We had the opportunity to sit down with the fellas of the Bands On The Run Tour while we were in Guelph last month. Well the tour will be wrapping up on the 15th and we have our interview with none other than Jason, Clayton & Chris aka… The Road Runners, I mean Road Jammers, shit… I mean the Road Hammers. Ok, that might have been cheesy but if your a fan you got it..
Sound Check: Fellas, thanks for taking the time to chat. The last time we spoke was at Boots & Hearts just before the sky opened up and just had a down pour which cancelled your set.
Jason: Ya, we were just ready to go on at Boots and Hearts and normally rain doesn’t stop us. Heck if the audience is getting we’re gettin’ wet we’re into it. Its a party but the lighting came out and apparently they had to shut’er down. But the folks at Boots and Hearts are fantastic and we hope to get back to play there again soon.
Sound Check: Latest album Wheels from The Road Hammers has been doing well, can you maybe touch on how you selected the tracks for this one?
Clayton: Like every hammer record, its a mix of cover songs and originals. We like to Hammerize old country tunes and that’s what we did with our latest single I’ve Been Everywhere
Sound Check: And that’s been doing well at radio..
Jason: Crazy man, we took a brake for a little while, took a few years off and we were very concerned. You know, you go away and the music business changes so much. We didn’t know if fans and radio were still going to be there for us. But it was just like taking a coal and putting back into the fire and boom it went red hot again. Mud has just become a gold single for us, so its incredible to have fans like that. And new fans! There are people coming out to the shows who didn’t know we sang this that and the other thing which is really cool.
Sound Check: The Bands on the Run Tour is 19 shows in 25 dates, that’s not a little ambitious eh?
Chris: Its quite an undertaking, Honestly I have to give it up to Christine McKay our tour manager who can manage to wrangle, umm how many are on the road?
Jason: All of them (and laughs)
Chris: All of them, nearly 30 people with 3 buses and 3 trailers.
Sound Check: And your hitting some great locations that you, or your touring partners may not have had the chance to play. I know you started out East with 3 shows maybe tell us about the start of the tour?
Jason: The east coast was great, a lot of tours start in the east. We have had a great following in the east since we began. Radio has always been on board with our singles and it’s kinda like our second home us you know. Its a bit of a haul to get there but once your down there its got such a vibrant music community. Its intimidating though because there are so many great musicians down there. We saw one of our friends Matt Anderson he was in town playing. He came out to one of our acoustic performances and we are just such big fans of his. It seems like everyone on the east coast is just dripping with talent.
Sound Check: Whats it like being on the road with Doc Walker and Blackjack Billy?
Clayton: Horrible, worst mistake of our careers (he says with a smile)
Jason: Awful…
Chris: Those guys are NOT easy to get along with (grinning like the Cheshire Cat)
Clayton: No its been great, they are a lot of fun to hang out with. I have know Chris (Thorsteinson of Doc Walker) since 1995, that’s a longtime. But we have never been on a tour like this before.
Sound Check: 3 bands on one tour. It’s the best bang for your buck across any genre right now.
Jason: It’s incredible man, its a night of non stop hits. Its 3 great bands that put on a really fantastic show. You sure are getting more than 3 times your ticket value.
Sound Check: With the Hammers success north of the border, are there any plans to head south?
Jason: Ya we just started hearing our song on Sirius XM The Highway, and apparently that fire is started to get ignited again.
Clayton: If they will have us! (Smiling)
Sound Check: I was chatting with Thomas Rhett earlier this year while he was in Toronto and he mentioned your song Mud, and thought it was damn catchy.
Jason: Interesting, when we started playing his dad was the young hit maker on the radio Rhett Aikens, and now Rhett’s writing all these hit songs for Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton. He is part of the group called the Peach Pickers, which is 3 guys that write all the time. So its pretty neat seeing Thomas Rhett tearing up the charts and appreciate him listening to us.
Sound Check: Venue that your most excited to playing this tour?
Clayton: I am really looking forward to playing my home town of Edmonton its going to be great. And the Commodore would probably be my other one. That’s one of my favorites in Canada.
Sound Check: That’s what I hear from a lot of artists, that the Commodore is just one of those legendary places. Much like The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto.
Jason: Well, Clay’s on the air in Edmonton. And he basically owns the town so he says we can pretty much do what ever we want and won’t get arrested.
Clayton: Ya no worries guys.
Sound Check: Funny that was my next question… who is most likely to get arrested on the tour..
Both Jason & Chris point at Clay. Laughing of course
Clayton: I made it out of Montreal unscathed so we should be good now.
Sound Check: The online world, compared to hard album sales. Getting a spin down on XM Radio obviously would see a spike in downloads. I know the labels say its like gold getting on rotation.
Jason: Ya, XM/Sirius Satellite its amazing. I remember one of our first forays into the US we went down to Sirius at the Avenue of the Americas and they had just signed Howard Stern and they were refurbishing the whole Penthouse Suite and we did this acoustic set for them and it was just amazing. So we made some really good friends in the Satellite world right off the bat and its been a great relationship since then. For them to now pick up Hillbilly Highway which is a complete Clayton Bellamy idea for a song by the way or I should say cool cover. Its real humbling its literally thee market you want to tap.
Clayton: We spent a lot of time down in Nashville and the music community down there welcomed us with open arms and treat us great. Its great to be a part of that fabric. I know as a kid growing up it was always just to be in Nashville and be part of that scene and when you hear about Thomas Rhett or Dierks Bentley or other people that know and appreciate what you do. It really means a lot. That affirmation that were on the right track.
Sound Check: Interesting, because Dierks Bentley’s name has come up quite a bit in my interviews lately with Dallas Smith, Tim Hicks etc. Being a huge support of Canadian artists.
Jason: Well, Dierks has had some support from our good friend Deric Ruttan from Bracebridge Ontario who wrote no less than 2 or 3 of his big hits. And Deric has written hit songs for artists like Eric Church and Gary Allen so there is a really great contingency of songwriters in Nashville from Canada. I think , well at least my hypothesis if I can use a big word. Is that our country music is born in folk music and its a very lyric driven thing. We grew up listening to the Gene MacLellans and the Gordon Lightfoots of the world spinning these beautiful stories. I somehow think, that’s found its way into the popular writing of our young.
Sound Check: Country Music is more about the attitude I think you mentioned in a previous interview.
Clayton: Ya, Country music has been evolving. I was talking about this the other day what’s on the radio now isn’t what was on the radio in 1994 when Garth Brooks came around. It’s very much popular music is what it is. It’s the mind set and the attitude that makes country music.
Sound Check: And its grown tremendously in the last 5-7 years.
Clayton: I feel its having a resurgence like it did in the 90’s when Garth Brooks and Clint Black hit the scene and it kinda reignited and the scene exploded with the likes of Shania Twain and kinda went WOW and now its doing that again.
Sound Check: Thanks fellas, good luck tonight. Really appreciate it.
So the Bands on the run tour is in Regina tonight and tomorrow (Dec 8&9) and then off to Saskatoon, Calgary, Vernon and finally the final date of December 15th with JRFM at the Commodore.
Jason McCoy and Clayton Bellamy goofing around on stage