So last week the Bands on The Run Tour ripped through the province of Ontario. Now a personal favorite of mine would have said they were “rippin’ the tar off the 401″. Stompin Tom might be right they may need some work after the 6 dates took the BOTR Tour from Guelph to London to Sudbury back down to Kingston then over to Belleville before hitting Barrie for the final night of debauchery at The Ranch. I caught up Rob and Brad from Blackjack Billy while in Guelph and eventually I talked to everyone but it started as a 3 person party. Here’s how it went down.
Sound Check: Fellas, thanks again for taking the time to talk to us today, so your heading out across Canada thoughts? (oh and let me remind you these guys have a great sense of humor)
Rob: Dude, we wake up everyday and go A) where are we? and B) Its damn cold and then its are we really going to go all the way to the Pacific Ocean on this tour. Damn that going to be fun!
Sound Check: Rebel Child was released in Canada October 21st (US Release date Dec 2nd) maybe tell us a how this album all came together.
Rob: It was an interesting album to make, because we have been on the road a lot and our Canadian guitar player and producer Jeffery “Middle Name to remain silent” Coplan. We did a lot of recording on the road, even to the extent that Jeff laid down some keyboard parts on a flight to Australia. So when you double down as producer and guitar player you don’t have time to sit down in your studio at home and make a record while the band is on the road. So we have done a lot of it on the road. Yesterday we laid down some vocals in a hotel room in Montreal and we will write a song in the back lounge after a show. Then we will have a day every couple months where we go into the studio and put down tracks and finish stuff up. This one has been pieced together over the last couple years and we wanted to make sure we had the right songs and the best possible product for the fans to enjoy.
Sound Check: Well this is pretty sweet album
Rob: STOP IT… Really? Say that again please. (moves mic closer to my mouth to make sure they get it recorded)
Sound Check: I am a country music fan first, that’s how I got involved in all of this. Getting the opportunity to talk to great artists like yourselves and to be honest Country music doesnt stop playing at my house and my wife wants to shoot me… but
Rob: That’s not the country music pal.
Brad: Don’t put that on us, you got your own demons to slay brother…(laughing)
Sound Check: Hey I can edit this to sound like you more in my favor guys (all laughing) anyway, I am a fan first so in today’s industry its tough to find an album that is strong from the 1st track to the last track and I really think Rebel Child is that good start to finish. Sneaky Jesus is my personal favorite.
Rob: That’s Cool, thanks man.
Sound Check: So, Booze Cruise was picked up by XM The Highway and it has come up more and more in the interviews, maybe tell us what that type of exposure did for Blackjack Billy?
Rob: Ya, well to be honest all the credit on that goes out to John Marks the program director at The Highway, for those not entirely sure how radio works. You have someone that runs the station called a program director and basically all the decisions go through them and XM is just like any other radio station and we got to meet with John last spring and went up to his office . Which is actually at Bridgestone arena up stairs and played him some songs, he loved it and said he would throw it on the Highway Finds with Storme Warren and Buzz and those guys just latched on to us and what we were doing. They started spinning it on a Friday and there was a station out of Vancouver JRFM started spinning it and really helped launch things in Canada for us. Next thing we know they had it in full rotation and spinning it 35-40 times a week. We had the highest sales per spin ratio of any band that had been ever been played on on XM Radio so if the song was spun once we sold like 100 copies.
Sound Check: Eat your heart out Cole Swindell…
Rob: No Cole, he is a sweetheart… (Laughing) but we did sell the crap out of that single… We will take it though it’s been one hell of a ride.
Sound Check: So your videos seem to be just you guys having a blast how the hell do you guys make those videos?
Brad: Those videos are just so much fun, I think we annoyed a pile of people (Laughing) I paid Brett Eldredge like $50 bucks to just be on video. (more laughing) just kidding They are all nice people all the people that helped us Jake Owen, John Rich, Chase Rice just people we were playing shows with we bugged them to take part. It was fun and everyone was great helping us out.
Sound Check: Run is your current single that is promoting the tour. When did this one come together?
Rob: What day is it… (Laughing) Jeff did most of it just before we hit the road on the tour. We went over and sang it just before we hit the road and he did all the guitar work and put it together on the fly. I think a lot of the things that have happened to us in our career haven’t really been planned out. And this is one of those things that we wrote a song and it seemed to work out for this tour. We are playing it at the end of our shows and seems to be going well so far (4 shows in)
Sound Check: So having the chance to work with a Canadian act like Tim Hicks is there any other Canadian artists that you would really like to work with?
