Listen To “Too Soon To Say Goodbye” here
“I’ve been a fan of Wayland for over a decade. Their camaraderie, dedication, and work ethic has never waned—it’s grown. Great stories. Great friends.
Now, even better music.”
– Greg “Free Beer” Daniels (Host of the nationally syndicated morning show, The Free Beer & Hot Wings Show, playing mornings on 102.9 The Buzz Nashville)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Nashville’s band to watch, WAYLAND releases “Too Soon To Say Goodbye” to streaming platforms everywhere today, Friday, March 24th. Listen to the track HERE.
“A good friend of the band’s reached out and asked if we would write a song that would help her mourn the loss of her brother who had recently passed away from cancer. We sat down with our friend and co-writer Brandon Ray (Warner Chappell) over Zoom and with the topic hitting so close to home for all of us, the song wrote itself. Losing a loved one is never easy and it seems like no matter what, it’s always ’too soon to say goodbye,’” shares lead singer Mitch Arnold.
The track was produced by the band’s lead guitar player, Phillip Vilenski at Spotify Noteable Studios in Nashville, TN with the team of Spotify engineer JD Tiner and Spotify’s featured female resident engineer, Bella Weaver.
Pictured (L to R): JD Tiner, Bella Weaver, Mitch Arnold, Phillip Vilenski, Photo: Alyssa Hoffman
“I am completely honored to have been the producer on this song for my band. It started with a few days of pre-production in our home studio before we all did basic tracking together live at Spotify Noteable Studios in Nashville. Mitch, Joey, and Danny were super connected as a rhythm section and everyone played with so much passion and emotion. I think the track truly sounds the way I hear our band in my head, which was exactly my goal,” shares guitar player Phillip Vilenski.
“Working with WAYLAND on ‘Too Soon To Say Goodbye’ was such a pleasure. I was constantly blown away by their musicianship. There’s so much talent in this band. I can’t wait for everyone to hear the track,” adds Spotify engineer JD Tiner.
“Working with WAYLAND was such an amazing opportunity. I really enjoyed engineering the guitars and vocals for ‘Too Soon To Say Goodbye.’ Phill had such creative ideas for the guitar parts and I loved being able to help him achieve his vision. I love this song so much, and I am so honored to have been involved in the recording process of such a wonderful song,” includes Bella.
The band is celebrating with a single release party at Martin’s BBQ tonight at 6:30 pm CST with a free show. Every person in attendance will receive a free commemorative t-shirt.
“The first time we played Martin’s BBQ was last summer when we were asked to perform on the finale episode of Guy Fieri’s ‘All American Road Trip,’ that will actually air next month. Pat, Theresa, and the whole staff were so kind and welcoming and we knew we wanted to come back and throw a single release party here,” shares bass player Joey Champagne.
EVENT DETAILS:
DATE: Friday, March 24
TIME: 7:30 pm CST
ADDRESS: 410 4th Avenue South Nashville, TN
TICKETS: Free Show
Pictured (L to R): Joey Champagne, Mitch Arnold, Guy Fieri, Alyssa Hoffman, Phillip Vilenski, Corbin Pratt, Photo: Alyssa Hoffman
The band will be supported by longtime friend Justin Biltonen of 3 Doors Down and local artist Derek Luttrell. A brand new episode of the band’s podcast, “Finding Our Way” released Wednesday, March 22 and featured Justin and stories from their decade long friendship. Click here to stream the podcast.
(Photo Courtesy of ABC News: Justin Biltonen of 3 Doors Down in his WAYLAND t-shirt performing on July 17, 2015)
ABOUT WAYLAND
WAYLAND is a heartland, country-rock band hailing from the town of the same name in West Michigan. Frontman Mitchel Arnold and lead guitar player Phillip Vilenski met when touring the world teaching children music with Bill and Robyn Brawley of Heart Global. They left the UK with their first batch of songs and set off to build a fanbase that nobody could take away from them.
They toured the country independently for seven years selling out venues as a headliner all over the midwest, opening for crossover acts like Shinedown, Lifehouse, Colt Ford, Blackberry Smoke, and Buckcherry, securing slots on major, national rock festivals, and building relationships with radio stations all over the country by singing three part harmony at seven am live on air on radio and television. The band won two official Sixthman Cruise competitions which landed them slots on the Kiss Kruise and Bon Jovi Cruise.
WAYLAND’s Welcome To My Head hit #32 on the active rock charts followed by Reno which reached #54. They followed up these successes with Get A Little, which debuted at #6 on the iTunes rock charts while simultaneously hitting #49 on media base active rock charts with a viral music video to match. Bloody Sunrise reached #30 and was followed by their single, Through The Fire which reached #29 on the Billboard Music Charts. Ghost, co-written by Brent Smith and Zach Meyers of Shinedown reached #28 on BDS active rock.
The band came off the road for the first time in seven years and signed with manager Alyssa Hoffman of The Service. Parking their Prevost at the Hollywood RV Park, they began developing their sound and future in Burbank, California with Keith Nelson at Benji and Joel Madden of Good Charlotte’s MDDN Studios. With EP in hand, the band followed their calling to the Mojave Desert in Joshua Tree, CA where the band connected with Joey “Champagne” Clement (Selena Gomez, David Cook, The Calling, Chord Overstreet) on Tinder when Arnold and Champagne were dating the same girl. They built their friendship and a studio from the ground up and Vilenski produced the band’s record for the very first time. With the sound and direction of WAYLAND clearly defined, they relocated to Nashville, TN where they spent their weekdays at Apple Music Studios co-writing and Spotify Noteable Studios recording.
Pictured (L to R): Keith Nelson, Phillip Vilenski
The band devoted their weekends to the most important part about WAYLAND: the self-named WAYLAND WARRIORS, the dedicated fanbase they’ve come to be known for. The band and fanbase caught the attention of Food Network’s production team and the face of the network, Guy Fieri, who was filming an episode of Diner’s, Drive In’s & Dives. Fieri calls the band “the next big thing in country music” and the “perfect country-rock crossover.” Impressed with their musicianship, he invited the band to perform on the finale episode of the upcoming season for Guy’s All American Road Trip, premiering this June.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CHECK OUT WAYLAND
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | TikTok | YouTube
To become a WAYLAND WARRIOR, click here.
For interviews and more information on the band, contact [email protected]
For approved media assets, click here.
