BoomTown Saints, the popular new duo made up of Chris Ramos and Ben Chism, are releasing “Blacktop Don’t,” on Friday, April 21, but giving Everything Nash readers a first listen. The high-energy, uptempo song, written by Michael Tyler, Hunter Phelps, Ben Johnson, is from BoomTown Saints’ debut EP, scheduled to be released next month.
“The first time we heard ‘Blacktop Don’t,’ we knew we had to record it. We were looking for songs to round out our EP, and it immediately became our favorite song,” Ramos tells Everything Nash. “Like Ben often says, this song captures what it is to be at a BoomTown Saints show in an audio track. We have been anxiously awaiting being able to show the world the life our producers Noah Gordon and Gary Kraen were able to breathe into an already stellar song, and we are excited to be able to be the voices that put this song into the universe.”
Ever since they recorded “Blacktop Don’t,” BoomTown Saints have been excited to share the fiery track with their fans.
“It’s our summer jam,” Chism tells Everything Nash. “We’ve been waiting on this one for a couple of years. We’re really excited about this one coming out. It’s a boots-stomper, fist in the air, a summer-type song that’s gonna be on the EP. ”
BoomTown Saints didn’t set out to be a duo, at least at first. Chism was planning on being a solo artist, but when he needed someone to play in one of his shows, Ramos volunteered, and the rest is history.
“I was looking for somebody to play a show with me.” Chism recalls.. “I needed a bass player, so I asked him, ‘Hey, can you help me find somebody?’ I couldn’t find anybody. He was like, ‘I’ll come play.’ Well, he did something different in the show that night. He gets up there with an acoustic guitar and starts doing a bunch of different medleys, and all this kind of stuff. Before the end of the night, we got booked again.
“Then we did it again, and got booked and booked and booked,” he adds. “And finally I was like, ‘There’s something here. There’s something here. Let’s go for it.'”
At the time, Ramos was a consultant for a pharmaceutical company, but was eager to leave the corporate world and do something creative instead.
“I was a musician when I was younger, and I’ve always played and written, and I never stopped doing that,” Ramos shares. “I’d left it behind. I gave up the dream. So when I was doing it, I was chasing the corporate world. I rose pretty quickly in the ranks. Some people took chances on me that shouldn’t have because I was young. But they did. I moved up pretty quick, and so I never thought I’d leave it. I thought it was just next step, next step and then a detour happened. I welcomed it because I was burning out pretty quick.”
BoomTown Saints have a summer packed with shows while they also work on more music. Find “Blacktop Don’t” and all of BoomTown Saints’ music and upcoming shows at BoomTownSaintsMusic.com.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of 8 Track Entertainment / Michael Gomez