Gainesville, FL pre-show article
From the Gainesville Sun:
Article published Feb 17, 2005
Pop goes country
Chart-topping trio Rascal Flatts toasts the O'Dome
With their tousled and spiky haircuts, soul patches and Converse sneakers, the members of Rascal Flatts don't look like your habitual country musicians.
Playing the O'Dome Friday with opener Blake Shelton, fresh-faced trio Gary Levox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney have incurred much criticism from country purists for their pop-infused, twang-lite approach to the genre.
But traditionalists can't argue with that old-fashioned path to success.
"We all push ourselves to the max, we do," said Rooney, who phoned in from the second leg of the band's 48-date "Here's to You" tour. "It's really easy to get complacent when you've had success and you've done well financially and want to take six months off, but you can always push yourself harder. We want this thing to be bigger than we can imagine. We want to win Grammys. We want to sell 100 million albums, like Garth did."
The hard work is working hard in return.
The band's 2002 release "Melt" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Country chart and has since gone Double Platinum. In 2003, Rascal Flatts received Vocal Group of the Year honors at the Country Music Television Awards and The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Awards - honors they secured again in 2003, in addition to winning Vocal Group of the Year at the 2004 Academy of Country Music Awards.
In October, their album "Feels Like Today" debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Pop 200 chart and its country chart. The single "Bless the Broken Road" is currently in the top spot on Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks and No. 33 on Billboard's Top 100 chart.
"We just want to leave something amazing behind in country music history, so our grandkids can look back and say we did this," Rooney said.
Rooney has already left an amazing behind in country music - baring his backside in the video for "I Melt" last fall and creating quite the fuss in the usually conservative country world.
"We're always on the left side, so we knew it would turn some heads," he said. "But we never dreamed it would start some controversy."
That "controversy," incidentally, is fully covered in press clippings willingly included in the band's media kit from Schmidt Relations.
The guys enjoy letting their rough (albeit soulful) edges rub against the country grain. "That's what country music has to have to stay alive: variety," Rooney said. "You have to be on the cutting edge. That's what brings in new fans."
Radio personality Mr. Bob of Gainesville's 97.3-FM, K-Country, agreed and attributed the trio's success to "their contemporary style, marrying that with country. It's drawing the younger folks in."
That appeal is one reason Darius Dunn, associate director of the O'Connell Center, solicited the band to be the first country show at the O'Dome since Tim McGraw sold 5,200 tickets there in 1997.
"As far as how they're being received, the numbers kind of speak for themselves," said Dunn. "It's been awhile since we've had a country show here, and the community is responding in kind."
As of Monday, the O'Dome had filled 6,200 seats for the Rascal Flatts concert and expected a capacity of around 7,500. (That number, Dunn said, might be even higher if George Strait weren't performing in Orlando on the same night.)
The country bar 8 Seconds is hosting the official Rascal Flatts after-party; coordinators anticipate about 350 people. Dave Sneed, security for 8 Seconds, planned to go to the show with friends, but, he said, "we're open, so I have to work."
While the show is selling well (chart-topping rapper Snoop Dogg filled about 4,600 seats on Feb. 4), Rascal Flatts' local stop did experience some preliminary glitches. Coors is the band's official tour sponsor, but the University of Florida's administration asked the band last month to pull the beer sponsor's name from all advertising, tickets and stage equipment or else cancel the show.
With initiatives to curb student drinking now a priority for UF, "the administration felt we would be best served not having Coors as a sponsor at this venue," Dunn explained. With the show date only weeks away, UF, Rascal Flatts and the band's promoter, Clear Channel, worked out a solution: no mention of Coors in exchange for waiving UF's $12,500 O'Dome rental fee.
"The band and Clear Channel understood and were very helpful. We were pleased with the results," said Dunn. The band's management could not be reached by press time for comment on the agreement.
In the phone interview before the Coors flap, Rooney made no mention of the band's beer drinking habits or lack thereof. Their more common vices? "Coffee, beef jerky and Madden Football," Rooney said. "It's a very bad combination."
He said the band also has taken a liking to the coconut-flavored liquor Malibu. "It's so foo-foo," Rooney admitted. "(Kenny) Chesney got us hooked on it. He's a foo-foo guy. He likes those pineapple drinks with Malibu. It's like 500 calories in a glass."
