Florida Georgia Line’s Brian Kelley has made a guest appearance on The Ty Bentli Show on Apple Music Country today, talking about his brand new solo project – the Wave Pack EP. Listen to the full conversation here.
Florida-Georgia Line’s Brian Kelley today guests on The Ty Bentli Show on Apple Music Country to talk about his brand new solo project, the Wave Pack EP, as well as future Florida-Georgia Line plans. Brian shares the story of how he knew it was time to embark on a solo project, and approaching Tyler about the idea. He also reveals brand new details on what to expect from the forthcoming FGL musical, including the music, which will include familiar songs by a multitude of artists along with originals from TreeVibez writers.
Brian Kelley on how his solo project came about:
“You know, this is something that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. COVID really gave us time that we’ve never had, man. You know, I took the summer off from probably May to August 25th, which I wrote the first song for this project called Boat Names. I kind of realized I was writing for me. I had been lucky enough to have some great outside cuts, a bunch of songs we’ve written for FGL and those are real and those are our babies. But, you know, when you slice it in half and I just do something for myself, man, it’s a really cool outlet and same with Tyler. Him doing his thing, and it only adds to FGL and what we do. So, I just wanted it to sound like me. I’ve been lucky enough to sing a bunch of different parts on all of our music. A little bit of lead, but a lot of harmonies, high, lows, some ooh’s some ahh’s and we do the thing and…coming at this from a place of gratitude. Man, I didn’t expect this all to happen. But, right when I felt like the door was opening after a couple of songs I had written, I said, “I think this is kind of my moment to see what I can do. And I think the timing kind of aligned, man. So I approached Tyler and just said, “Hey, I think … I wasn’t planning on it, wasn’t really trying. But, these songs are different to me.” So we created a really cool outlet, man, that’s in addition to what we’re doing already. We’re going to be touring later this fall, headlineing and stuff. But in between that it’s fun to, like you said, play around and life is short, man. You know, I think it’s important to honor our calling, to honor our creativity and our artistry, and for me that means, you know, I’ve got to … If there’s something stirring in my soul, I got to get it out.”
Brian Kelley on future FGL plans:
“We’re trudging forward, and nothing’s changed other than we’ve added some extra outlets for ourselves to create, and have fun, and collaborate with other people and just see what happens, man. Creativity is everything for us. It drives us, and I already feel extremely fulfilled, man. I feel very happy. And just that extra … It’s like the cherry on top, I guess, you know.”
Brian Kelley on the upcoming May We All musical he’s producing:
“It’s going to be kind of an array of different kind of music, man. We’ve got some originals that some of our writers with Tree Vibez have written, which is really cool, man. They just fit perfectly for the musical and the script and everything. Then there’s some big old hits of ours. There’s some big old hits of some other artists. I don’t want to ruin the story, but it’s … How would I put this? It’s a small town, big dream kind of storyline, man. It’s beautiful, it’s funny. It’s sad, it’s inspiring. It’s got all the fields.I got to be a part of watching a Zoom, craziest thing, a Zoom musical what it’s going to be like. And it was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. I’m sitting here hearing our songs that we kind of pitched for this and, you know, after we’ve gone through the script and how’s it’s going to go and I literally watched it on Zoom. So, that was pretty cool and just a little taste of what it’s going to be like. But, I don’t think we’re ever going to retire. I was talking to some older gentlemen recently, he’s like 83 years old and he’s like, “Don’t ever retire.” He’s like, “You’ve got to have something to keep you going.” Man, I know we’re still young and just thankful to be going and doing our thing.”
Brian Kelley on his new song “Made By The Water”:
“That’s a little love song kind of situation. Kind of a little love song, vacation song, you know. I can’t wait for you to see the video. Me and Brittany, my wife, was in it and it’s just kind of us starring in it. It doesn’t say that it’s reliving, it’s just a vacation, but the house we’re using we’ve actually vacationed in before. It’s this really cool cottage right on a coastal dune lake that’s overlooking the gulf. It’s just a beautiful … Beautiful shots in that video. Yeah, it’s feel good. Feel good vibe. I actually wrote that song sitting in Franklin, Tennessee at The Dark Horse Studio. Me and Brittney were staying in the little cabin cottage there for a couple of days randomly last fall. And I wrote it with Corey Crowder, and Randy Montana, and we wrote it over Zoom which is pretty crazy. Pretty quick. That was, like, probably the second, third or fourth song written from me taking a break. I knew that I wrote it … I was still … I was in that mindset of kind of making it for me. But it was so early on in the process I wasn’t really aware of what was going on. Then I do remember when Corey sent the demo, because we did a little voice memo work tape and then Corey sent a demo maybe four or five days later and it was fricking slamming. It was completely brought to life, a lot like what you hear now. And I was like, “Yeah, that’s mine.” Brian Kelly on his new song “Party on The Beach”: “…to be honest with you we freaking wrote that down in the Keys in Jimmy Buffett’s studio, party On the Beach, we wrote that. So, you know, we probably had a little extra inspiration from Jimmy on that one, man. I was down there in January with my little crew, my team and we did some fishing. I did some … Laid some vocals down in the studio and then we wrote like four songs. So, it was an incredible trip man. And there’s a lot of parties on the beach down here in Florida and all across this world. It’s good to get your feet in the sand and have some drinks and let loose and just be around good people, man.”
Brian Kelley on his fear of sharks despite loving the water:
“Man, I’m scared to death of sharks to be honest with you. That’s all I think about every time I go in the water, it’s kind of an issue…I went on a helicopter ride couple of months back over the Gulf here and you know they’re there. But then when you really see them from that view, man, it puts things into perspective. No, I love being in the ocean, the Gulf, any body of water I love. But, I’ve watched too much shark week probably, now I’m just a big ball of fear. But, no I get out there and surf, and get out there and lay out when it feels good. In the water, man, it feels good just to float, you know. Good for the soul.”
