EXCLUSIVE: Interview With Country Music Band LANCO

LANCO are an exciting new country band whose music is rooted in the southern storytelling of Country music with the modern punch of rock & roll making for an unique sound.

The five piece band consisting of  Brandon Lancaster (lead vocals) Chandler Baldwin (bass guitar), Jared Hampton (keyboards), Tripp Howell (drums), and Eric Steedly (guitar) are currently gearing up for the release of their debut album ”Hallelujah Nights’ which will be released worldwide on the 19th of January.

Here we speak exclusively to Lanco’s bassist Chandler Baldwin about how LANCO came about, their debut album, dream collaboration and much, much more;

Growing up who inspired your love of music?

Our love of music came mostly from different people in our families. I know that Brandon’s Dad and Grandmother are both great musicians and some people in Jared’s family also play. My Grandfather, though he doesn’t play an instrument, inspired my love for music. He was the one who took me to sign up for guitar lessons when I was 10 after we realized we showed up to late for soccer sign-ups. He then continued to pay for lessons and come to all my performances for years until I moved away. 

How did you all meet?

Brandon and Tripp were both playing at a music festival in East Tennessee in different projects in 2012. They started talking and realized that they were both moving to Nashville at the same time so decided to meet up and start jamming together. Around the same time, Brandon was introduced to Eric through a mutual songwriter friend. Eric, Jared, and I all went to school together and played in different musical projects with each other so he soon brought us along. It’s been the same line-up ever since. 

What was it that inspired you to start a band?

We’ve all been playing in bands ever since we were kids, so it’s pretty safe to say that we’ve all wanted to do that since we were young. But with LANCO, it was definitely an intentional choice to be a band instead of a solo artist backed up by players. When Brandon first moved back to Nashville, he had tons of songs he had been writing the past few years. We always loved bands like Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band where it’s always the same guys writing, recording, and performing the music. So we wanted to do that with Brandon’s songs back when we started the band. And that’s how LANCO started. 

How did you come up with the name LANCO?

When we first started out we actually went under the name Lancaster, which is Brandon’s last name. But when we made the decision to form a permanent band we started calling ourselves Lancaster and Company. Shortly after, our friends (and us) started calling it LANCO for short. So eventually, we just switched the name to that. It’s way easier to say. Also, it fits WAY better on a marquee sign! 

Who are your musical heroes?

The great thing about a band is that you have multiple different lifetimes worth of musical influences. Our influences cover everything from southern rock and country bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Eagles, and Alabama to newer rock acts like Kings of Leon and The Killers to current country acts such as Eric Church and Dierks Bentley. And everything else in between. We really respect and look up to any artist who can put on an amazing, energetic, and authentic show. 

What would be your dream collab?

Since we’re all such big fans, we’d love to collaborate on a song with Dierks! We also released a cover video recently of Niall Horan’s Slow Hands, so it would be really fun to work with him as well!

How excited are you for fans to hear your debut album ‘Hallelujah Nights’?

We are incredibly excited for them to hear this album. We’ve been working on it for so long now, about 3 years. We’ve all experienced so much life and growth as a band while recording this record, and I think you can hear it in the music. We released our debut EP a couple of years ago, and it definitely gave listeners some good snapshots of what LANCO is. But we’re excited to release this album to show everyone the whole picture. Not to mention, it’s going to be great just being able to give fans more songs to learn the words and sing along to at shows!

What can listeners expect from the record?

Our fans know us for being really energetic and passionate at our live shows, and I think listeners will be able to hear that translated into the new music. Something we all love and respect about country music so much is the story-telling aspect of it, so it was only natural for us to surround our music around that as well.. There’s something for everyone to relate to. 

Will you be touring your new music?

Of course! This winter we’re on the road with Chris Young on his Losing Sleep Tour.

How do you feel your different personalities and tastes come together to create LANCO’s sound?

Like I said earlier I really love being in this band, because it’s made up of five guys who all bring different influences to the table. I think it’s that blending together of those styles that makes our music unique. We’ve spent a long time figuring out what the “LANCO sound” is and we are all really familiar and comfortable with it. When we’re first writing a song, we’ve gotten really good about giving each other the freedom to experiment with ideas and later taking a step back and asking ourselves, “Does this sound like LANCO?” and adjusting from there. I think it’s that creative freedom mixed with that stylistic accountability that makes LANCO’s sound.

What do you hope to achieve over the next 10 years?

The whole reason why any of us started writing and playing music in the first place is because we all have something to say, and we want to share those things with other people. So our main goal will always be to bring as many people into the LANCO family as possible and keep creating in order to give them more music to listen and relate to. 

Make sure you follow LANCO on Twitter @LancoMusic to keep up to date with all their latest music and tour news.

Did you enjoy our exclusive interview with LANCO? Let us know your thoughts over on Twitter @CelebMix. 

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