2023 marks the ten year anniversary of Restless Road since the band came together on The X Factor. They do say Nashville is a ten year town so maybe this year will see them scale new heights? If new single, ‘On My Way’ is anything to go by, they are starting 2023 off in style. Released last Friday (20th January), ‘On My Way’ is possibly their best song yet.
We caught up with Zach Beeken, Garret Nichols, and Colton Pack backstage in Birmingham on their recent tour with Kane Brown to talk the last ten years, the next ten and all things ‘On My Way’.
Great to meet up and talk to you guys, thank you for your time on show day, which I know is very busy.
Of course, no worries at all, thank you for coming out to speak to us.
How was the journey over and how is the jet lag?
Honestly, this has been the worst jet lag that we’ve ever had, worse than even when we went to Australia. It took us at least two full days to get acclimated and I feel like we are not even there yet! We’re still staying up till 3am every night after the shows.
How are you finding the UK crowds?
Unbelievable! Amazing. So good. You never know what to expect, especially when you go overseas and leave your little bubble of the USA. Everybody has been super-receptive and it’s been shocking to see just how many people know the lyrics to our songs.
You’ll find a good chunk will know all the words to ‘On My Way’ even though it only came out today!
That would not surprise us at all after what we’ve seen this week. That would be incredible.
The crowds here, so many artists from Nashville tell me, are much more appreciative of the music because they get much less Country music compared to the crowds back home.
We literally have had this conversation both in Australia and this week in the UK. Country artists from the States don’t get overseas as much as we would like to do, for sure. We all take for granted back in America, that we can generally see who we want to see when we want to see them, right?
You can tell fans and the crowds are so tuned in to the shows here as it may be the only time they get to see you for years and years.
Restless Road is ten years old this year! Happy anniversary! I know only Colton and Zach were in the band ten years ago but if you could go back and give yourselves a piece of advice, what would you tell your younger selves?
Zach: It might be the best worst advice you could give but I would say, just keep doing what you’re doing. It sucks to hear it but it’s true and that’s what ‘On My Way’ is about really. Life is always about putting one foot in front of another, you are really never going to be ‘there’. Try and accept that you are going to have your ups and your downs, so buckle on in for the ride!
Garret: I’d also tell myself you are never going to make it to be six feet tall! (laughing) I thought I was going to be a pro-sports star and that I would hit a growth spurt. I’d tell myself to quit playing football because it’s just not gonna happen!
It’s ‘On My Way’ release day. What a great song. The verses remind me a little of Billy Joel’s ‘Piano Man’, that kind of lilting melody. Did you know you were on to something special when you wrote it?
It’s a special song for us, the lyrics really resonate with us. It’s quite an emotional song. I hope it has that effect on us for the rest of our lives because it’s so impactful right now and we hope it still has that effect on us twenty years from now.
We recorded ‘On My Way’ literally almost two years ago to the day! It’s one that we’ve been really excited to share with people and we’ve been waiting for the right time to get it out there. 2022 was a pretty busy year for us but heading into the new year we wanted to create a new chapter for Restless Road and ‘On My Way’ is the perfect song with which to launch that next phase we think. Each one of us takes a verse and each verse is very personal to us.
You’re going to get more music from us than you have ever had before from us this year!
Is there a bigger body of work coming down the line from you guys this year then? You released your last EP just before the pandemic, which was unfortunate timing.
(laughing) Yeah. We’re still kinda scarred by that! (laughing)
We have so much stuff already recorded and we are working on new songs constantly but we’re just not sure what format they will be released in right now. We definitely will have more new music coming out this year than we have ever put out before. We’re gonna give people more music than they probably even want ! (laughing)
Given you’ve had ‘On My Way’ recorded for two years, is it frustrating to have to wait to release new music?
There’s a time and a place for every song. It can be frustrating having to wait when you know that you have something really good. There’s a moment for every single song. We still have 6 or 7 songs recorded that we haven’t put out yet. There are plans to go back into the studio and record some more in March. It might come out as an album, an EP or we might just continue to roll out singles.
When you’re writing do you have defined roles in terms of melodies and lyrics or does it just depend on each song on an individual basis?
We have super hero names. The Ideas Man, the Executor and the Enforcer! (laughing) We get inspiration from pretty much everywhere. That’s what’s cool about us – we love to watch movies & listen to people talk and write about them.
It’s great to be in a group with other guys because you can play off each other’s strengths. Colton grew up listening to a whole different type of music that he liked and so did me (Garrett) and Zach, so there’s a lot of influences in the mix for us. We can bring in an idea and all interpret it in different ways, which is pretty cool.
From a mental health perspective, if one of you is having a down day, it must be cool to be around two other guys that can lift you up. I guess solo artists don’t have that?
It makes this experience and adventure so much more fun and easy to handle. Touring is tough, being away from your family and friends, right? We’re also working in a career where it feels like we are trying to win the lottery! It can be kinda hard on your mental health because there’s a pressure on you all the time, sometimes self-imposed pressure if a song or an album doesn’t do what you were wanting or expecting it to do.
We all lean on and support each other and it makes it so great being together. Lots of people think we are brothers when they meet us, which we are obviously not, but we do have a brotherhood between us.
Kane Brown has been such a great mentor and friend to you guys over the years. If you had to buy him a present to say thanks, what on earth do you get Kane Brown?
Colton: It’s the toughest thing to get a gift for somebody who could have whatever he wants if he chooses. Kane, and a lot of people don’t know this about him, has a very sentimental side. We’d probably go down the path of getting him something that means a lot to him rather than something flashy.
We’ve been out on the road touring with him since 2020 so it would be cool to get him a picture with some of our favourite moments on it.
Zach: Alternatively, we could just get him a 12 pack of Coors! (laughing)
Garret: Or I think we’d get him some Rumple Minze (it’s a strong peppermint schnapps!)
Zach: As you say, Kane is a guy that could have anything in the world that he wants but he sticks to what he likes. Chicken tenders in a restaurant, you know, he likes what he likes.
Our review of the Restless Road / Kane Brown show from Birmingham, UK is right here
