Music
Press
April 16, 2006
To whom it may concern;
This letter is confirmation that D2 records, a division of Icon Records DG, which is distributed through Fontana North/Universal Music in Canada, has signed an agreement to distribute Hey Romeo’s self titled CD.
The release date is Tuesday, June 19, 2007.
If you require any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Regards,
Rui Da Silva
President, Icon Music Group/D2 Records
Ph (780) 702-0611
Email: rui@dasilvagroup.com
- D2 Records
As Ringo Starr used to say, “A one and a two
…”
Long before the 1 and 0 binaries of digital
recording, music could always be boiled down
to numbers.
Rob Shapiro counted to 555.
“That’s how many charts I had,” he said.
The keyboard/guitar player had songs to
learn in order to earn. After 11 years with one
band since the Drumheller native left the
MacEwan music program, freelancing was his
meal ticket.
“It made me think about starting a band. I
thought, ‘It can’t be any harder than this.’ ”
Several cellphones and hundreds of gigs in
the new millennium proved he was wrong on
that thought. But not wrong for doing it.
Booking gigs, photo shoots, making sure the
van is gassed up, finding another drummer
after your regular guy became a Road Hammer
…
Shapiro is on the phone or online when he’s
not onstage.
“It’s not a business where people work 9 to
5,” Shapiro said. “Five a.m., maybe.”
He may be a one-man office, but Shapiro’s
not a one-man band.
Guitarist/singer Darren Gusnowsky was
freelancing, too, after moving here from Manitoba.
Then they met Hay Lakes singer Stacie
Roper. Shapiro felt a band brewing.
“We all sensed something,” he said. A little
bit country, and “a little bit of a Fleetwood Mac
thing.”
Sometimes you have to put an icebag on
your forehead, from “banging your head
against walls.”
A reward? Sometimes a wall comes tumbling
down.
Too pop for country? Too country?
Didn’t they say that to Shania?
“We sound the way we sound,” Shapiro said.
Not like Twain. But a mixture of the pop,
twang and whatever they’ve always played.
“Th at’s our sound, so we’ve tried to develop
that.”
Their musical ride has led to a riverboat
cruise tonight as the band – Hey Romeo –
boards the Edmonton Queen to play its debut
CD.A distribution deal with Fontana/Universal
was inked and the fi rst single – Sorry Th at
You’re Leaving – is currently listed as CFCW’s
No. 1 Canadian track.
All three were willing to work the gigs for a
living while they worked toward their goals,
writing together, putting money aside for
recording …
“Although our friends started calling it Chinese
Democracy.”
So – countless hours and many miles went
into becoming a ‘new band.’
“Some cliches can be true, I guess,” Shapiro
said.
So is the one about, “Seeing somebody in
the audience singing along to your songs.”
Or the one about, “Hearing your song on the
radio for the fi rst time.”
Check out www.heyromeo.com - Sun Media
Peter North, Freelance
Published: Friday, October 19 2007
With a snappy, polished and slightly countrified version of Fleetwood Mac's Second Hand News sitting on the CFCW Top 10 Canadian chart, Edmonton's Hey Romeo continues to keep the career trajectory pointed in the right direction.
The hard-working band -- fronted by vocalist Stacie Roper, guitarist Darren Gusnowsky and keyboardist Rob Shapiro -- has been receiving positive feedback not only in their own backyard, but also from country music executives from across Canada.
Now in the middle of a rare four-night local club stand at the Wild West, the quintet hit Country Music Week in Regina last month and talked to several promoters, programmers and agents.
We came home feeling we finally made inroads with the individuals who have so much say in what goes on with video play and label activity," says Shapiro, who has also been given solid feedback from Nashville players like hit songwriter Byron Hill.
It hasn't hurt things for Hey Romeo that organizers of the Bud Country Festival in Grande Prairie and Larry Werner, of the Big Valley Jamboree and Panhandle Productions, have offered ringing endorsements of the group's energetic and tight stage show.
- Edmonton Journal
Discography
Wrap These Around You, 2005(udder maddness)
Sorry That You're Leavin, released April 2007
Second Hand News, released August 2007
Weathered Names, released Feb 2008
from self titled album Hey Romeo
New Tradition, released December 2007(Lammles Country Christmas, Universal release)
Photos
Bio
**2008 CCMA TOP NEW GROUP**
Hey Romeo-- Stacie Roper (vocals), Rob Shapiro (keyboards) and Darren Gusnowsky (guitarist)--is one of Canada's busiest touring bands.
