Earlier this month, Brandon Lancaster of LANCO spoke with TPM to promote the band’s new record We’re Gonna Make It and their upcoming tour in promotion of the release. Below is the transcript of that interview. A written feature on the band can be found here.
If you’ve ever been to Chicago long enough to venture out into the city, what’s your favorite thing to do or place to visit?
Yeah, we’ve played in Chicago quite a bit – Been there for Windy City Smokeout and Lollapalooza, played Joe’s quite a few times. We’ve been there enough to branch out and hang out. I’d say definitely my favorite thing that we’ve done there is going to Second City and just laughing. Other than that, just hanging out. I love Chicago. Gone to the art museum which is cool. What else have we done? Obviously get some pizza, some deep dish pizza. I don’t even love deep dish pizza anywhere except Chicago. I’ve learned my lesson with that. If you get it anywhere else, it’s kind of a no go but in Chicago, as cliché as it is, it’s a real thing. … My brother actually went to school in Chicago, so I spent a lot of time there. It’s kind of like National Hot Chicken – we have hot chicken but I am not crushing it every day. If people come here, I’m like ‘Yeah, get some hot chicken!’
On Lollapalooza:
Oof, it was a while ago. Maybe ’16, ’15. It was early, early in our career. It was cool. We’ve done a lot of multi-genre festivals like Lolla and Bonnaroo and ACL – those kind of things. They’re always fun because it’s just fun being at a festival with all different kinds of genres and getting to see a lot of stuff you wouldn’t typically see on a country circuit. Being influenced by all the different types of genres. Lollapalooza is such a fun festival right there in the middle of the city. There’s a really great energy about it. It’s also fun to go to a multi-genre festival to kind of represent Country. It’s kind of a lot of responsibility because there aren’t many country acts at those festivals so you kind of feel you’re representing home base. But it’s fun.
Any expectations for this tour?
Huge failure *chuckles*. No, I have huge expectations for this tour. Last year, we played shows but it was dominantly just working on this new album. So we were on the road but we didn’t really do any headlining dates or tour. This is really the first time we’ve been out on a headlining tour since in like a year and half. We’re just excited to get out there and visit some of those markets like Chicago, like Minneapolis where we haven’t been in a couple years. We have really great fanbases there. So just getting to go back and it’s like seeing an old friend when you go to some of these places. You’ll see a lot of fans out in the crowd or at merch that you’ll recognize. So yeah, we have great expectations of just getting back out there and having fun playing some of the bigger old songs and playing a lot of songs from this new record.
The group formed 10 years ago, how did everybody come together and how have you grown as musicians since then?
We all came together as just buddies in college. We went to different colleges but found them through the music community in Nashville and the song writing community. We became friends first really, but I was trying to put a band together but we were just buddies who started playing music. It was a real organic start. … As far as writing goes, we just have more and more lived experiences that we can draw from as opposed to being in your early 20’s. Just year after year, different circumstances and different battles that you face – being able to write about that and put it into song. It’s been quite the journey. And as musicians, it’s been like 10,000 hours; the more time you put into something the better you’re going to get. The more we explore our music and ourselves creatively. Musically, we just get better. You continue to draw from other influences and just grow.
Your debut record debuted in the top spot on Billboard’s country charts, you’ve seen a lot of success and been nominated for multiple awards and have won. What’s that success been like for you personally and as a group?
When you just start as friends, we rehearsed in this carpet warehouse that Trip worked at back in the day, we’re really just young guys in our early 20’s having fun. You start a band with your friends, you know, and it was organic. And when you do that and come from such an honest place, just your friends hanging out and starting a band, then a few years down the road there are things that are unfathomable – like a number one billboard album and these nominations and you’re on the red carpet next to Taylor Swift and you’re like ‘What is our life?!’ I think the biggest takeaway that you learn is that success and all those metrics – Number Ones and charts – those aren’t real things. They are representative of people listening to you. So a number one album or a platinum song, all that means is a lot people heard what it is you did and as a musician/songwriter, we really love what we do and our songs and music we think is important. All that success meant is that these songs and these stories that you believe in have gotten out and to a lot of people and a lot of people resonated with them and in turn really resonated with you and with what you’ve gone through. There’s kind of a beauty in that.
