Say what you will about Florida Georgia Line. Call them the Nickelback of country music. Disparage bro-country as a genre. Tell me FGL isn’t even “country”: fine. The truth is, the way this winter is going, I’d give almost anything to jump into the video for “Sun Daze” for three minutes and six seconds.
That video (more than 6 million views) has it all: swimming pool, drinks, sunglasses, a slip-and-slide, inflatable guitars, sumo wrestling, people wearing animal costumes. (It’s the equivalent of the kitchen-sink music, in a sense, which is slightly reggae-ish, with acoustic guitars, high harmonies, whistling and a sizable dobro break.)
And anyway, Tyler Hubbard (from Georgia) and Brian Kelley (or BK, from Florida) might not care if you approve; “Cruise,” a 2012 single from their EP “It’z Just What We Do,” is officially the top-selling digital song of all time, with over seven million units moved. (Nelly remixed it.) FGL has opened for Taylor Swift, and last year they tagged along with Jason Aldean. But the current Anything Goes Tour marks their first full year of headlining arenas, which means they’re enjoying themselves on an even larger scale.
Florida Georgia Line arrives at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville on Saturday, Feb. 21, at 7:30 p.m. I spoke with Kelley about the current tour, what he and Hubbard grew up listening to, and finding meaning in the lyrics of “Sun Daze.”
CTNow: How’s the tour going so far? Are you enjoying yourselves?
Brian Kelley: Man, it’s a dream come true. To be out here, to look around and see the production, the buses, everything’s ours. It’s a big responsibility, I really do feel like Tyler and I have been well prepared the past couple years for this moment. Opening for Taylor Swift, all those people that we’ve looked up to and admired, who’ve kept their head on straight and know how to run a tour business. So we’ve learned a lot, and we’re just having a good time, now that the planning’s done and the shows are here, it’s time to enjoy and party. And it’s exciting.
CTNow: With all that in mind, I wondered how much of the band is really still about the partnership between you and Tyler that you started so many years ago. How much is Florida-Georgia line still about the initial partnership that you started? Is it still the two of you making all the decisions?
BK: Tyler and I are the bosses, no doubt, but we definitely have an amazing team, and that’s what team FGL is. We’re the two guys, but we’ve surrounded ourselves with an amazing crew, band, everybody out here on the road, our team back in Nashville works so hard. So it’s not just Tyler and I, we’re calling a lot of the shots, but at the same time, we’ve got an amazing team that helps us out, helps direct us, but at the end of the day, we’ve gotta okay everything and nothing really goes on without us knowing.
CTNow: I think that there’s a perception out there that anyone working in what’s called country music grew up listening to a strict diet of country music. But that’s not the case with you and Tyler right?
BK: It actually is the case, but I guess the case is a little bigger because I’m very very knowledgeable in country music history, and grew up in 90’s country and things like that. But also, our demographic, the way that we grew up, our friends, we were mixing up rock, hip hop, Christian music, country. At the time you could put anything on one CD, put it in a booklet, bring it in your car and you can go from Tim McGraw to Eminem, to Lil Wayne, back to Alabama, and it was awesome. So that’s still kinda what we do, but the way we’ve approached our music is really take our natural impulses and get in a room, and just try to create. Don’t try to force anything that sounds like it’s already on the radio, we just get in there and let everything happen organically, and let your natural talents come out when they come out.
CTNow: The band’s trajectory points to breaking with, whatever people’s conceptions of country music are. Are there people who are just holding on too tightly, in your opinion, to this outdated conception of what country music is and what it is not?
BK: Yeah, what country music is, and music in general, is ever evolving. If we sounded like Johnny Cash, we wouldn’t have a job. So, and that argument goes on and on and on. We were having this argument when Garth popped off back then, he came out late ’80s early ’90s, he was on fire. I mean, he’s on fire ever since then, but even Alabama in the ’80s. People were saying that they were threatening country music. They weren’t country. But it’s the common working folk, is relating to a group or a song, I think that’s country music. If a lot of people are relating to it, country music’s not just a sound anymore. It’s a lifestyle. So the music’s always gonna evolve, but I think if you’re staying relevant in terms of lyrics and lifestyle, then I think you’re fine, and we’ve tried to chase what’s real to us and what’s real to our fans, put 20 to 50,000 people in a spot and watch them sing our songs, you can’t argue with us that it’s not country music.
CTNow: In some of your songs, like “Sun Daze,” there are references to the ways that people actually enjoy themselves: playing flip-cup and cornhole, certain beverages that people enjoy. Actual, specific beverages. When you’re writing songs, is there an effort to kind of keep your finger on the pulse of what people actually do, and does that become more difficult as time goes on?
BK: Yeah, I think so. And at the same time, we gotta have a finger on the pulse of what we’re doing and what’s real to us. And what we see, because putting things like cornhole in a song, we’ve been playing cornhole for years, so has everybody else, you look out in the parking lot of our shows, anybody’s shows, or just in the middle of the summertime not at a show, people are playing cornhole, mixing up drinks, having a good time, so we just write what we know and write what’s relevant, and I think there is a fine line between commerciability and what’s real, and I think you have to have your finger on that pulse.
CTNow: Your lifestyles are changing, you’re getting older and more successful, you maybe don’t do everything that you did 10 years ago or five years ago, or maybe you do. Is there a growing sense that you need to reflect what you’re doing now and what you’re doing next?
BK: I think that Tyler and I are more focused now that the tour’s here and everything’s kinda — we’re rocking. It’s kinda like “what’s next?” We’re playing some things, we’re already writing for record three, we’re staying to us. If we don’t have the songs, we don’t have anything. The songs are what have propelled us to where we are. The connection with fans, radio, working harder than everybody else, and not taking no for an answer, and really grinding out. That’s what separated us, not to mention the amazing team that we have. So we’re very very lucky, very blessed, and like you said, we’re not focused on the success or the awards, that’s all a byproduct of what’s happened, but we’re determined to keep this thing on the road and keep it a party.
CTNow: Was there any concern on your part about referencing weed when you were writing “Sun Daze?” Or was it kind of a secret thrill, like “wait until people hear this.”
BK: Um, no, pretty much the day that we wrote that we knew we were gonna put that in there, and if we had any issue, we already had the alternate which was “stay home.” So, we’re all about getting our songs played on the radio, we love that. It’s a blessing, it’s an honor for us, we have a great relationship with our radio friends, so if they felt offended, hey, we got an alternate version, it’s all good. And to be honest, we don’t really reference marijuana, all we say is get stoned. Stoned you can take that any way you want, you can take that as a lot of different things from a lot of different people. You can be stoned in a daze, just chilling. So it’s how you take it, but for us if you’d like to not take it as a marijuana reference, then we put “stay home,” so either way it’s good.
CTNow: What can we expect from the show?
BK: We’re going big, baby. It’s gonna be a nonstop party. The theme of the tour is Anything Goes. We’ve got a magician. Everything’s bigger, brighter, louder than you’ve ever seen with us. The set’s longer. We really feel like record two, getting these new songs added into the set, has given us, our band, our fans a new life and new energy, and we can’t wait to do this all year long.
FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE performs on Saturday, Feb. 21, at 7:30 p.m. at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, with special guests Thomas Rhett and Frankie Ballard. Tickets are $65-$85. Information: mohegansun.com.