The dynamic Edmonton, Alberta country trio released its debut single "Wrap These Around You" in 2005 under the humorous band name, Udder Maddness. Sanity prevailed; the name of the band changed to Hey Romeo and has since chalked up more than 700 shows throughout Canada since forming in 2002.
The band has opened shows for such diverse acts as Sugarland, Chely Wright, the Corb Lund Band, Emerson Drive, the Road Hammers, The Trews and Blue Rodeo.
Hey Romeo members, while performing with other projects, were each well-respected musicians within Edmonton's music community, when they decided to work together in 2002. The hook-up came when Stacie went to see Canadian country singer Gord Bamford perform and was drawn to the quality musicianship of Rob and Darren. She talked Bamford into letting her onstage to sing a couple of songs with his band, and the three soon became close friends.
Within a month, Stacie, Rob and Darren had played their first show together. A collective chemistry between the three was unmistakable from the first rehearsals. In time, they were able to develop their own sound and their own group identity as Hey Romeo. While Rob handles much of the band's day-to-day business, all three members are skillful songwriters.
Since forming, the band has built up an enthusiastic fan base in Western Canada, appearing at such major events as The Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, The Big Valley Jamboree, The Canadian Finals Rodeo, Edmonton Klondike Days, and The Canadian Brier Curling Championships as well as several Alberta Pro Events.
Hey Romeo will be touring through 2008 in support of it's debut self-titled album, which includes the singles "Sorry That You're Leavin" and their version of Fleetwood Mac's, "Second Hand News", both of which have drawn significant support nationally from Canadian country music radio.
"The diversity and talent of this band makes them a favorite with our country audience" adds Larry Werner, producer, of The Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose, Alberta. "The band understands the theory of working hard and entertaining well. It sets them apart from other artists."
"Stacie's vocals along with some of the arrangements have hints of Shawn Colvin in them (Silent Screams espically) the blue grass influence is cool as well.. this record has a nice vibe to it!" Casey Clark Host of the Top 20 Countdown on CMT/ A and R for Icon Records
Joel Stewart respected video director and CMT on air personality chimes in.. "With their catchy melodies and tight harmonies, Hey Romeo is an original band that cuts through the clutter of today's country...keep your eyes and ears on this dynamic trio"
"The Canadian Country Music scene needed something fresh. How do you spell fresh?...Hey Romeo" comments Larry Donohue of 790 CFCW & 96.3 Big Earl Music Director Newcap Radio- Edmonton
"One of the best Canadian female voices today" Mark PatricMusic Director/APD/On Air93.7 JRfm/600am Radio, Vancouver, B.C.
Media Contact:
Anya Wilson Promotion & Publicity
416-977-7704
awilson@netsurf.net
Bookings:
UM Entertainment Inc.
(780)915-5126
shapsy@telusplanet.net
Websites: heyromeo.com, myspace.com/heyromeoband
Personal Bios
Stacie Roper
Stacie grew up in Sherwood Park, AB in a home filled with music of every kind. Her mom was the organist at their church, which lead Stacie to start singing in the choir and taking piano lessons at a very young age. Her Dad was a truck driver who loved his country music and encouraged Stacie to record all his favourite songs at a local studio so he could take a piece of her on the road with him during his long, lonely trips across Canada. During junior high and high school, Stacie was the leading lady in two rock bands. But singing Ozzy Osbourne was not in this girls future. Her country roots took hold as soon as she moved to the small town of Hay Lakes where everyone lived and breathed by the lyrics of the latest Garth Brooks song. Having music as her only true love in her life, her future was uncertain, not knowing how to attain her dream. Slinging beer at the Hay Lakes Hotel, jamming with bands that came in on the weekends, and singing in local talent competitions was how she paid her bills and kept her musical indulgence fulfilled. She took a second job at Lammles Western Wear and Tack where she found a huge support group and a way to network with the people in the country world. It wasn't until a few years later that she would meet her future at the Leduc Black Gold Rodeo after she had been successfully dumped by a boyfriend. Gord Bamford was playing that night and he had a great keyboard player, Rob Shapiro and a fantastic guitar player, Darren Gusnowsky. They were very sweet to her and let her sing the blues for a song or two that night. She wouldn't be singing the bl
Links