How did you get into music and who were some of your inspirations for songwriting?
For me, I grew up outside of Nashville. I grew up in a town called Smyrna, Tennessee which is like 45 minutes outside Nashville. So I had a lot of access to just seeing the universe – the universe of songwriting and music, especially country music. But I loved all kinds of music and my parents were musical, played piano and stuff. So I started to play piano when I was really young and started playing guitar when I was like nine. A lot of people don’t even know that songwriting is a thing but I knew because of my exposure to songwriting. Once you learn to play guitar, and I love playing guitar, but once you’re a teenager you start going through things and it’s kind of like your own journal. But it’s just a journal with chords. So that’s kind of been my journey.
Influences: I grew up on it all. I’m a millennial so we were really kind of the first generation to have iTunes and the downloading software where everything from rock to country to pop music (was available). But I really started attaching at a young age to Americana and folk – really because I was playing guitar and just being able to whip out an acoustic guitar and playing a song, Bob Dylan or something. So gravitating towards a lot of Americana and Folk and growing up outside of Nashville being exposed to country music, so that definitely found its way into my life and the storytelling that country music brought to it that I love. Loved a lot of rock music, loved the energy that bands like Kings of Leon or Cage the Elephant would bring to a live set. So there are things I wanted to combine: I love the storytelling, song structure and writing of country music and the imagery, so is there a way to bring that with Americana and rock energy to the country music world.
What was touring like with big names such as Luke Combs and Dierks Bentley?
It’s been wild because across the board there’s different aspects to it. There’s guys like Dierks who, not to age him he’d probably hate I am saying this, but I was listening to him in like middle school and high school. So it’s like when you’re going to go on tour with him and you see him on stage, but then you see him backstage and it’s just like this is just like a buddy. He’s just becoming a friend of yours and you see him through this different lens. And it’s the same with Miranda. Those kind of acts that you were looking up to when you were writing songs, it’s really just surreal. For me, those kinds of tours exceed expectations because you realize when you see it in person why it is they’ve had the success that they’ve had because they’re really that good. Then guys like Luke Combs is a whole different kind of surreal because we knew Luke before he got a record deal. The first time I saw Luke, he was playing to eight people and we were both kind of just on the up and coming route. So, that tour with him, just a couple years earlier we were both playing in bars and then we’re out playing arenas with him. It’s just wild. I remember saying on that tour ‘Can you believe that they’re trusting us with this many people in this arena tonight?’ We’re just dudes who are like 20-something at the time. Can you believe this whole arena is just letting us have this place to play music tonight and people are going to come see it? So it’s been cool getting to tour with those people for all different reasons.
What has the initial reaction been to the new record from fans and even peers?
It’s been really good and really positive. I think the coolest thing is that we put out our debut in 2018, and we put out some singles and some Eps and stuff since, but this is really only our second full-length album. … We always try to write about our life and where we’re at, and that first record really was a representation of where we were at at the time and we had a bunch of fans who were in the same place in life and going through the same things. I think the coolest thing immediately releasing these songs from the album is these fans also have grown up and gone through a lot of the same things since then that we’ve gone through. So it’s really like catching back up with an old friend and just seeing that these things we’re writing about and putting songs out about, our fans are like ‘I’ve been going through that too’ or ‘I felt this way’ or ‘this is the soundtrack to my life.’ Being able to write that soundtrack to people’s lives when its our soundtrack as well has been really, really cool to watch with this album. (14:20)
Favorite or most meaningful songs off the new release? Why?
