for now), self-titled album.
“And, the sad part is, I don’t even know how you grow a music scene now,” Starkey expressed. “I feel like it’s so different, like it’s such a different thing.”
In 2010, when Puddle of Mudd bassist Doug Ardito left the band, Starkey stepped in to fill the role until 2013.
Now
“Being a producer, I think at this point in my life, is my preferred role. Being on stage and playing in front of people and doing all that was the preferred role for, you know, anybody picking up a guitar and wanting to be in a band and wanting to do all of that. And then, you realize that comes with a price and you also realize that it’s a very different lifestyle,” Starkey explained.
Driven by a desire to stay creative while exploring new horizons, Starkey transitioned into production. Since making this professional pivot, he has written and scored music for over 70 TV shows and films, including “American Reunion,” “Nitro Circus Movie,” “Freeheld,” “Pawn Stars,” “Bar Rescue” and “Undercover Boss.” On the production side, Starkey has collaborated with some of the industry’s biggest names, writing and producing for artists like Saliva, Daughtry and Avril Lavigne.
“I would say some of the things that I’m most proud of would be passing that wisdom on to other people,” Starkey shared. “So that maybe they don’t have to learn some of those other harder lessons that I had to learn along the way.”
Todd to the Bone
The Beginning
“It’s never really been about me. I’m always more of a support person so I try to support the other artists that I’m with, you know. I just kind of immerse myself in whatever they’re trying to do, chameleon style.”
Born and raised in Lake City, Todd first picked up a guitar when he was in the sixth grade. It was a blue Teisco Del Rey, now a collector’s item, that he got as a gift from his mom. Todd remembered playing it at church and often straying from the usual gospel music to something a little more his speed.
As Todd grew up, his guitars grew up with him. Starting the strings on a Teisco, Todd now carries his old faithful, a Gibson Les Paul Standard in Tobacco Burst named Brown Sugah — broken neck and all
“This is Brown Sugah. I mean, look at her. This is all me, man,” Todd expressed. “I got her when we got the record deal, I would say 2001. I’ve played her through everything.”
Shinedown’s origin story started under a completely different name (as is usually the case) —Dreve. Frontman Brent Smith signed a record deal under Dreve with Atlantic Records in 2000, but the label was unhappy with Dreve as a whole and dropped the band before an album was released but kept Smith, who they felt was worth developing as an artist.
“The singer [Brent Smith] was a great songwriter and is a great songwriter. I mean, look at the charts, I think he’s got more songs on the radio than anyone in the history of ever,” Todd said.
When Smith moved to Jacksonville in 2001 to kick off his new project, he enlisted bassist Brad Stewart as the first member of Shinedown, connecting through local music producer Pete Thornton. While recording demos at a small local studio, the studio owner suggested they meet her fiancé, guitarist Jasin Todd, who soon became the band’s third member. Drummer Barry Kerch completed the original lineup, standing out as the seventh drummer they auditioned. The group collaborated on demos and submitted their work to Atlantic, which gave them the green light to record a full-length album. The rest, as they say, is history.
“I am a firm believer in what you think, that’s what it is, man. Like, I don’t see how it can be any other way,” Todd shared. “And that’s all I’ve ever thought about since the fifth grade, I knew that I was going to do music live.”
During
“Leave a Whisper” debuted on May 27, 2003. Though it wasn’t an instant hit, the band’s dedication was undeniable — they hit the road for a 24-month tour, playing more than 400 live shows. Thanks to relentless touring and a string of successful singles, the album eventually went platinum in the U.S., selling over 1 million copies. Of the four singles that were released from this album, all four landed in the top five of Billboard Mainstream Rock charts.
“So there’s like, six people in the audience your whole life. And I can always remember showing up to the Freebird, and it’s like, yeah, there’s six cars there,” Todd recalled. “And then with Shinedown all of a sudden, we show up and it’s like the whole parking lot is filled up. From then on for me, that’s all I give a shit about. I don’t care about anything else, you know? But, man, just to see that parking lot filled up.”
Shinedown was on a high. After completing their nearly 2-year-long tour, they got to work on their second album in 2005. Within six months, the band wrote and released their second studio album, “Us and Them.” Although it debuted higher than “Leave a Whisper” at No. 23 on the Billboard 200, it sold fewer copies. However, the lead single, “Save Me,” became the band’s first track to hit No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Chart, holding the top spot for an impressive 12 consecutive weeks.
While Shinedown was steadily rising and back on tour for their second album, Todd admitted that, creatively, playing that type of guitar wasn’t fulfilling him. He felt the music was too simple and wasn’t pushing his artistic boundaries. And while still loving what he was doing, he wished he was able to move the creative horizon.
“There was none of that. It was like kind of a dumbed-down version of everything. So if anything, I think we evolved as far as, like shredding from that f*cking Eddie Van Halen type stuff or whatever, you know?” Todd explained. “Or dual harmonies from the ’70s, like Skynyrd and sh*t was what we loved. And we became more of a … our producer was like, ‘there’s no money past the fifth fret.’ So it just dumbed everything down, you know? It got more about writing songs versus showing off how great you were.”
After wrapping up the tour for their second album, Shinedown was offered a six-month deal by Atlantic Records to deliver their third. But Smith wasn’t on board with the tight deadline and pushed for — and received — an 18-month extension. Time pressure wasn’t the only issue, though. Behind the scenes, tensions were rising, and internal conflicts eventually led to the departure of members Stewart and Todd.
“Dude, this sh*t will draw you in… You know, I would have never thought that we would have done anything with this stuff. I never thought about quote-unquote making it or any of that,” Todd expressed.
Now
Todd left the band in 2008, taking a step back from the music scene to focus on himself. During this time, he embraced new hobbies and allowed himself the space to reconnect with his passion for music and creativity. This break gave him the opportunity to rediscover his love for the art in a way that he hadn’t been able to while immersed in the demands of the band.
“Time away for me is going around experiencing different cultures. I’ve been all over the world, luckily, through this, so I’ve gotten to see how different people are,” Todd shared. “The world is so vast and so cool.”
In 2014, Todd joined the band Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, finally finding his missing puzzle piece.
“I remember the first show I played with them was with He Is Legend in Atlanta, and we played downtown at the Masquerade and it was f*cking sold out and the walls were sweating. There could have been three people in there or there could have been 3,000, but those three kids or the 3,000 are singing every word and they are hanging on to every word,” Todd recalled. “This guy is like a messiah, you know, which is what I look for in a singer, a frontman. I can never do that. I can never have that control. But these guys have this thing where they’re just like me and they draw you in.”
After a brief hiatus following lead singer Dallas Taylor’s serious ATV accident in 2016, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster began to stir rumors of a return in 2022. When they officially announced their comeback, their first show sold out of presale tickets. Since then, the band has been gradually re-establishing their presence in the scene.
“I just, I love music, I love to play it live,” Todd said. “I think I’ve said this, 20 years ago with ‘Folio’ [and] it’s the same thing, man. That’s what this is all about, playing it live, connecting, trying to get that transfer. Call me crazy.”
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