Eli Young Band discusses new record

Q&A: Eli Young Band discusses new record, Kenny Chesney tour

At the end of the day, the Eli Young Band stays true to its country roots while experimenting with new sounds.

The quartet consists of lead vocalist Mike Eli, guitarist James Young, bass guitarist Jon Jones and drummer Chris Thompson. The band is known for hits such as “Crazy Girl,” which won an ACM in 2012, and “Even if it Breaks Your Heart.” Both went platinum.

The band is constantly working, and a new album is in progress for 2013. The group is touring with country star Kenny Chesney while playing a few headline shows here and there.

The Eli Young Band will be playing at the Bourbon Theatre this Friday. The band’s drummer, Chris Thompson, took time to talk with the Daily Nebraskan about the new record and tour.

Daily Nebraskan: How would you describe your band’s sound?

Chris Thompson: We are a country roots rock band at our core.

DN: Which one of your songs would you want a new fan to listen to when checking out your band for the first time? Why?

CT: I would want someone who was checking out our band for the first time to listen to songs like “When It Rains” and “Small Town Kid” from our “Level” record because those were some of our first songs to gain popularity before we started having radio success. We have a lot of pride in our long history as a band.

DN: You’ve opened up for a lot of big names in country music, including Miranda Lambert. How has experiences like that been when building a fan base and getting your music out there?

CT: Any time your band gets to play in front of a huge crowd or to play in front of a crowd that is there to see a headliner that isn’t you is a great opportunity to grow your fan base. We enjoy playing in front of people who don’t know who we are and winning them over.

DN: How’s the tour with Kenny Chesney going? What makes it different from past tours?

CT: The Chesney tour is the biggest and craziest tour we have ever been on. Kenny has given us the opportunity to play in stadiums in front of thousands of people every night. He is one of the most gracious people we have met in this industry. The Chesney tour is different for us from other tours because of the level of production involved. This is our first time touring with our own lights and stage sets.

DN: What can fans expect from this tour?

CT: Fans can expect to be completely blown away by this tour. The lineup is incredible and, musically, everyone has a different and cool thing going on. Kenny’s show is world class.

DN: How has the audience and fan reaction been on this current tour?

CT: Fan reaction to us on the Chesney tour has been wonderful. People are coming out early and singing along to our songs. It has been a blast.

DN: The past few years have been crazy for you guys with ACM nominations and wins. What has that experience been like for you?

CT: We have been a band for a long time and have had very steady and gradual growth. Over the past two to three years, things have accelerated quite a bit but because of our long history, we know to enjoy the success as it comes.

DN: You guys are working on a new album for 2013, how will this one differ from past records?

CT: We began working on a new record at the beginning of 2013. We are working with a new producer for the first time in two records. We are expecting to have a new and exciting sound on this album. I think our fans will be surprised.

DN: Any songs on the new album stick out to you? Why?

CT: We have started playing a song called “Drunk Last Night” off of the new unreleased album live. We love the song because it is about having one too many and questioning why you then reached out to someone from the past. I think we have all been there. When we recorded the song we were very excited, because it felt like the kind of track that we could walk out of the studio and play live that night. Audiences have been really digging it.

DN: What do you hope fans will get out of upcoming, new music?

CT: The new album is feeling really upbeat and, as always with EYB, there are a lot of songs about love. The past few years have brought us new families and success that we are very grateful for, and I think those themes resonate in our writing. Still, though, there are a few tracks that explore some darker subjects like regret and cheating. We always try to round out our albums so they take the listener through many emotions.

DN: What other plans do you have for 2013?

CT: In 2013 we will finish our new album and release a new single to country radio. We are crisscrossing the country with Kenny Chesney and adding in our own headlining shows on off days. Next fall we will go out on another headlining tour of our own.

Eli Young Band Dive Into Ocean Preservation

Tortuga Festival 2013: Eli Young Band Dive Into Ocean Preservation

The Eli Young Band will hit the beach this Saturday (April 13) with tourmateKenny Chesney and a diverse lineup of artists for Rock the Ocean's inaugural Tortuga Music Festival in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Rock the Ocean is teaming with the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation for the huge, two-day event to promote education and public awareness about the state of the world's oceans and the issues impacting them. For the guys in the Eli Young Band, being part of the event and helping preserve the oceans for future generations is pretty much a no-brainer, now that two of its members are parents themselves.

