Lanco: ‘Because We’re Friends, We Celebrate the Good Times and Ride Out the Bad Times Together’
The ACM Awards-nominated group Lanco have enjoyed plenty of success over the past year, with their single "Greatest Love Story" topping the charts and winning the band a widespread fanbase -- and if you ask frontman Brandon Lancaster, it's all due to the friendship they share.
Earlier this year, Lancaster explained that the band originated as a group of friends who just loved playing music together. In a more recent interview, The Boot caught up with Lancaster to chat further about Lanco's crowded living situation when they first moved to Nashville, and how being roommates affected their music.
"The five of us technically lived in a two-bedroom house," Lancaster recalls of the group's first year living in Nashville. "There were also three other guys, so it was technically [eight] people living in a two-bedroom house. We turned the attic and dining rooms into bedrooms, and then there was a basement where two guys lived. It was hilarious."
Aside from being a dramatically efficient way to get to know someone, that living arrangement also quickly acquainted them with each other's musical tastes.
"There was always music playing," Lancaster adds. "In the summer, we'd just keep the door open and put a speaker on the porch and another speaker in the house, so there was literally always music going. It was a wild time."
Living in close quarters with your best friends can be dangerous -- many good relationships have gone south when people who have different living styles try to move in together. Fortunately for Lanco, the foundation of friendship they share has been strong enough to carry them through tough times.
"Things are really exciting right now, and we've experienced a lot of cool things this year, but it hasn't always been that way," Lancaster notes. "There were definitely times when we'd play a show at a honky-tonk in the middle of nowhere and there would be the bartender and about three random people who really didn't care about us. But even if you have a bad show, what's the first thing you're gonna do when you get off work? You're gonna crack a beer open and complain to your friends. And that was us.
"So far, I think our friendship has been what keeps us together even when times are tough," he continues. "There have been times when there's been doubt, and no one's been afraid to talk about that. Everyone can be honest. Everyone's had times where they say, 'What are we doing? How is this going to work? We don't even have enough gas to get to the next venue.' But because we're friends, we celebrate the good times and ride out the bad times together."
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