As precious as it is to be “daddy’s little girl,” to be that little girl’s daddy is an even bigger honor, just ask Chris Ramos and Ben Chism. The sense of pride that comes from fatherhood is something that binds the duo, while their love of music and fun is another, making way for their new country band BoomTown Saints.
Set to release their debut single “All Trucks Go To Heaven” next Friday (7/15), we recently caught up with Chris to talk about how he and Ben met, how BoomTown Saints became a reality, that new single and more.
CN: For our readers who may not be familiar with you, can you tell us a little bit about yourselves?
Chris: First and foremost we are both proud girl Dads. It’s the single greatest title we could ever have. Beyond that, Ben grew up in Mississippi and I have been in Nashville for the majority of my life (after living in Southwest Florida earlier in life). We met at a local gym and became buddies even before we realized we have a common interest in music. Ben was a solo artist at the time and he needed a bass player for a last minute show in Athens, GA in August of 2018. I searched for two weeks without any luck, and eventually Ben told me (and I quote): “I just need somebody to stand there and hold a stick and make it sound good.” Having been an artist in the past who played guitar and sang, I told him I would do it for one show. By the time we walked off stage we were booked to come back. That happened two more times in subsequent weeks and we realized we may be onto something with the combo, so we started the nearly four-year journey that has landed us here.
CN: You both share a long love of music, but also a common background with interests in the medical field. How did you end up completing the circle and returning to your first love?
Chris: I’ve always had a love for playing and performing, but in my early 20’s I entered the corporate world and made a run through healthcare and ultimately ended up as a consultant for pharmaceutical companies helping them navigate regulatory, technology, and organizational challenges they faced in launching new products. In the year prior to meeting Ben I had slowly begun dabbling in performing again and starting to capture a following in some spots across the southeast US, but had no plans to go full-time into chasing music again. As for Ben, he was finishing up his undergrad and planning on going into medical school when he entered the Texaco Country Showdown on a dare. He ended up finishing in the top 10 in the Southeast US and (with his mother’s blessing) decided to move to Nashville and chase his dream. He was signed by an independent record label and had some solo success. He was contemplating retiring from performing and going back to medical school at the end of 2018, but then the whirlwind August/September mentioned above happened and we both had a course correction and decided we had a future in music as a team. The momentum never seemed to fade and that momentum has turned into our dreams being fully resurrected and coming to fruition. Our gratitude for a second chance at our dream shows up every night during our performances. We are known for high-energy shows and you will see us laughing and joking around with each other on stage a lot. Our journeys make it so we will never take this life for granted.
CN: How did the two of you come to work together? When did you realize that you had something special that had to be pursued?
Chris: Our journeys back to music from the medical field and the way we came together as a duo are one in the same. I think the moment we realized we could be something more than just a fun cover band with a decent following in a few cities was in 2019 when we played back-to-back shows at the same venue in Columbus, OH. We had never traveled to Columbus before and did not have a following there. On Friday night we played the venue and it was roughly half full. On Saturday night we showed up 30 minutes before the doors opened and there was a line 50 yards long waiting to get in. They reached capacity within the first 20 minutes of doors opening and had to turn people away until we left the stage three hours later. Up until then we knew that we could throw a fun party, but we had never played in a city two nights in a row. If we had any doubts about our potential prior to that, they were put to rest that night.
CN: Boomtown Saints. Gotta admit, the first time I read this my mind automatically saw Boondock Saints. What is the story behind your duo’s name?
Chris: Our original name was “Hopscotch Mafia.” In 2021 we were looking to have something that matched the way we evolved over the course of three years. While Hopscotch Mafia matched our overall vibe when we first became a team (we were highly unique and it was difficult to place us as artists), over time our image and sound has been refined. When we landed on BoomTown Saints we were aware there would be comparisons drawn to Boondock Saints, and it’s flattering to be mentioned in the same breath as a cult classic such as that movie. Some individuals around us even suggested we should name ourselves Boondock Saints as a nod to its success and cultural status, but there were multiple challenges we foresaw with taking that approach. When we were thinking through words that described us as both individuals and a team, we wanted to have a name that recognized the advancement we have made both professionally and personally. To be sitting in the studio with a Grammy award winning producer, a manager who is among the elites in the city of Nashville, recording an EP with a team who believed in us, and finally discussing what name we would want to see our career be built around was surreal. We have a firm belief that our decisions individually to continue to move forward and to keep our lives centered around our faith in God brought immense blessings. Enter: BoomTown. A Boomtown is defined as “a town undergoing rapid growth to sudden prosperity.” That is how Ben and I feel this journey has transpired for us. From seeing a dream fade to being where we are is nothing short of a blessing and dream come true. While we in no way consider ourselves “Saints,” we felt like we had an opportunity to be able to keep our faith front and center even within the first thing everybody will know about us … our name: BoomTown Saints!
CN: Your style mixes country and country rock. Which artists have influenced your sound and how have you made sure to put your own stamp on it?
