New album Physical Thrills out now! 
Listen & grab exclusive vinyl: https://sspu.lnk.to/physicalthrills

Some of our most enduring rock and roll is built upon the following truth: Sometimes you have to replant yourself to find your roots. Nearly a decade ago, three of the four young members of Ithaca, New York, quartet X Ambassadors left home with great ambition, vowing not to look back. Like so many small-town kids before them, they yearned to find fame and fortune in the city. They wanted, as they confess in one of their most powerful new songs, to “   go big.”    And after years of hustling rock stardom felt imminent. But something was missing. Some bands never get that missing piece back, but the potentially great ones go looking for it. More often than not, the search leads them right back home. X Ambassadors’     stomping, syncopated full-length debut, VHS, is all about that exploration. Ironically it proved to be a journey — as the antiquated technology name-checked in the album’    s title indicates — through the past. 

In It for the Chicks is a three-piece Rock ‘n’ Roll act from Atlanta, GA. They have been gigging in and around Atlanta since forming in October of 2011, and are nearing the completion of their debut album. They recently placed 10th out of 1,026 in a SXSW live performance video contest – view their submission here:

With Rock ‘N’ Roll riffs reminiscent of the greats and enough soul to make your #2 silky straight go curly; In It for the Chicks is redefining the meaning of true music. The passion, drive and energy behind each live performance exude feel-good vibes that cannot be denied in captivating the audience at each and every show.

Taylor Long – 26 – The son of a Methodist Minister, Taylor Long grew up listening to Gospel and Soul in Church every Sunday. Gospel and Soul turned him on to Blues, Rock ‘n’ Roll and Hip-Hop. Long picked up the guitar at a young age and has been playing, singing and writing original records as long as he can remember. A Lawrenceville native, Long has lived in Georgia all his life. He enrolled at Georgia State University in 2006 after spending some time away from school to focus on one of his early music projects, Hemp Street Rhythmz. Before graduating, Long decided he was finished with school and dedicated his life to making music. His mission is to inspire the uninspired in the same way his muses have inspired him. Long began recording his original works as a solo artist with the intent of putting a band together. He met a drummer named Joey Nappo in June of 2011.

Joey Nappo – 24 – Joey Nappo is one of four siblings, a small part of a large Italian-American family that has been rooted in Atlanta for decades. He grew up around music, playing guitar and filling in on drums at family gatherings for his uncle, famed rock producer Sal Nappo (credits: DMB, Matchbox 20, Elliot Smith). While attending Lakeside High School, he pursued a career in acting and modeling. Nappo’s acting credits include We Are Marshall, My Super Psycho Sweet 16 and The Vampire Diaries. After graduating from Lakeside, Nappo moved to New York City and found modeling projects. He traveled the world as a runway model and continues to get film, television and print work. During down time on sets, Nappo found he was unable to avoid making music. Upon meeting Taylor Long, he committed himself to playing drums professionally. Nappo and Long called themselves In It for the Chicks. They began gigging in and around Atlanta while recording in Sal Nappo’s home studio, all the while looking for a bassist to complete the project. They met a bassist named Danny Rhodes in October of 2011.

Danny Rhodes – 21 – Danny Rhodes is the youngest of four siblings from a long line of musical talent. Rhodes played bass in a band called IntelloRhythymEclectic (I.R.E.) that was billed to play with In It for the Chicks on October 7th, 2011 at Peachtree Tavern in Buckhead. Rhodes approached Long and Nappo about their lack of bass, and soon found himself rehearsing with them at Sal’s house. They performed publicly for the first time at an open mic at Tin Roof Cantina, where Long and Nappo had met, on November 6th of 2011. In It for the Chicks headlined at VINYL as a three-piece just a few weeks later. Rhodes’s musical talents far exceed the bass guitar – he is a prolific guitarist, pianist, drummer and songwriter who has made significant contributions to writing In It for the Chicks’s new material. He has left I.R.E. and is taking an indefinite sabbatical from Georgia State University to pursue a professional career in music with In It for the Chicks.

As the frontman of The Strumbellas, Simon Ward can attest that balancing work and family life ain’t easy. Over the past few years, the musician spent a great deal of time touring with the indie rock sextet, traversing the globe and delivering standout performances at festivals including Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits. The other side of the coin, for Ward, is a bustling home in small town Canada with his wife and three young children.  His constantly juxtaposed life is the thread that weaves its way through the fourth studio album, with Rattlesnake, a collection of sleek, bright songs that elevate their sound to frenzied new heights.   

“This album is about one main character: this guy, me, who’s out there following his dream to have his music heard, but at the same time, he’s just trying to get home,” says Ward. “The reason it’s called Rattlesnake is because it’s about him facing his fears head on.  Shedding his skin, evolving, and realizing he’s got these three kids that he’s responsible for.  Little humans, they’re more important than anything.  They have a way of really anchoring you.” 

Rattlesnake, releasing March 29 via Glassnote, is a testament to Ward’s personal growth and evolution as told through nine emboldened tracks. The album, recorded on the band’s home turf in Kingston and Toronto, Ontario, is a musical step forward from the to-the-rafters scrappy folk aesthetic of their earlier work. For the album, The Strumbellas, made up of Ward (lead vocals, acoustic guitar), David Ritter (keys), Jeremy Drury (drums/percussion), Isabel Ritchie (strings), Jon Hembrey (electric guitar) and Darryl James (bass), teamed up with producer Tim Pagnotta (Walk the Moon, Elle King) and co-producer Brian Phillips, with the goal to capture the electricity of their live show with a decidedly more stylistic upbeat bent. 

“This is even more of an exploration of those types of sounds,” says Ritter. “We really connected musically with Tim.  We knew immediately that he could help us find out how big we could push our sound—how upbeat, fast, exciting, heart racing a Strumbellas record could get. It felt like pushing ourselves to the limit of that possibility.” Adds Ward, “Tim understood how to take folky, roots songs, keep them centered around the acoustic guitar, but work with us to deliver them with a nice wallop of white hot lightning.” 

Lead single “Salvation” crackles with an aerobic gallop, and is already gaining traction on Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart. Elsewhere on Rattlesnake, they keep the energy sustained with the breezy dust up “Running Scared (Desert Song),” which Ritter describes as “desert folk,” while the chugging “We Were Young” is a love letter from Ward to his wife. But The Strumbellas also have a more melancholy meditative side, too, scaling back the swelling theatrics for the wistful acoustic guitar-strummed “The Party” and heart-eyed closer jam “All My Life.” 

The Strumbellas, coming off of a banner few years, show no sign of their stride shortening. The group released Hope in 2016, which spawned the massive hit “Spirits,”.  The single hit No. 1 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart and made sizable dents in Germany, Canada, Italy and France. Amid touring the world, they won the iHeartRadio Music award for Best New Alternative Rock Artist of the Year in 2017, and collected the JUNO Award for Single of the Year ahead of Drake, The Weeknd and Shawn Mendes. 

For The Strumbellas, though, accolades are secondary to the connection that their music has with their fans. “I think it’s important that people feel something when they listen to music,” says Ward. “That’s my favorite thing: When I put my headphones on and it triggers something in me.  It’s my hope that this music makes people feel something they may not have otherwise felt that day.”

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