Since 2015 when LANCO was founded, they have done nothing but put out amazing music for their fans. Their most popular song, “Greatest Love Story” appeared on the Netflix series, “The Ranch” and on ABC’s 22nd season of “The Bachelor”. The country band consist of lead singer, Brandon Lancaster, Chandler Baldwin, Jared Hampton, Tripp Howell and Eric Steedly.

With the release of their new EP, “Honkytonk Hippies” and their new tour named after the EP we sat down with lead singer, Brandon Lancaster to discuss the album, what can fans be expecting from tour and more!

BC: With this EP, what inspired it? Was there an overall theme?

BL: “There was a lot of inspiration behind it. It was a natural inspiration, something that we didn’t set out to do. It was something that over the course of the pandemic between writing on our own and finally being able to get back together and start writing and hanging out as a band. All we could talk about was playing shows, getting back on the road and just wanting to have fun. We were just creating this fun country rock and roll, just jam music we were having fun with. A lot of the times artists do that for fun but you realize, ‘that was cool but now this stuff is just going to sit in our e-mail inbox’ unless we do something with it. We booked our own studio down in Muscle Shoals and we just wanted to capture that feeling of getting back out on the road and having a good time.”

BC: Recording at the iconic, Muscle Shoals was your EP influenced by that place or the artists that have recorded there in any way?

BL: “It’s just one of those natural processes. I had seen the Muscle Shoals documentary and had always known about Muscle Shoals, the magic and the muddy water down there, heard that kind of stuff. But, it was also an available studio.” Brandon laughs, “What’s crazy once we got down there to record the music we really did feel inspired. It was a combination of just being together again and being at the studio. I don’t know, I think it’s one of those subconscious things. It naturally influences you. Who knows maybe that comes from the music a little bit; we’re honored to even be singing on the microphones that Aretha Franklin sang on. I’m sure some of that stuff bled through and influenced us at least emotionally.”

BC: As the lead singer of the band, do you have a favorite song from the EP?

BL: “They all kind of have a special place in my heart but I think for me I’d probably say, “Wild Again” because it really is the headline for me. It’s getting back on the road and being back in the studio. It’s getting back to work; something that you’ve done your whole life and it was taken away from you for a year and half. The fact that when life gets in the way it’s all right to go out and get a little wild again. You still have it in ya.”

BC: Have things changed for LANCO as a band musically from when you first started out versus now?

BL: “Yeah, I’m sure they have. It’s one of those things where it’s just a natural evolution, you don’t sit around and try. One cool thing about a band is that you have five different guys, five different influences. Whatever record we were all hyped on in twenty fourteen when we all started playing together, that record is seven years old now.” Brandon says, “There’s been plenty of records we’ve listened to in the meantime. Our horizons have grown, our boundaries have grown. Also, I will say, that one tough thing about being a band and recording music is you have this whole array of influences you want everyone to hear all at once but it’s just not practical. You can only put out one record at a time. This ‘Honkytonk Hippies’ era, it’s pretty left to center country rock and roll and we have always loved that stuff. We kind of went there on, ‘Middle of the Night,’ ‘Troublemaker’ maybe but thats always been one of the pillars of LANCO just that honkytonk country world and it’s kind of just another way of showcasing that.”

BC: The Honkytonk Hippies tour is hitting the road September 12th, what can fans be expecting from the tour?

BL: “A lot of music. Getting back on the road we’ve realized we have released just not the Honkytonk Hippies era but we have released a lot of music since we’ve been on the road last. During the summer is really fun playing festivals and stuff but the fall tour we can play as long as we want, as long as we can play. It’s definitely going to be the most music we have ever offered on a tour. I just think that a new energy getting all of our fans back in the room for the first time, literally by the time it gets here will be years. I think it’g going to be awesome!”

BC: What was it like getting back on the tour bus again and starting life back on the road again?

BL: “It’s so weird.” Brandon laughs, “I remember getting back on the bus and it was the first time we had all been in one place; the crew, the band and the driver. Everyone all in one place in a year and a half. You can’t help but be nostalgic the first time you get on there like, ‘man, we had no idea that the last time we walked off the bus it would be a year in a half later, it was supposed to be two weeks.’ it was definitely surreal but it was the back and forth. I think it was the first weekend it was like, ‘man, it felt like just yesterday, just last night it was our last show.’ Little things would happen, the first weekend we went out. I remember I was walking up to the bus and the bus was locked and I went to enter the bus code and I couldn’t remember the bus code because I hadn’t entered it in a year and a half. Little things like that would happen like the days of the week like which day do I put my luggage on? I hadn’t been doing this in a year and half and things like that remind you it’s been a long time but then sitting down, hanging out with the guys, telling jokes it feels like you didn’t miss a beat on that one.”

