The Shadowboxers - Pollstar News

The Shadowboxers are about to launch, or relaunch, their career, depending on the perspective. The trio of Matt Lipkins, Scott Tyler and Adam Hoffman are about to be introduced to North America in 2018 with the help of a big fan and their music producer, Justin Timberlake. The music for the upcoming album is trickling out, with the funky single “Hot Damn” a recent taste of things to come.

(You can download the song for free here)

The Shadowboxers have taken a long time getting to overnight success. There was an album called Red Room that didn’t take off, and there was a YouTube channel of cover music that did. In fact, that’s where J.T. discovered them, retweeting their cover of his “Pusher Love Girl.” That led to a friendship, which led to Timberlake producing the band’s new music. He was on the side of the stage during their recent set at the Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival in Franklin, Tenn.

“Their live shows have gotten to be so much fun,” agent Jay Williams of WME told Pollstar. “They’re such great guys and they’ve put in their 10,000 hours. It shows.”

Matthew Ryan – The Shadowboxers
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WME’s Shadowboxers team also includes day-to-day handler Matt Elam and the “big picture guy,” Keith Sarkisian, agent for Timberlake who gets the word out in Los Angeles while Williams and Elam work from Nashville.

Meanwhile, now that the J.T.-produced album is almost finished, The Shadowboxers’ managers, Carolyn Snell and Ali Harnell, have been taking a few meetings with potential record labels. Elam explains, “They want to keep people at arm’s length until they have the music that the band and Justin are fully behind. Then we’ll find the right partner, which, for this project, won’t be an issue.”

Meanwhile, the recording concerns are handled through J.T.’s artist development company, Villa 40.

The Shadowboxers have a short run of shows in November with some media dates in New York but, “The focus is on next year. We’re gearing up the machine for a bigger pop tour in 2018. A lot of that has to do with the right festivals and we’re starting those conversations now,” Williams said.

“When we have an official album release date, we’ll pounce,” Elam added. “We can’t put anything on paper or talk about our plans for next year until they line up with the release of the music.”

Previous interview here.

FYI, the cover song that sold the boss on this feature: