RMHS Graduate Featured on New Reality Show Opening Act

graduate Johnny Barbas is part of the band Joy Island that will be featured on the E! reality show Opening Act next Monday.

Barbas, a drummer; Bri Summers, a DJ from North Carolina; and Josh Bissel, a singer from Maine make up the band Joy Island. Earlier this year, the band signed up for a television show, but never heard back.

So they packed their bags and were ready to move to Los Angeles to try to make it in the music industry. The night before they were ready to leave their manager called to let them know that the TV show they had signed up for, may come through after all. He asked them to stick around for a few more weeks to find out.

They decided to "roll the dice," Barbas said, and the band postponed their move to the West Coast. A few weeks later, each band member was surprised in different places with a camera crew. They were on the show.

“We literally had to pack our bags. We went out and celebrated that night and the next morning drove cross country," Barbas said.

A camera man from the show documented their entire trip to L.A. Once they arrived, the band worked with producers for a few days, recorded a new song and then flew to Orlando to open up for the "party rocking" group LMFAO in front of the largest crowd they had ever performed for.

There were about 15,000 to 20,000 people in the crowd, Barbas said.

"It was amazing, the best feeling in the world," Barbas said of the concert. "It was over way too quick, I just wanted to keep playing."

Joy Island played two songs and an introduction, totaling about 15 minutes on stage, he said.

LMFAO stood in front of the stage during their entire performance, and invited the band out after the show to celebrate.

"Hopefully we’ll be doing more shows in the future," Barbas said.

The band lives in L.A. now and is pursuing their music career full-time.

Earlier in the year, they recorded an EP in Atlanta, which should be released by this weekend. You can buy it on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify, just to name a few.

Check out Joy Island on Opening Act next Monday, Aug. 13 at 10 p.m.