BC: What’s it like inviting Ross Ellis on the tour with you guys?

BL: “That’s one I’m excited about. The two things we look for when we’re finding people to take out on tour is we have to vibe with the music because if we vibe with it, we assume the fans are going to vibe with it, so that’s important. Also, Ross is an awesome guy, we’ve written before so that was another thing even writing with him it’s like, ‘hey that’d be cool to go on tour, maybe we can all write something together and hang out.’

BC: What’s a full day look like for you guys?

BL: “Well, wake up, stumble, roll out of your bunks, stumble your way to get some coffee.” Brandon laughs.

BC: Some Dolly Parton right?

BL: “Yeah,” Brandon laughs, “A little bit different than 9 to 5, more like 11am to midnight but yeah same premise. Stumble your way to the coffee machine but after that we usually check out the landscape. Look out our bus window or get on your phone and really figure out where you are as far as what part of the city you’re in, what part of the town, what’s there to do. We might look a few days early to see if there’s anything to do in Greenbay, ‘oh let’s go to Lambeau field,’ something like that. We check out the town, see what it has to offer, kind of immerse yourself in that place for that day. Come be apart of that city to the best of our ability and then hit up soundcheck, find someway to kill time, we write a lot on the road. We have a little studio on the back of the bus, we’ll work on music. If we hit any creative blocks we might go play golf or something. We always meet some fans before the show and hang out with them and then it’s showtime. After the show, eat some dinner, pass out and do it all over again the next day.”

BC: It sounds like the dream life!

BL: “It is the dream life. There is enough things that happen on the road that interfere with that dream life, it can make it kind of a nightmare like being broken down on the side of the road, having a flight cancelled or whatever,” Brandon laughs, “but it all balances out.”

BC: What is your favorite part about being on the road and what is your least favorite part?

BL: “My favorite part about being on the road is honestly aside from the obvious - all I’ve wanted to do as a kid, and all I really have done is be on a stage and sing songs and play music, that is the best part but that’s something we’ve done in Nashville before we started touring. So, my favorite part is just the traveling. Getting to see different cities, new parts of the world, seeing multiple countries, seeing different cultures. Seeing different cultures in the United States and seeing different cultures internationally. Being exposed to that and letting that influence your world view and artistry I think is a really cool thing.” Brandon continues, “My least favorite part would probably be logistics sometimes. There are times where you literally bus calling at 2am and you gotta be at the airport at 4am and literally have to take an hour and half nap before starting your day and try and sleep on the plane. I can speak for all the guys too, being away from our families. Our families come out on the road when they can but there’s always a piece you’re missing when you’re leaving your families at home.

BC: How is your little girl doing speaking of family?

BL: “She’s doing good. It’s wild, she’s becoming a person, which I know sounds weird. They go from being a little blob that you’re trying to keep alive and feed to actually seeing their personality and starting to see who she is, she actually doesn’t want things and she’ll let you know she doesn’t want things,” Brandon laughs. “It’s cool to see a little human being grow up before your eyes.”

BC: She’s still so young, but has she taken a liking to music?

BL: “She has yeah! Sometimes I encourage it and then sometimes I’m like, ‘ah, keep her away from the instruments, she doesn’t want to be involved in this’ but so naturally we noticed it at a few months old. We watched a movie and if there was a movie on the TV and the second there would be music between scenes she would start moving her body and clapping and laughing and smiling. It is weird, she has watched movies with other little babies and they don’t react to the music that way. She just already loves the music, she just feels it, it’s in her bones. She plays the piano with me and we give her little instruments to play. She loves it all so we’ll see.”

BC: For LANCO who would be a dream collaboration for ya’ll?

BL: “Oh man, it’s tough because we used to get asked this when we started out and I used to always say Brookes and Dunn and then we actually got to do a collaboration with Brooks and Dunn. Who knows, maybe we’ll speak it into existence but we’ve done a lot of country collaborations which I just love. There’s just a lot of songwriters out there that I really respect, anyone from Ed Sheeran to John Mayer. One of those guys, or even Taylor Swift. They are in the pop world but they are truly songwriters, they’re phenomenal songwriters, phenomenal vocalists and instrumentalists. I would musically love to see where that would go.”

BC: Lastly, is there anything you would like to say to LANCO fans?

BL: “Come out to a show, it’s been way too long since we’ve seen ya! We miss ya.”