“I’ve been doing this long enough not to get too excited,” says Plymouth native Randy Nelson of the local act Bus Stop Poets. “But we’re loving it so far.” Bus Stop Poets signed on with Orlando-based The WHOA Label in April on the strength of their single “Beautiful Day.” “They were really excited about the song,” says Nelson. “We self-released our EP `Repair the Monster’ and it was only a day later that they contacted us.”
“Repair the Monster” was recorded at Plymouth’s Third Monk Records earlier this spring. Though they felt all along that “Beautiful Day” was a potential single, the three-song EP was virtually the last gasp of a band that seemed to be falling apart. Bus Stop Poets only recently added bassist John Edick (another Plymouth native); at the time, the trio was fast becoming a duo.
NEW Video of Beautiful Day!!
Nelson (drums) and John Mabilia (guitar and vocals) were previously together in the rock quintet National Ghost. Over the last couple of years, the band was getting smaller and smaller as members left to pursue other interests. “Finally it was pretty much just John and me,” says Nelson. The two kept on, though, and began writing new material to fit a scaled down format. “We write well together,” Mabilia adds, “and when we realized there was just the two of us left, we figured we’d just keep on going.”
Momentum Growing
WHOA took one listen to the hook-laden “Beautiful Day” and signed the group to a two-year deal. Bus Stop Poets were among the very first signed to the all new WHOA record label, founded to promote emerging artists. In addition to the label, they also run a digital and print magazine WHOA (What’s Happening with Original Artists) that profiles and supports independent music and the online radio station WHOA100 that specializes in indie artists. The label has already generated considerable interest in the single for television and commercial placement. And there are plans for an upcoming video shoot for the song as well.
“Beautiful Day” has the strength to be a real breakout song for the group. A straight-ahead rock song with a fair dose of 1960s pop, it will have you singing along in no time at all. “The arrangement just kind of wrote itself,” says Nelson. The infectious single was released June 19th with a full CD to follow in October. “We’re writing like crazy right now,” says Mabilia.
