Inverness Gigs had a chat with Ross McEwen from ROADWAY about how things have gone and are expected to go as we enter 2013.
The road ahead is big, bright and beautiful for the boys from ROADWAY, but they haven’t arrived at this point without some serious obstacles in their way including a brush with death along the road.
After kicking off the year with a heart full of optimism, tragedy struck the band in May when guitarists Ross and Bod were involved in a near fatal crash on the notorious A9.
“The accident was devastating and nearly saw the end to both Bod and my lives, never mind our music careers. It’s certainly brought us together as people and as a band. Bod and I accepted our limitations and just got on with playing great shows with what we believe is a great band. We had an amazing team and crew around us, which we couldn’t have done without. Bod has a few years of recovery left and my leg injuries will be life long sadly, but bad times make better people so we got out there and flew the ROADWAY flag higher and stronger than before, and we are far from slowing down.” Ross explained.
As traumatic an incident like this can be to someone’s life, the boys have galvanized their collective experiences to push the band to bigger and better things in the future.
The highlight of 2012 without a doubt was the return of the band in August playing their first Belladrum Festival to a packed out tent. “I think I can speak for the whole band when I say our set at the Belladrum Festival, our first Scottish show after the crash, with one of the best crowds we’ve ever played to was a very emotional and powerful night for us.” Said Ross.
Building on the first EP, which was released in 2011, the band is currently working on some new material, which they hope to have released by late spring. Speaking on how successful the first EP has been, Ross told us that they have now sold CDs all around the world as well as downloads. “We have now sold in 17 countries, AM/FM and internet radio stations in some very strange places are playing us, I’ve done live interviews to stations in Australia and some very strong US press attention which has just been brilliant.”
On the new material, Ross commented “We have 6 songs so far, but I would like another one which is “radio friendly”. In addition, Dougie and I came up with a great idea to end the CD the other week. I like CDs being an experience from start to finish rather than simply individual songs, so this is being developed as an organic listening experience from when you press play to when the CD runs through.
I am hoping we will have finished recording by the end of January, then it goes to Germany for mastering with a release aimed for March/April in time for Festival season. We’re toying with the idea about releasing a video/single at the start of the year but we’ll have to see how things pan out.”
Ross has made a point of becoming ‘marketing savvy’ when it comes to promoting his band which has resulted in much of their success so far. He can now call some fellow established rock musicians as well as adult entertainment stars fans because of this tireless work (I bet Ross wished he could meet some of them in person!!). “Ron Keel who sang with KEEL has played us a few times on his Radio show in the US, that was very special, I saw a photo of Radio 1 DJ Greg James with the EP the other night online, former WWF diva Terri Runnels is a fan as well as global adult film star Holly Halston, so we thankfully have some very varied fans of the band. There are so many and we are so SO thankful, however the day I get the aok from David Coverdale I’ll open a bottle of red and be a very very happy man indeed!!”
In addition to ROADWAY, Ross and some of his band mates are playing a tour in the early part of the year with former ‘Bad Company and Friends’ guitarist Dave ‘Bucket’ Colwell as well as various other side projects. So I think it is safe to say that 2013 is not going to go by quietly for the lads. As Bad Company would say, ‘We can’t Get Enough’ from ROADWAY!
You can catch up with the band via ROADWAY Face Book page
