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Rascal Flatts Recalls Firing Eric Church From Their 2006 Tour During An Appearance On Sirius XM – At Eric Church’s Nashville Bar, Chief’s
How the tables have turned…
By now everybody probably already knows the story of an up-and-coming Eric Church opening up for Rascal Flatts on their Me & My Gang tour back in 2006.
It seemed like an odd matchup from the very beginning, having this brash, rockin’ new guy who sings about teen pregnancy and smoking weed open for Gary LeVox in his bedazzled jeans singing slicked-back “mom country.” It was doomed to fail from the start – and it did.
According to Rascal Flatts, they asked Church several times to keep his set to the allotted time for the opener, and even let him go on earlier so he had more time to play. But Chief still wouldn’t follow the rules:
“We asked him four times to stay to the allotted amount of time that he had to play. We sat him down in our dressing room and were like, ‘Look, we’ll put you on early so you can play longer. But please, just be off the stage because we still have to do our show.’
And for every minute that you go over time, especially in New York City, you’re charged thousands of dollars by the minute in labor fees. So the last time was Madison Square Garden. We said, ‘It’s really important that you get off on time.’”
Spoiler alert: He didn’t. Church has admitted that he basically went into the Madison Square Garden show knowing that he was going to get fired, so he gave it all he got for what was likely to be his final show on the tour. And sure enough, he was kicked off what was at the time the biggest tour in the country, and replaced by another up-and-comer named Taylor Swift.
Church ended up launching his own Me & Myself tour, following Flatts around from city to city and playing his own shows in rock clubs – which they hated.
And the beef between the two acts heated up again a couple years ago, when Church recalled the story and Rascal Flatts lead singer Gary LeVox responded to his version of the events:
@garylevoxofficial
#stitch with @Esquire honesty hour #ericchurch #rascalflatts
♬ original sound – Gary LeVox
So yeah, needless to say there’s no love lost between the former tourmates.
Which made it especially ironic when Rascal Flatts showed up to Church’s downtown Nashville bar, Chief’s.
The appearance came as Sirius XM The Highway has been hosting their popular Music Row Happy Hour in the Neon Steeple at Chief’s all week during CMA Fest. The event has featured a nonstop parade of some of the biggest artists in country music, and has been a big hit as fans packed the two-story venue all week long. (It’s where I’ve been posted up for most of CMA Fest – it’s too hot and rainy to be outside).
But the fans in the Steeple probably weren’t expecting to see Rascal Flatts in Church’s bar on Saturday.
The recently-reunited band took the stage, which is inlaid by Chief’s signature aviators, where host Buzz Brainard asked them about the incident from 2006.
According to Rascal Flatts lead singer Gary LeVox:
“He was a new artist and he couldn’t afford a watch at that point because he was late every time. So we talked to Eric before the show, we were playing Madison Square Garden, and we were like, ‘Hey man, go on at noon if you want to. You have to be done at this time.’
Well, here comes the watch thing. Or he’s not good at time, I’m not sure. But anyway, so Eric went on late. And we were just like, you know, because the union stuff in New York is a little different, it’s like $1,000 a minute when you go over. Well that $1,000 a minute went to us, it’s like, ‘We don’t even got $1,000 in an hour.’…
So we had to let Eric go, and then we found…this new girl. So it was Taylor Swift’s first tour.”
Both LeVox and bass player Jay DeMarcus said they were big fans of Church’s music, and didn’t realize the story was that big of a deal – which LeVox blamed on Church:
“He just keeps talking about it a lot. We need to let it go.”
I mean, I don’t think it’s Church who keeps bringing it up, I think he’s getting asked about it in interviews because it’s a funny story…
I’ve gotta say, the whole interview seemed a little awkward, with LeVox at one point even implying that they deserved the sign that was hanging in his bar more than Church did.
The sign is the original neon sign from the Fiddle & Steel Guitar Bar, a since-shuttered bar in Printer’s Alley in downtown Nashville where Church got his start – and ironically, so did Rascal Flatts. Well Church managed to secure the sign from the Fiddle & Steel, and it now hangs in the Neon Steeple concert venue inside Chief’s…and LeVox didn’t seem too happy about it:
“I’m so mad that he got that sign, because it was called ‘The Home of Rascal Flatts.’ That’s where we got discovered, where we got signed from, we played that alley every day. It was our home.”
Rascal Flatts may say that Church keeps bringing it up (he doesn’t), but there’s clearly still some hard feelings on their end too…
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The post Rascal Flatts Recalls Firing Eric Church From Their 2006 Tour During An Appearance On Sirius XM – At Eric Church’s Nashville Bar, Chief’s first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
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