LOCASH Talks Two Decades Of Betting On Themselves [Interview]

/by

LOCASH. Photo: Josh Beech

More than 20 years after first meeting in Nashville, Chris Lucas and Preston Brust have entered a new chapter of their careers.

The duo behind LOCASH recently expanded their independent venture with Music City Power Company, an artist development and marketing company that operates alongside Galaxy Label Group, the label they launched in 2024. A new partnership with Intercept will help power the next phase of that growth. The move comes after one of the most successful stretches of the duo’s career, including the multi-week No. 1 hit “Hometown Home.” Getting to this point, however, took time.

Long before the chart success, Lucas and Brust met while working at Nashville’s Wildhorse Saloon, where they were both aspiring musicians trying to figure out what came next. Wildhorse offered more than a paycheck. Record labels regularly brought new music into the club to gauge audience reactions, giving the duo an early look at how the industry operated. Outside of work, they began writing songs and

Photo: bigred

discovering how their different influences could fit together. Brust grew up on gospel music.

Lucas leaned toward rock. Both shared a love for harmony-heavy R&B groups from the 1990s. Before long, they were playing regular shows at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge. The crowds started small, but slowly grew. Wednesday nights turned into Fridays and eventually Saturdays.

One night, booking agent Gary Curtis walked into the venue during a snowstorm. The chance encounter would change the course of their career. “He takes one step in, dusts the snow off, looks at us, looks at the crowd and immediately says, ‘Call me,’ hands us his business card and leaves,” the duo tells MusicRow. A few days later, Curtis invited the duo to his office and pitched a plan. If they were willing to take the show on the road, he would help get them booked across the country. The strategy was simple. Curtis offered venues a money-back guarantee and told LOCASH to hook a U-Haul to a Jeep Cherokee and start driving.

The gamble paid off. What started as bar gigs soon turned into a relentless touring schedule that took the duo across the country and helped build the grassroots following that would carry them through the years ahead. The momentum eventually led to a record deal with DreamWorks in 2003. For a moment, it looked like everything they had been working toward was finally happening. Then the label was sold before the duo had even recorded an album.

“We thought, we’ll just go get another record deal. It won’t be a big deal. It was harder the second time around.”

Rather than walk away, they went back to building. They continued touring, growing their audience and looking for another opening. Over the years, opportunities came and went. Through it all, Lucas and Brust kept writing songs, playing shows and looking for ways to stay in the game.

LOCASH.

As the years went on, the duo continued to gain momentum. After signing a new deal, their single “Keep in Mind” was climbing at country radio, and the duo had committed to dozens of appearances across the country to support it. Then, just as things seemed to be moving in the right direction, the label shut down. They were offered a chance to cancel the radio appearances they had already booked, but they decided to honor every commitment.

“When you look back on it, that was one of those turning points,” they share. “We could have taken the easy way out, but I think that is why we have such a good relationship with country radio now. It’s because of those moments when we all just honored each other and said ‘A handshake is a handshake. We’re doing this.’”

After eventually signing to a new label deal, the duo wrote “I Love This Life,” a song they immediately believed in and one that would ultimately become their breakout hit. Not everyone shared their enthusiasm. Rather than abandon the song, Lucas and Brust decided to bet on themselves. They left the deal with “I Love This Life” and took it directly to the radio programmers and industry relationships they had spent years cultivating. That track climbed the charts and, as the duo puts it, “LOCASH was officially on the map.”

LOCASH.

What followed was the most successful stretch of their career. Over the next decade, they would earn multiple No. 1 hits, tour internationally and watched a dream they had spent years chasing finally become reality. Along the way, they also gained a deeper understanding of the business itself.

Early in their career, radio executive Bill Catino offered a piece of advice that stuck with them: “No one is gonna care about your career more than you.” The lesson stayed with them through every stage of their success. As Lucas and Brust became more involved in everything from promotion and marketing to artist development and long-term strategy, they began to see opportunities beyond simply recording and touring.

By 2024, that mindset led to one of the biggest decisions of their career. Lucas and Brust launched Galaxy Label Group alongside industry veterans Skip Bishop and Butch Waugh, with LOCASH serving as the label’s flagship artist. The move represented something larger than simply starting a record label. After spending more than two decades learning the music business from every angle, they finally had the opportunity to build something of their own, and the gamble paid off. “Hometown Home,” the first song released on the label, became LOCASH’s first multi-week No. 1 hit.

LOCASH & Skip Bishop.

As the duo continued expanding the label’s team, they leaned on the relationships they had spent decades cultivating. “It felt so different being on our own because we knew all these years of experience and all these 20 years of ups and downs and in-betweens, meeting people,” Brust says. “You take it back and rewind to those 50 or 60 radio shows that we honored 15 years ago and things like that, and it all comes to this moment.” Former colleagues, radio veterans, marketers and industry executives have all become part of the growing operation, including Kerry Wolfe, Cheryl Broz, Mitch Mills, Mara Sidweber and others. Together, they’ve helped transform Galaxy from a label built around LOCASH into a growing company focused on artist development, promotion and long-term career building.

That growth eventually expanded into Music City Power Company, a venture launched alongside Bishop and Canadian music entrepreneur Shane Harluk. Designed as a natural extension of Galaxy, the company brings together artists, songwriters and industry professionals to offer everything from artist development and creative strategy to marketing and promotion.

Photo: bigred

The latest piece of that puzzle came through a new partnership with Intercept. After evaluating a number of distribution options, Lucas and Brust said they were drawn to the company’s global reach, but also to the opportunity to help establish a stronger presence in Nashville. Rather than viewing the arrangement as a traditional distribution deal, they describe it as a collaborative partnership that aligns with the long-term vision for both Galaxy and Music City Power Company. “We’ve got a real partnership, not just a distro deal, but something we’re all invested in,” the duo says.

With new music coming and a busy tour schedule through the rest of year, Lucas and Brust are still building. When asked what they would tell the two young artists who moved to Music City, the answer was simple. With a laugh, they shared, “Stay the course, keep the wheels rolling, and the Beach Boys are going to call.”

Lauryn Sink
Latest posts by Lauryn Sink (see all)