Last month’s Association of Country Music in Alberta Awards in Red Deer were a solid indication of just how far the Boom Chucka Boys have come in the past year.
The Central Alberta quartet was named Group of the Year at the Jan. 25 awards ceremony, and also received the Rising Star award — one year after they missed out on it at last year’s event.
“I think our time will come,” guitarist Joel Rathjen told the Sylvan Lake News at that time. “We’re still new to this, and I’m sure awards will come one day.”
The awards did come, perhaps just a little bit sooner than frontman and lead vocalist Ryan Langlois expected.
But he’s not complaining.
“These annual events sort of give you an opportunity to reflect back and look at what you’ve done in a year,” he said. “The ground that we’ve gained and the things that have happened in a year are incredible.”
The awards capped off a busy 2014 for the boys. And it would appear things are only going to get bigger and better for them in 2015.
Ramble, the group’s second full-length release, drops Feb. 10. Its lead single, Turn This Car Around, has already received regular radio airplay nationwide.
Following a Feb. 11 release party in Red Deer, the group will hit the road with Gord Bamford in support of the new album.
A Feb. 19 show in Calgary kicks off a six-date cross-country tour with Bamford, which sees the group play Calgary and Winnipeg before hitting Ontario for four shows through to March 10.
That’ll give the band the chance to extend its reach even farther into the Canadian country music scene, said Langlois.
“We haven’t played a lot out there (Ontario), so we’re going to be playing to thousands of new people that have never seen us before.
“We just want to keep making our mark as one of the best live bands and most entertaining groups in Canadian music.”
Success at the 2015 Canadian Country Music Association Awards in Halifax later this year is another goal, said Langlois.
And considering all they’ve accomplished recently, you wouldn’t bet against it.
“(Getting) singled out and noticed ... it’s pretty amazing,” said Langlois. “It feels good.”