The Eli Young Band has had the opportunity to share the stage with names like Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts and Tim McGraw, but headlining their own shows in smaller venues is where the Texas natives feel most at home. For the past few months, they’ve been traveling the country on their Winter Tour and on March 4th they made a stop in Connecticut at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den. New England Country Music was fortunate enough to get to talk to drummer, Chris Thompson about their CT show, their tour, new music, and more.
Headlining their own tour means a lot to the guys, Chris explained. “The band started 15 years ago. We were headlining our own shows for the better part of 10 years and then had some national success and got the opportunity to be support on a lot of big tours, and that was a blast,” he said. “But it’s kind of built into us to do our own shows. We’re not the best at putting on a 30 minute opening set… We’re used to kind of spreading out a little bit and playing longer. That’s really where we thrive.” In addition to playing a longer set, the Eli Young Band also loves the feeling of knowing that everyone came to see them. “You know all the people in the front row are there for the headliner, they’re here for us, it makes it a real joy,” said Chris, who described how the guys enjoy looking out as the doors open and people rush to the front to claim the best spot. “It’s very gratifying.” Fans have shown up and packed the Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun time and time again for the Eli Young Band, and Friday’s show was no different. The great crowd is one of the reasons the EYB continues to return to the Connecticut casino. “It’s a really cool place from the big room to the Wolf Den,” said Chris. “It seems like it’s kind of a getaway spot for a lot of people as opposed to their local venue or their local bar.” The guys have noticed that the crowd at Mohegan Sun is always eager to be entertained and they’re consistently enthusiastic. They always come to the shows ready for a good time, which is precisely what the band aims to deliver. “We found that if we’re having fun on stage then the audience is going to have fun,” Chris said describing their live shows. “The band is obviously four best friends who’ve been together forever,” he said, adding, “We’ve been doing it for so long we just enjoy getting up there with each other.”
The guys like to keep things fresh by changing up the set every few weeks and they’ve been starting to incorporate some brand new music into the setlist. “We just recorded about a month and a half ago and we’re starting to put some of those new songs in the set, so we’ll play all the songs that people know and then some older stuff and then some brand new stuff.” It’s exciting for Eli Young Band fans to hear new music since their last album, a four-song EP, ‘Turn It On,’ was released almost a year ago. “We’re just now, like as of last night, getting a few mixes in, so we’re at the kind of mixing stage of the record process,” Thompson explained. “After that we’ll get with the label and decide a single and we’ll get all the dates together.” Although it sounds like quite a lengthy process, Chris assured us that the wait shouldn’t be too long, “We’ll have new music coming out within the next couple of months,” he affirmed. “There should be a new single out in about a month.”
The Eli Young Band has seen some incredible success with their past singles – in 2012 the band won an ACM Award for ‘Crazy Girl,’ and the band’s follow-up single, “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” became their second No. 1 and was certified platinum. Many of the Eli Young Band’s accomplishments, such as these, are a result of the band’s talent and strong work ethic, which they’ve continued to keep up while working on their latest project. “The reason why we got to where we have been was trusting our guts and working hard and recording and writing the best music that we can,” Thompson explained. “To endure and to make a career out of this, we just gotta keep doing the same thing. That doesn’t mean recording the same songs or the same types of songs, it means just keep working hard and trusting our guts. So, pressure’s off.” It may come as a surprise to hear, but all four of the guys have a tendency to agree on all of the big decisions. “Stuff like what label should we sign with and what song should be a single, that kind of thing, we tend to lean the same way,” Chris explained. But they’re a band of best friends who act more like brothers, so of course the guys have the occasional argument. Thompson mentioned that they tend to fight about “dumb stuff,” like what cover song to add to their set. When they do have a disagreement, their solution is quite simple – if three of the four guys agree on one thing then the fourth guy is overruled, Chris explained laughing.
One thing the guys can always agree on is getting out on the road as much as possible. As spring is right around the corner, the Winter Tour must inevitably come to an end, but that doesn’t mean the EYB has plans to kick back and relax. “We’re just continuing it out. I mean, we’re a road band. We’re out on the road basically every week so even when we don’t have a packaged tour together, you can usually find us at some kind of honky tonk somewhere playing songs,” Chris said. “We can sit in a rehearsal space, you know, for nine hours every day and work on new music, but if we can’t go play it it just gets really old and boring to us,” said Thompson expressing how much the guys truly love what they do. Their genuine passion shines through undeniably, so much so that although the guys have laid low the past year, they still received a nomination for Vocal Group of the Year at the ACM Awards. Thompson described their reaction to the news. “It was incredible. You know, we’ve had number ones and some big selling singles and all that in the past, and last year we really didn’t have all of that. So it was a really big surprise because we didn’t know we were on the radar,” he said, adding, “In this industry you have to stay fresh and keep competing and kind of always be there, so it makes it even more of an honor when we’re just recognized for doing what we do.”
It seems that The Eli Young Band has found just the right recipe for a successful, long-lasting career. Aside from their indisputable talent, Mike, James, Jon & Chris are humble and relatable to fans. The guys take pride in the connections they’ve made with their fans and in honoring those relationships, they take every chance they get to meet fans at shows. “We’re fans of a lot of people and we know what it’s like to get to walk in a room and take a picture,” said Chris. So whether it be a formal meet and greet or just hanging out at a bar after a show, the EYB is always willing to say hi, take photos, or sign merchandise. As they hit the road this summer and release new music, we’re predicting that their meet and greet line is going to get a lot longer – and rightfully so. Between their collection of hits and their down-to-earth attitude, what’s not to love? We look forward to hearing more from the Eli Young Band as they continue to conquer country music.