Matt Thomas Talks About Being the Last Single Man Standing in Parmalee: 'I'm Always Searching'

"There was no rehearsal or anything. We just got up there and started playing," Thomas says of their wedding-crash performance

It took two vans, one plane and a whole lot of logistics to get the men of Parmalee to a wedding last fall in time to perform for an unsuspecting fan-turned-bride. And after all of that, the country hitmakers only stayed for nine minutes.

"I wanted to stay and party and have shots and all of that," laughs Matt Thomas during an interview with PEOPLE about the band's recent role as real-life wedding crashers. "But we were in and out pretty quick."

Nevertheless, it was a moment that no one who was there will ever forget, despite the chaos of it all for the platinum-selling band made up of brothers Matt and Scott Thomas, cousin Barry Knox and life-long friend Josh McSwain.

"It's kind of funny because we flew into Nashville that day from Texas, and as soon as we landed, we went to our house, changed clothes and sped straight there," says the North Carolina native, who joined his Parmalee bandmates in performing their romantic song "Take My Name" for a very special bride and groom's first dance. "There was no rehearsal or anything. We just got up there and started playing."

Parmalee
Parmalee. Joseph Llanes

Granted, the groom was in on the secret, and seemed to have all the confidence in the world that the moment would play out for his shocked bride exactly as he had always imagined.

"It was a nervous time for us too, because all of a sudden, we were in front of a bunch of people who didn't really know us," says Thomas of the moment which was lovingly captured in a video exclusively premiering on PEOPLE. "But once we saw the bride and groom smiling and watched everyone there put two and two together, it turned out to be a really special moment."

It was even worth the time Parmalee spent hiding in the venue before the first dance.

"They stuck us all in this room on the side where everyone working at the venue were going in and out," he explains with a laugh. "But it was totally worth it. This is going to go down in history for these two, having our song be the first song that was playing for their first dance. You could just feel the energy in there once they figured out everything that was going on."

And by the time Parmalee played their second song, platinum-certified No. 1 single with Blanco Brown "Just the Way" for the wedding crowd, nearly everyone made their way to the dance floor.

"It was super cool to experience a couple of our songs with them in that way," Thomas says.

Of course, even before Parmalee brought "Take My Name" to the radio airwaves and the dance floor of this particular wedding, the country crooners teased it on the ever-powerful TikTok, and immediately the song began gaining traction.

"That's the power of social media now," Thomas says of the initial and now-ongoing success of the song, which he co-wrote alongside Ashley Gorley, David Fanning, and Ben Johnson. "People can just hear a part of a song and all of a sudden they're in on it. We were blown away by all the views and all the connection the song made right off the bat."

Not surprisingly, the song itself was inspired by a wedding of one of their own.

"My brother Scott had just gotten married over quarantine, and so we had brought up the idea of writing a wedding song, but I instantly started thinking about how we could say it differently than what's already been said," recalls Thomas, who first hit it big alongside his bandmates back in 2013 via their big hit "Carolina." "You hear songs that basically ask, 'Will you marry me?', but you never really hear the idea of 'take my name and make it yours.'"

It's certainly a romantic thought that one may wonder could get Thomas himself in the mood to dive into the matrimonial pool sometime soon. But at the moment, Thomas is still happily single.

"I'm the last one standing," laughs Thomas, referring to his single relationship status within the band. "I'm always searching to find the right one."

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