Article published Feb 17, 2005
Pop goes country
Chart-topping trio Rascal Flatts toasts the O'Dome
With their tousled and spiky haircuts, soul patches and Converse sneakers, the members of Rascal Flatts don't look like your habitual country musicians.
Playing the O'Dome Friday with opener Blake Shelton, fresh-faced trio Gary Levox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney have incurred much criticism from country purists for their pop-infused, twang-lite approach to the genre.
But traditionalists can't argue with that old-fashioned path to success.
"We all push ourselves to the max, we do," said Rooney, who phoned in from the second leg of the band's 48-date "Here's to You" tour. "It's really easy to get complacent when you've had success and you've done well financially and want to take six months off, but you can always push yourself harder. We want this thing to be bigger than we can imagine. We want to win Grammys. We want to sell 100 million albums, like Garth did."
The hard work is working hard in return.
The band's 2002 release "Melt" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Country chart and has since gone Double Platinum. In 2003, Rascal Flatts received Vocal Group of the Year honors at the Country Music Television Awards and The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Awards - honors they secured again in 2003, in addition to winning Vocal Group of the Year at the 2004 Academy of Country Music Awards.
In October, their album "Feels Like Today" debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Pop 200 chart and its country chart. The single "Bless the Broken Road" is currently in the top spot on Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks and No. 33 on Billboard's Top 100 chart.
"We just want to leave something amazing behind in country music history, so our grandkids can look back and say we did this," Rooney said.
Rooney has already left an amazing behind in country music - baring his backside in the video for "I Melt" last fall and creating quite the fuss in the usually conservative country world.
"We're always on the left side, so we knew it would turn some heads," he said. "But we never dreamed it would start some controversy."
That "controversy," incidentally, is fully covered in press clippings willingly included in the band's media kit from Schmidt Relations.
The guys enjoy letting their rough (albeit soulful) edges rub against the country grain. "That's what country music has to have to stay alive: variety," Rooney said. "You have to be on the cutting edge. That's what brings in new fans."
Radio personality Mr. Bob of Gainesville's 97.3-FM, K-Country, agreed and attributed the trio's success to "their contemporary style, marrying that with country. It's drawing the younger folks in."
That appeal is one reason Darius Dunn, associate director of the O'Connell Center, solicited the band to be the first country show at the O'Dome since Tim McGraw sold 5,200 tickets there in 1997.
"As far as how they're being received, the numbers kind of speak for themselves," said Dunn. "It's been awhile since we've had a country show here, and the community is responding in kind."
As of Monday, the O'Dome had filled 6,200 seats for the Rascal Flatts concert and expected a capacity of around 7,500. (That number, Dunn said, might be even higher if George Strait weren't performing in Orlando on the same night.)
The country bar 8 Seconds is hosting the official Rascal Flatts after-party; coordinators anticipate about 350 people. Dave Sneed, security for 8 Seconds, planned to go to the show with friends, but, he said, "we're open, so I have to work."
While the show is selling well (chart-topping rapper Snoop Dogg filled about 4,600 seats on Feb. 4), Rascal Flatts' local stop did experience some preliminary glitches. Coors is the band's official tour sponsor, but the University of Florida's administration asked the band last month to pull the beer sponsor's name from all advertising, tickets and stage equipment or else cancel the show.
With initiatives to curb student drinking now a priority for UF, "the administration felt we would be best served not having Coors as a sponsor at this venue," Dunn explained. With the show date only weeks away, UF, Rascal Flatts and the band's promoter, Clear Channel, worked out a solution: no mention of Coors in exchange for waiving UF's $12,500 O'Dome rental fee.
"The band and Clear Channel understood and were very helpful. We were pleased with the results," said Dunn. The band's management could not be reached by press time for comment on the agreement.
In the phone interview before the Coors flap, Rooney made no mention of the band's beer drinking habits or lack thereof. Their more common vices? "Coffee, beef jerky and Madden Football," Rooney said. "It's a very bad combination."
He said the band also has taken a liking to the coconut-flavored liquor Malibu. "It's so foo-foo," Rooney admitted. "(Kenny) Chesney got us hooked on it. He's a foo-foo guy. He likes those pineapple drinks with Malibu. It's like 500 calories in a glass."
posted by Nicole at 9:28 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home