Artist Interview- The Comancheros "We wanted to know what it would sound like if Van Halen did a Waylon Jennings cover album."

  

Hello, could you introduce yourself to the listeners?

Hello! This is Michael. I am the drummer, manager, and one of the songwriters for The Comancheros. 

 What can you tell me about your musical journey to this point?

I started by playing in a punk band with my brother, we did a few death metal bands in our teens, and I started playing country when I was in college. Tanner and I met when I was in graduate school for Greek and Latin. It wasn’t long before I dropped out of grad school to focus on The Comancheros. It’s been full steam ahead ever since! 

 How would you describe your sound?

HEAVY & WESTERN. We wanted to know what it would sound like if Van Halen did a Waylon Jennings cover album. Van Waylon, if you will. 

 What inspired you to get into music?

Personally, I was home-schooled. My parents did not play music, so my brother and I started private music lessons around age 12 and it quickly took over our lives. We were never big into sports and it was the first thing we were really good at. 

 The Comancheros recently released the tongue-in-cheek ‘Happy Birthday to Me’. What can you tell me about the track and the meaning behind it?

Jon wrote that song in about 15 minutes on his birthday during quarantine. Tanner and Jon are roommates, so they were stuck together. Tanner walked by Jon’s room at about 8:30am (Natty lite in hand) and said “happy birthday, you should write a song about a guy who is alone on his birthday. Anyway, I gotta go take a shit.” By the time Tanner was done with his shit, Jon had written: “Happy Birthday to Me.” 

 The band has toured with some notable luminaries such as Whiskey Myers. Blackberry Smoke, The Cadillac Three etc. What can you tell me about that experience?

That has been a blast! Blackberry Smoke has been really generous and always fun dudes. It was great to meet the guys in The Cadillac Three because Kelby played on our album “Too Old to Die Young Now” and Jaren has supported the “Heavy & Western” brand quite a bit. One dude in Whiskey Myers has a sweet Star Wars tattoo. 

 What is a typical The Comancheros show like?

Sheer beer fuelled Dionysian revelry. The Greek festivals would see a week of dancing, drinking, and partying. People were known to be torn limb from limb. They set the bar for partying and that’s what we strive to hit. 

 The band has released two albums, and recorded a cover of the Lynryd Skynryd classic ‘Mississippi Kid’.  What can you tell me about the albums, and the decision to cover this particular track?

Our bass player worked on the idea for “Mississippi Kid” with a previous band that broke up when we scalped him for The Comancheros. He was jamming it one day at practice and we just had to try it! We worked it over quite a bit, but it was his idea to make that a full band, heavy song. 

 I read the band has had a sauce named after them. That is a pretty cool claim to fame. How did that come about?

We used to jam with a guy named Vann. He is known for disappearing every few months and doing god knows what. He’s a veteran, he has worked pipelines, and who knows what else! He randomly moved to Texas and started a hot sauce company. He offered us to do a special blend and we were totally down! We’ve been really happy with it, and everybody seems to love the flavour. 

 Does the band have plans for a new album?

Memphis to Mexico releases on November 25th this year! We are so excited for this album. Richard Young from the Kentucky Headhunters produced it, and it was a fantastic experience. 

 And finally, what is next for The Comancheros?

We’ve got a lot in the pipeline. So much is still uncertain, but 2023 is gonna rule!

Social Media

http://www.thecomancheros.com/

https://www.facebook.com/comancherosband

https://twitter.com/comancherosband

'Happy Birthday to Me'