"All four of us love the water and the beach," Mike Eli tells The Boot, "and for all of us the Guy Harvey foundation and what they're doing for conserving ocean life is really important. We all enjoy spending time around the ocean, and it would be a huge disaster if we didn't conserve what we have."

"There needs to be that level of awareness about it too," adds EYB's Jon Jones, whose son Hudson was born on New Year's Eve. "If you look at the surface of the ocean it looks the same as it always has, but if you go a little further down things are drastically changing. And the band, we're starting to have kids and thinking about the next generation and what we're leaving behind."

"We definitely want our children to be able to enjoy the ocean like we have, and their children's children. As you get older and start having kids, you want to do more to help foundations like these so you can conserve it for your grandchildren," says Mike, whose baby daughter Kline was born last July.

The EYB will be part of a diverse, star-studded lineup of acts during the two-day eco-bash, which also includes Eric Church, the Avett Brothers, G. Love & Special Sauce, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Jake Owen, Kip Moore, and Grace Potter, among others.

As for their regular tour schedule, the guys are excited to be part of Kenny's massive No Shoes Nation tour. "Chesney is an artist who knows who he is, knows the finish line he's going towards and knows what kind of music he wants to make," says Mike. "We have a huge amount of respect for him as an artist. We've been fortunate to have a lot of great opportunities in our career but this is the biggest country tour there is right now, and Kenny believed in us enough to hire us for this tour, so we're very excited to get to be out there with him."

The Eli Young Band’s ACM

The Eli Young Band’s ACM-Nominated ‘Even If It Breaks Your Heart’

The Eli Young Band was handed an awesome surprise at last year’s Academy of Country Music Awards, when their hit “Crazy Love” was awarded Song of the Year. And at this year’s ACM Awards, the four bandmates (Mike Eli, Jon Jones, Chris Thompson, and James Young) have a solid chance of repeating that success–perhaps even twice over, as their Number One single “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” has been nominated for both Song of the Year and Single Record of the Year.
It was “a song that we really believed in, that we felt told out story,” Jon Jones told Radio.com about “Breaks Your Heart.” “We didn’t know if it was going to work on country radio because it’s such a passion song about playing music. And we were really lucky that people latched onto it and put themselves in the song.”
“Even If It Breaks Your Heart” was the Texas group’s second consecutive Number One country single, topping charts last July. (They had a third later that year, too, with their self-proclaimed “sappy love song” ”Say Goodnight.”)
Appearing on the group’s 2011 album Life at Best, “Breaks Your Heart” was written by Will Hoge and and Eric Paslay. (Paslay cowrote “Barefoot Blue Jean Nights” for Jake Owen and “Angel Eyes” for Love & Theft, among other songs, while Hoge has spent years as both a writer and recording artist, with a long string of independent album releases under his belt.)
As Mike Eli told Radio.com, the EYB members initially heard “Break Your Heart” on one of Hoge’s own albums. “When we talked about making the next record, that song just popped up. We knew right away that we wanted to put it on [our] record. Once it crossed our mind, we couldn’t get our brain off of it.”

 

Sugarland vs. Eli Young Band

Sugarland vs. Eli Young Band – Taste of Country March Bandness 2013, Round 1

This March Bandness matchup pits two active stars against one another in a battle to move on to Round 2. Sugarland has earned their ticket to the dance by being nominated multiple times in the Vocal Group category before becoming a duo in 2006. Even before Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush started working on their own, they were a powerful force in country music and well on their way to superstar status. 
The Eli Young Band guys have released some of the most creative songs of the past three years, and have been rewarded with ACM and CMA awards and nominations as well as back-to-back No. 1 hits and Platinum-selling singles. In a way, Mike Eli and company are still country newcomers, but longtime fans of the band know they’ve been hard at work for over a decade.
Who will win and move on to face either Rascal Flatts or Diamond Rio? It’s up to fans to decide. You’re allowed to vote once every hour. Any voter found to be outpacing that rule will be deemed ineligible, forfeiting their votes. Voting for the Round 1 matchups will end on Sunday, March 17 at 11:59PT ET.
The overall March Bandness winner for 2013 be announced on April 8, the day of the NCAA national championship basketball game.