Brad Smith Interview On Blind Melon, Shannon Hoon, Abandon Jalopy

Brad Smith was playing on the streets before he joined Blind Melon, which gained its greatest hit with Smith's hit song “No Rain.” "I wrote a lot of songs before Blind Melon actually got together but that was the only one that the band wanted to cover at that time," Smith told Uinterview in an exclusive interview. "I was writing and playing on the streets for maybe a year or two before Blind Melon formed and “No Rain” just happened to be one of those songs that I had written.

Blind Melon first formed in 1990 with the original band members Shannon Hoon, Rogers Stevens, Christopher Thorne and Glen Graham. But the band soon began dealing with Hoon's struggle with drug addiction — Hoon died of cocaine overdose while on tour in 1995. Following a breakup in 1996, the group reunited once again ten years later and released three new songs, including “For My Friends.” Now the band is back together touring and celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of "No Rain."

Smith still finds himself recalling the Hoon he used to know. “It’s really special and it’s really fun to go back and reflect on that and the sadness of Shannon not being with us anymore,” Smith told Uinterview. “I in a weird way I enjoy missing him because it still makes me feel close somewhat.”