Right there, those are two songs I would definitely put into the most meaningful on the album. The title track “we’re gonna make it” since our first record, we’ve had some really high highs and some lows and everywhere in-between. I think that was want to be really honest with this record and the reason the title track is called “we’re gonna make it” because ultimately the theme of this record is we kind of put it all out there. We talk about unemployment – we all lost our jobs during the pandemic. We’re touring musicians and that was gone and no income was coming in. There’s a song called “Honey, I lost my job today” and there’s a song I love called “Low Class Lovers” which is just about celebrating where you are at life. All these kinds of ups and downs in the record, but ultimately the theme of the record, which has been the theme of our life, is that hey, even in the rough times, the hard times, we’re going to make it out of this valley and make it to this hilltop. On the other side we’re going to look back and we’re going to be better for it, we’re gonna grow from it and we’re going to have an even deeper love than we know now because of these things we’re going through. I love the title track and yeah, “we grew up together” – that’s been one thing that we’ve all gone through together and the biggest change that we all have kids now. Just kind of that journey of growth from that perspective. As your teaching your kids lessons, you’re also learning lessons. As you’re trying to teach them patience, your patience is also being tested. As they’re learning to talk, you’re learning certain ways to not talk anymore. There’s this aspects of growth, and even if you don’t have kids this song can make you think about your parents. At a certain point in your adult life, you look back and realize your parents weren’t these perfect people that had it all together. They were just people that had me and they were young and doing the best they could to figure it out. They were growing up as I was growing up. So, those are definitely two songs that are very meaningful to me on this record.
Working with two labels now, and self-producing one EP, what’s kind of the differences and challenges between label work and self-producing?
Yeah, every label – when you talk to people they’re kind of this mythical thing. It’s really not that Illuminati-esque. They’re just businesses. They’re just buildings with people that have jobs and they’re trying to make business out of your business. So every business, every label, they’re going to have their ups and downs. I’ll say being at a major label, you know, great resources and there were great people over there, but there’s a thing where it’s such a business and so profit-driven that you can lose some of the creativity and some of the passion there. I love being at this new label that we’re at. It’s more of an independent because it’s creativity first and passion first and believing this “if you build it they will come” thing. So that’s been a really fun experience. And even independent releases, at the end of the day whatever home that we’re at – we’re musicians and we’re artists and we’re creatives, so if we’re creating we’re gonna put it out there through whatever means we have. I really love the label that we’re at now. They are great partners and they allow us to be as creative as we want and record as much music as we want and write about what we want and put it out there the way that we want.
Any thoughts on the Super Bowl?
I did watch it, and I’m a die-hard Tennessee Titans fan so I kind of didn’t have a dog in this fight. I’ll just say this, my neighbor is from Pennsylvania and an Eagles fan so I wore an Eagles jersey. And I have family in Philly, my dad is from Philly. So I was pulling for them. But yeah, I was shocked at the result. Not that the Eagles won, but 35 yards or something in the third quarter? The Eagles defense I knew was good but my goodness, talk about preparation. And locking down. … I’ve seen some great memes. I have a buddy who’s a Giants fan and I didn’t think to text him. Now that your bring it up I’m going to.
Thoughts on the Grammy’s?
I literally don’t have a comment. I didn’t watch the Grammy’s. I could think of a comment, idk – Beyoncé, congratulations? I can understand why people were confused, but honestly didn’t watch the Grammy’s. (Poppy/Spiritbox) Idk man, I respect the people in that room for the art that they make and it’s a hard thing to create and put yourself out there. I did watch the Chappell Roan performance. I thought it was awesome to hear an entire room of musicians singing her song. But yeah, that’s about all that I’ve got on the Grammy’s. I heard of her forever ago, you know, your favorite artist’s favorite artist kind of thing, but that Lolla performance was one that really kind of made a statement. I saw that performance too and was like “Oh my gosh – she did it.”
What separates LANCO from other country acts?
First and foremost, I would say that we’re a band. A really good band if not the best band. We’re a band and there is something really special that comes from that when you’re the same group of guys year after year after year. Same group of guys challenging themselves and challenging each other creatively and also bringing, as opposed to a solo artists, we’ve got five guys in the band so you have five different guys bringing in five different influences and five different perspectives and points of view. That’s something that’s kind of special about bands that is getting lost. I’d say that’s definitely a big aspect that makes us different.