Chris: Our influences are broad. They include Garth Brooks, Brooks and Dunn, Kenny Chesney, George Strait, Boyz II Men, Brian McKnight, Foo Fighters, Kings of Leon, NEEDTOBREATH, and George Benson, among others. At the heart of our creative process we are very intentional about keeping the purity of country music present. Country music provides an emotion that we believe is not replicated by other genres. However, we cannot disregard the influences that ultimately created the BoomTown Saints. You can hear many of the rock influences in songs such as “Don’t Get Caught” and “Blacktop Don’t.” You can hear more of the R&B influences in songs such as “Follow” and “She Does.” We are also intentional about pulling various pieces from these genres into our live shows. However, at our core, we are southern boys who love ’90s country music, and that’s what our musical world will always revolve around.
CN: Songwriting is a big part of who Boomtown Saints is. Can you take us through your songwriting process?
Chris: The beauty in country music is its purity. Not only does the country genre tell the best stories, but most of the songs are rooted in real life experience. Our songwriting process always begins with having a topic we feel strongly about. Whether it be something deep such as not realizing you’re running out of time with somebody until you lose that person as told through our song “365”, or something lighthearted such as meeting somebody who is clearly not from the country but knowing they would fit right in because they have a country kind of soul like we discuss in our song “Small Town Streets,” it has to be something we feel and believe. We constantly throw out ideas to each other, and every now and then one surfaces that rises to the top of the list. When that happens we tend to trade lyric ideas back and forth via text or voice notes, and then we will sit down and write for a few hours. We always end up walking away and refining the song over the course of the next few days, but by the time the process is complete we have something we believe in. Just like any songwriter, not all of the songs will resonate with the masses, but it is always a song that speaks to us on some sort of emotional level whether good or bad.
CN: Do you prefer to write together or solo?
Chris: Writing together provides a unique take on content and melodies given our range of influences. Writing together is always the preference, even though schedules sometimes require that we write solo.
CN: Have you found yourself writing more during the pandemic?
Chris: Absolutely. We had such incredible momentum going into the pandemic that it felt like our dream was once again getting pulled out from under us. To prevent ourselves from allowing the abrupt pause to turn into an abrupt end we dove heavily into creating new content. It also allowed us plenty of down time to refine our creations.
CN: When did you discover that your voices harmonize so well?
Chris: Our first show in August 2018 was a pleasant surprise. It was cool to see how two individuals with very different sounds and skill sets could combine to make one voice. Ben has a buttery southern drawl that is its richest in his lower-to-mid register, and I have found over the years that my musical influences have trained my voice to be able stretch my upper register. As time has gone along we have been able to learn tones, how each of us say certain words, and identify where levels can be complimented. There was a natural synergy, but working together over time has allowed us to learn how to be even more cohesive.
CN: Country fans will be introduced to you with your debut single “All Trucks Go To Heaven.” What can you tell us about the single?
Chris: We love this song because it’s a new twist on a timeless topic: Love. Everybody has something that makes them feel free or has made them feel free in the past. It might have been a first car, a person, a place … or maybe a truck. As life tends to go we sometimes lose that thing or feeling. But every person who experiences that sense of freedom and then loses it longs to get it back. We are the type of people who believe that one day each of us will be reunited with that feeling. To us, that’s what this song represents. “All Trucks Go To Heaven” will be available on all platforms on July 15th and will begin to show up on the radio shortly after. The song was written by the incredibly talented Jeremy Bussey, Taylor Phillips, and Benjamin Stennis. When we were writing for our album we were asked to listen to this song and immediately fell in love. As artists, our responsibility is to release music that allows listeners to connect with an emotion. The way this song resonated with us we knew we had to share it with the world.
CN: With this release, can fans expect a debut album soon?
Chris: We will be releasing our EP in early 2023, and our full-length will be released shortly after. We have a second single scheduled to be released in October/November of this year that will provide our audience with a balanced view of who the BoomTown Saints are.
CN: If you could collaborate with any one artist, who would it be?
Chris: If we were forced to pick one, it would be Kenny Chesney. However, we would try to negotiate two so we could include Garth Brooks.
CN: What was the first concert you ever attended?
Chris: For me it was Earl Klugh (pronounced “clue”). I grew up on a lot of jazz and blues. Earl is a smooth jazz legend. For Ben it was Hootie & the Blowfish.
CN: If you could describe yourselves in one word, what would it be and why?
Chris: Daddys.
CN: What’s next on the horizon for Boomtown Saints?
Chris: We are hitting the road to support “All Trucks Go To Heaven.” We are continuing to write and record to make sure we have the strongest group of songs possible to present to the world, however, our bread and butter and the thing that helped us gain the momentum that led us to where we are now is our live show. Our favorite thing to do is walk on stage and help people forget about their “real life” problems for a little bit with our energy and overall happiness, and that’s what we are focused on doing now that “All Trucks Go To Heaven” is hitting the radio.
Pre-save “All Trucks Go To Heaven” here.
For more information on BoomTown Saints, visit their website www.boomtownsaintsmusic.com and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.