Brad & Rob: Without a doubt it would Dean Brody, we played a festival with him out on Vancouver Island and that was really cool. When they play songs between acts during a show it always seems to be a Dean Brody songs that stop me in my tracks. Big fan of his, honestly dude we haven’t run across a Canadian Act yet that we don’t enjoy not just their music but hanging with them its a really cool culture up here we are just so thankful to be a part of.
Sound Check: So we touched on it a bit already but your embarking on 19 dates in 25 nights. that’s a lot of Whiskey and a lot of empty bottles.
Rob: We do recycle just to clarify (laughing)
Sound Check: So what are you looking forward to the most? I know I saw you at Havelock earlier this summer which was really cool.
Rob: We have done some stops in Canada but nothing like this, but Havelock was cool. I remember setting up and Dierks Bentley comes over to our side of the stage while we were setting up and here comes Dierks Bentley across the stage and he starts high fivin’ us and he keeps on singing. I was thinking hey while your over here can you pass me that cable? (laughing again) But coast to coast is cool
Brad: I am looking forward to seeing the different cities and the cultures and the way things are in each province. Montreal was defiantly a trip.
Rob: Honestly this is a dream come true, as a musician you kinda of wait your whole life to hop on the bus and leave. But that’s not really the touring format for Country music, in the States anyway. I think we did over 100 fly dates this year. Its just crazy.
Brad: Your more like weekend warriors Thursday, Friday Saturday, fly here, bus there. Its not like pack your bag and your gone for 4 or 5 weeks. You need to take the shows and just tour.
Rob: I think we had a 3 day run where we did 4 flights in and out of Canada twice and on stage till 2 am and then off to the next show. As a musician its alot of fun and ya get bored sitting around so we like to tour.
Sound Check: Social media, who kinda runs the show for you guys?
Rob: We kinda all do, I like Instagram because I don’t have to say much (snickers) But I think Social Media is best used when your comfortable enough being yourself on it. I think a lot of people use it as an information transfer like “Win Tickets Here” or “Meet & Greet” and we kinda like to take a chance and show a little more personality which likely makes us look like a big bunch of goons which we are. But my mom tells me it makes us more likable.
Oh sure now Jeff shows up…Jeff Coplan everybody!
Sound Check: Hey, Jeff thanks for joining us, I do have something to ask Mr. Coplan. Jeff maybe you could tell us a bit about working a bit with Tim.
Jeff: We got connected with Tim through Ron Kitchener (Tim’s Manager) and my music publisher. He was like, we signed this kid Tim Hicks we found him playing some bars, he is super talented and want you to start writing with him and see what happens. And seeing that I produce as well, it worked out great we started writing and recording some demos and that became his first album. And at the same time we were working on our record here and the whole Got A Feeling thing just came up. I started writing it originally with Tim and then Noll showed up and got in on the writing and we both wanted the song. So it worked out great to be able to make it his song and feature us and it was perfect to help us in Canada to be on the same song.
Sound Check: Well the Got A Feeling Video looked like it was a good time.
Rob: It was a Hell Raisin’ Good Time (we all burst into laughter)
Jeff: We are always playing that song in our show and it goes over well as a BJB song too, the fans like it. Then Drink Along came around he came out to one of our shows and said he liked it so we cut it on his new album. And having Clayton from the Road Hammers join in on that one was really cool.
Sound Check: Funny, I asked Tim if there was anyone else he wanted to sing with on that one and he said the guys on the song were the only guys that would return his calls. (Again, more laughter) Anyway guys, thanks for spending the time with me and talking Rebel Child. Best of luck on the rest of the tour.
All I can say this is one of my favorite interviews. These guys were just so much fun to chat with in a relaxed atmosphere. If you don’t have Rebel Child yet GET IT… Trust me once you slide this disc in you won’t want to take it out! Unless its to hear Tim’s version of Got A Feeling or Drink Along! Thanks for reading!
Corey Kelly / @CoreyKelly76
Blackjack Billy – Rebel Child
Blackjack Billy & Tim Hicks – Guelph – Bands On The Run Tour
