For much of the last two years, the Banditos have been on the road,
relentlessly showcasing their critically acclaimed 2015 self-titled
debut album. In late 2016, the six bandmates hunkered down at Plum
Creek Sound Studios and democratically poured out sonic influences and
emotionally charged personal experiences for their new album Visionland.
The pre-order link is here: https://www.bloodshotrecords.com/album/visionland
In celebration of the announcement, Banditos have launched the album’s
first single “Fine Fine Day”: https://soundcloud.com/bshq/fine-fine-day-by-banditos
Produced by Israel Nash and Ted Young, the Birmingham/Nashville-based
group’s second full-length - out on June 23 - has one foot firmly
planted in reality as the other tip-toes in and out of mental
complexities, self-perception and altered-state illusions. The results
are revealing, exhilarating and profound.
The album-titled track reveals these defining, cohesive thematic
intricacies. “Visionland” is named after the defunct $60 million theme
park that was built in the late ‘90s near some of the band members’
childhood homes in Bessemer, Alabama. The park was shut down after only
five years and the schizophrenic glimmer of hope it offered local
residents connects to a greater overlying optimism for life present at
the album’s core, an eerily relevant theme in contemporary complex
times. Jeff Salter’s sweeping guitar strums swell at the song’s intro,
lifting through the murky haze into the warm and sunny clarity of a
duet between singer Mary Beth Richardson and singer/guitarist Corey
Parsons.
Banditos will be performing music from Visionland all over Austin at
this week’s SXSW: https://www.bloodshotrecords.com/tours-events/8827
The members of Banditos first met playing in various punk and rock ‘n’
roll projects around Birmingham at D.I.Y., all-ages venues. In 2010,
Parsons and Stephen Pierce (banjo/vocals) began busking around town and
were soon asked to perform at their favorite local bar. Without a full
band they invited friends Randy Wade (drums), Salter (guitar), and
Richardson to join them. Danny Vines (bass) joined the band later.
The group has been praised by NPR (“Three vocalists, a wicked guitarist
who also plays pedal steel, a banjo, an upright bass and a hot-footed
drummer guarantee that every song they play is stuffed with crazy
rhythms and melodic energy.”), Rolling Stone (“Equal parts alt-country
twang and garage rock bang...recalling everything from ZZ Top's greasy
boogie to the Alabama Shakes' coed soul”), and Garden & Gun (“These
six keyed-up twentysomethings mix a hodgepodge of sounds. Sometimes
it’s barroom country backed by a rogue kazoo, and other times it’s a
chicken-picking version of slow-burning soul behind the Janis
Joplin–esque wail of Mary Beth Richardson”). They have performed across
the world supporting acts like St. Paul and the Broken Bones,
Blackberry Smoke and Old 97’s, and notably at prominent events like
Newport Folk Festival, Hangout Fest, and Rachael Ray’s Feedback.
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