Radio Romance… sounds like name of a band in the 80’s, or maybe even early 2000’s (like a Green Day or a My Chemical Romance). However, Radio Romance is nothing like the latter. They are a country band focused on making music that is reminiscent of the 1980’s sound, with pop, traditional country/grassroots and soul underlying. They are the winners of the NASHNext contest and are jumpstarting their career by being signed under the famous record label umbrella known as Big Machine Records. Sam Hayes, the lead singer, took the time to introduce his band to New England Country Music, describe the beginning of their career, future plans, and more. We have a feeling New England is going to like this on-the-rise band…
The group got together in 2012 and have been writing songs and collaborating ever since. The sound of Radio Romance is rock, pop, country, and grassroots – a little bit of everything! It took time to morph into what they are today and their sound is accredited to the “…combination of [our] stories, growing up in different parts of the country evolving on its own in that direction.”
What really set their career in motion was their winning of the Cumulus Media NASHNext contest. The men of Radio Romance had been in and around the music industry for years prior. They joined the contest as an independent act coming out of Sony Music after their manager stumbled upon the opportunity. It was the first time they had entered a competition together. The group did not think in million years that they would win a contest that resulted in a record deal but “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” Hayes laughed. The NASHNext contest had a duration of about seven months and about 1,500 other contestants. The contestants would have to do challenges to edge out the other competitors. “We devoted a lot of time to that. We’ve lived in Nashville for almost a decade now so we’ve formed a lot of good relationships with amazing songwriters. So we think we ironed down a packaged product of what we want to sound like, look like and the overall music itself.” Radio Romance figured out who they were more than anything during that contest and that’s where Hayes thinks they stood out the most. Through the competition they got to connect with amazing artists and songwriters like Brooks and Dunn, Brantley Gilbert and Desmond Childs; which left them completely amazed. Hayes said that people from the areas that they used to play in would congratulate them on the contest and that they had their vote. This drew in more and more fans at their shows and voting for them in the contest. “What we took away from this was that it was much bigger than we thought it was and how much bigger than us it really was. We learned that this was our first big opportunity.”
Despite the new found success for Radio Romance, the band has been playing over 100+ a year to crowds of different capacities. They’ve had the opportunity to play in stadiums, as well as empty bars – both of which they’re thankful for. One of their favorite venues that they have played is down in Louisiana. “We were doing a casino gig,” Hayes said, “and the bar is built into the wall and right above it is the stage. You look up and the band is above you. It was weird, we felt like the puppets in a Chuck E. Cheese a little bit!” Another important place they’ve played was their first stadium gig with Lee Brice.
So where did they get the name ‘Radio Romance?’ Hayes informed us that it came from an old Eddie Rabbit album. The story behind deciding on that name, however, was not as cut and dry. “Here’s a little backstory: we used to play downtown in the honkytonks as a cover band. We were down at Legends Corner, at the intersection of 5th and Broadway. So we used to auction off our band name every night because we would name it something different or have fans name it something.” Of course the group knew that they needed to name their band eventually, so they got to thinking. “So we looked at the wall in Legends Corner which had a bunch of old 45’s from artists and came across that title. And we did some research; in the 80’s radio romance was the entire concept behind the 80’s country music movement. It was the first time that country became a very progressive art.” So there you have it! The men of RR love traditional, “aggressively progressive” country. The name Radio Romance is their ode to the classics.
Looking forward, Radio Romance plans to continue to grow their group under Big Machine Records – the label they dreamed of being on. The boys know they have a lot of work to do in a little amount of time, but they are ready to challenge their work ethic for the label. As far as the group itself, “we’re a very hands on group, so we’re super interactive on social media because we’re trying to build ourselves that way. We work our tail off so we’re going to continue to do that.” 2018 is already a promising year for Radio Romance as they got to perform on New Year’s Eve at the new Opry location with LOCASH in the heart of Times Square. Hayes said “of course we were besides ourselves getting to open for LOCASH. We love those guys. Persistence is the definition of the LOCASH story. And we got to play at the Opry location for the Opry folks, and it was amazing.” They will also be releasing a definite new single in the spring along with new music in some capacity. Check them out on Spotify with their ‘Sounds Of A Quiet Town’ EP.