HOME ON THE ROAD
Shallow Side frontman happy to be back on tour
Eric Boatright is in the middle of a blizzard in New York.
Oh, and he’s about to freeze to death.
“We had to call in the big team and helicopter to get us out of here,” he quips during a recent phone interview. “We’re from north Alabama and not used to this weather. All kidding aside, I think our tour has been going well.”
Boatright is the lead singer of the rock band Shallow Side.
He, along with Cody Hampton, Seth Trimble and Heath Fields, make up the band.
The quartet is on its first tour of the year. And being on the road is a welcome change for the band.
“We’ve been off the road since November, and this is the longest we’ve been off tour,” he says. “That’s the longest we’ve been off tour. It felt lazy. Seeing the same city every day. Waking up and knowing where I was, it was just brutal. We’ve grown accustomed to being on the road. That’s where our hearts are. We enjoy meeting people around the country and sharing our music.”
Shallow Side is touring in support of its EP, “One.”
The band released the EP in January, and its first two singles made a mark on rock radio. The next single, “Can You Hear Me,” just went out to radio.
Boatright says the EP was originally going to be a full-length album. But after the band signed with Thermal Entertainment, the company wanted to push out an EP before a proper album. So the band was forced to scrap half of its songs.
“It’s always difficult to cut songs, because you become attached to them. The ones that were cut weren’t going to work for the feel of the album,” he says. “So we’re going back into the studio at some point this year to finish the album. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get some of the old songs back in a different form.”
Boatright says the trick is finding the time.
“We’re touring over 200 dates a year,” he says. “We’re hoping to get a break, but I feel like we’re going to write on the road.”