LOCASH On the Power of Positive Music and Their Catchy New Single ‘Don’t Get Better Than That’

"We're trying to live a life that will make our kids and our families proud," the duo's Preston Brust explained.

Written by Annie Reuter
LOCASH On the Power of Positive Music and Their Catchy New Single ‘Don’t Get Better Than That’
LOCASH; Photo Credit: Matthew Paskert

LOCASH spent years hustling before they saw radio success with 2015’s infectious, feel-good anthem “I Love This Life.” The country duo, made up of Preston Brust and Chris Lucas, noticed the impact the song had with fans during their live show and wanted to replicate the positive lyrics and heartfelt message heard within their Gold-certified hit when they sat down to write their new single, “Don’t Get Better Than That.”

“When we wrote ‘I Love This Life,’ we were talking about how there is so much negativity in the world and maybe we can capture something, a feeling, that would make everybody forget about all their problems and just smile for a little while,” Brust tells Sounds Like Nashville over the phone. “When we started performing ‘I Love This Life,’ we started seeing [the song’s impact] every single night. It moved itself to our encore song before we even had a record deal. We knew that’s how we wanted to leave the crowd feeling because we could see the smiles on their faces and their hands in the air. Then, when we saw the success on the radio, we were like, ‘We’re the guys that have to keep bringing this message to people.'”

Their latest single, “Don’t Get Better Than That” takes off where “I Love This Life” left off. Brust and Lucas co-wrote the song backstage with producer Lindsay Rimes and songwriter Phil Barton while in Omaha, Nebraska, for a show. As Brust and Lucas explain, “Don’t Get Better Than That” started off with the lyric as they looked back on the positive things that happened in their lives over the past year.

The song immediately took on an anthem feel and adopted an uplifting message, much like “I Love This Life.” Throughout the track, they try their best to make the listener forget about the bad things going on in the world and instead make them smile for a few minutes. Both fathers, Lucas and Brust channeled real life for the track and share that one line that holds special meaning to them is the lyric, “Ever heard the words I love you daddy.”

“I’m personally experiencing that for the first time right now. My little girl is finally starting to talk. Well, she’s been talking for a while but I’m starting to understand her and she says, ‘I love dada’ and it just melts your heart,” Brust gushes. “Anybody who’s ever heard those words are going to stop in their tracks and remember the first time they heard that. That’s what music is all about. It’s finding those lyrics that stop people in their tracks and pull on those heartstrings.”

LOCASH say the song came together quickly and they’re grateful to have spent the co-write with two of their best friends as they counted their blessings together. Many of those blessings occurred in 2017 as the duo garnered their first of three awards show nominations at the CMT Awards, ACM Awards and CMA Awards. It’s an honor they admit was surreal.

“We went all over the United States and had a bunch of fans and friends that always believed in us and finally we had a great label with Reviver [Records],” Lucas says, explaining what kept them motivated to make music over the years. “We said, ‘This is it. This is our chance and if it doesn’t work this time, songwriting is not a bad place for us to be.’ Next thing you know, ‘I Love This Life’ came out and here we are with three hits now and it’s crazy. We just never gave up.”

LOCASH are currently in the studio working on their follow-up to 2016’s The Fighters. They say the album has the LOCASH feel and like much of their music, there are plenty of positive songs mixed in with tracks that will pull on the heartstrings.

“We call them meat and potatoes,” Lucas says. “There’s a song called ‘Kiss a Girl Goodnight.’ We didn’t write it, but it got pitched to us and it’s an unbelievable love story of how lucky you are to have your significant other and at the end there’s a special moment where it’s about your little girl. I can’t listen to it without getting teary eyed and I don’t cry.”

“I have to walk behind Chris with Kleenex’s. It’s ridiculous,” Brust jokes. “It pulls on the heartstrings. We both have little girls who are around two years old… when that lyric hit we looked at each other and we knew we had to have it. It’s a great song.”

As they look back on the success that 2017 brought them, LOCASH reflect on the legacy they’re leaving listeners as well as their children. They say they hope to be remembered for songs that hit people in the heart and that they’re good role models, too.

“We’re trying to live a life that will make our kids and our families proud,” Brust adds. “I think about that all the time. When my little girl grows up, is she going to be proud of the songs that we’re writing and recording and the success that we had? I think that’s one of the most important things to me.”