(FREEHOLD, NJ) -- Billboard Magazine calls the band LANco one of the 10 New Country Artists you need to know, comparing LANco’s sound to a country version of the Imagine Dragons and crediting the band for their arena-ready pop hooks and chant-along choruses. Thursday, June 30, LANco will be live in concert at iPlay America’s Game Time Bar & Grill. The concert is free admission and the show starts at 7:00pm.
Together, LANco is Brandon Lancaster (lead vocals), Chandler Baldwin (bass), Jared Hampton (keyboards, banjo), Tripp Howell (drums), and Eric Steedly (lead guitar). Formed in 2012, LANco was born of a chance meeting between Howell and Nashville native Lancaster – each performing in bands at the same festival – just as Howell was readying a move to Music City the same week that Lancaster was returning from college. Once in Nashville, Lancaster met Steedly through mutual friends, while Hampton and Baldwin followed shortly thereafter, with the young band gigging at every opportunity.
Mining a catalog of songs written by Lancaster, the group began to develop its sound. Making the most of Howell’s day job in a carpet warehouse, the guys would slip in at night to rehearse on the little-traveled second level, loading their gear up and down with a forklift until they realized they could safely hide it with carpet between rehearsals. But it was Lancaster’s side job – working a concession stand at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena – that opened a big door for the band when he spotted producer Jay Joyce at a concert in 2014.
A fan of Joyce’s work as producer of such acts as Little Big Town and Eric Church, Lancaster recalls with a smile, “I closed down my hot dog stand and walked up to Jay and just introduced myself.”
The conversation brought an invitation from Joyce for Lancaster to share some songs that he’d written, and shortly thereafter, for a band audition.
“One week we’re playing in a carpet warehouse, and a few weeks later, we’re playing live in Jay Joyce’s studio,” marvels Lancaster, “and he’s like, ‘Okay, we’ve gotta make a record; let’s do this.’”
The first result of their collaboration is LANco’s four-song, self-titled 2015 EP, now streaming exclusively on Spotify, with each song written or co-written by Lancaster. The EP offers first-time LANco listeners a taste of the distinctive style that defines the band’s music, from production to songwriting. Now looking forward to the release of their upcoming full-length debut album – also produced by Joyce – LANco is among the first acts signed to Sony Music Nashville since the arrival of new Chairman & CEO Randy Goodman. Assigned to the label group’s Arista Nashville imprint (home to Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, and more), the band was an immediate win with Goodman, who offered them a deal on the spot the first time he heard them live.
Billboard Magazine goes on to say, “The five guys who make up LANco all bring their own unique influences to the table, resulting in a rich mash-up of contemporary country and gleaming pop. This is shout-till-you're-hoarse music, brought to life by a group with a performing style as unconventional for country music as their name.” LANco stands for Lancaster & Company. The band’s new four-song EP features the songs Troublemaker, We Do, American Love Story and Extended Play.
iPlay America is located on Route 9 at 110 Schanck Road in Freehold, NJ. Meet & Greet tickets will be on sale for $60, entitling ticket holders to admission to the concert and Meet & Greet, a $10 iPlay America Game Card and exclusive event poster. Tickets are available online.
