With over 550 million streams, double-platinum selling country band and Nashville hit makers LANCO return with a blast of rafter-shaking energy today, dropping fist-pumping outsiders anthem “Rival” as their next single. A rowdy, other-side-of-the-tracks tribute to forgetting the haters and standing your ground, “Rival” represents the next step in LANCO’s evolution… and the first taste of the chart-topping band’s upcoming second album.
Fans can listen to the new single at all digital retailers here.
Pounding beats and organic undertones create a unique, tough as nails sonic mix, while anthemic gang vocals join quirky electro-country flourishes, banjo and guitar shredding. Produced once again by Jay Joyce (Eric Church, Brothers Osborne), frontman Brandon Lancaster and drummer Tripp Howell teamed up for the co-write. It was built from an off-kilter groove that Howell took to Lancaster after a show one night. The two instantly wrote the track on the back of their tour bus and it continued to find life with the rest of the band as they worked it up during soundcheck in the following days.
“There’s so much pressure to be like someone else or to live up to some outside expectation, especially with social media and how perfect it makes everything look,” explains Lancaster. “We wrote this song from the perspective of no matter where you come from, be proud of who you are and the way you’re creating your own path. And if anyone doesn’t like it, just chalk them up as a rival and keep doing your thing.”
“We realized that everyone has faced something they have to stand up against. It isn’t about fitting into any mould, it’s about sticking up for what you believe in and having that crew of friends around that will always have your back,” Howell adds. “That’s definitely a big part of our story. We didn’t know anything or anyone when we started out trying to break into this business, and I think that underdog mentality really drove us in the beginning.”
Having made their first UK appearance with a number of explosive, stand-out sets at 2018’s Country To Country Festival, LANCO return to the UK for a headline tour in May which kicks off at London’s Islington O2 on 1st May, and they have recently been announced for The Long Road Festival in September this year.
UK Headline Tour Dates:
1st May – Islington O2, London
3rd May – O2 Institute, Birmingham
4th May – Manchester Academy
5th May – Oran Mor, Glasgow
6th May – The Fleece, Bristol
LANCO has paved the course for critical acclaim with the success of their US 2x PLATINUM single “Greatest Love Story” which became a multi-week chart topper. Following the release of their US #1 selling debut album HALLELUJAH NIGHTS, both moments were historical in Country music as Lancaster became the first artist in 10 years to have a #1 on the chart solely written by that artist while LANCO serves as the first Country group in a decade to appear at the top of the Billboard Country albums chart with a debut album. As it now boasts over 426 million streams, LANCO has “won admirers among its peers” (Billboard) earning nominations from the ACM, CMT, CMA, AMA, and iHeart Awards, while Lancaster became the first member of a group to ever win NSAI’s “Songwriter/Artist of the Year.”
