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Oklahoma band
BRONCHO started life as a scrappy, sometimes goofy pop punk band powered by vocalist
Ryan Lindsey's off-kilter lyrics and idiosyncratic singing style. The latter elements didn't change, but their sound quickly did, as it shifted from giddy pop (the 2013 single "It's On") to murky downer ballads (most of 2014's
Just Enough Hip to Be Woman) and melancholy new wave-inspired songs (as heard on their 2016 album,
Double Vanity). By the time of 2018 album
Bad Behavior,
BRONCHO merged all of their disparate elements into a cohesive, more straightforward indie sound, and the songs lent themselves well to reconstructions from similar artists like
Generationals and
of Montreal on 2020 remix EP Bad.
BRONCHO was formed in 2010 in Norman, Oklahoma by guitarist/vocalist
Lindsey, guitarist Ben King, bassist
Jonathan Ford, and drummer
Nathan Price. The project began as a loose recording session where
Lindsey quickly sketched out a few ideas before sending them around to some friends for advice and ideas. Before long, the careless demos became the basis of a full-on band, with
Ford going so far as booking the group a show without consulting the other collaborators on the project. Taking inspiration from early punk acts like
the Ramones and
the Stooges, and applying liberal amounts of '80s college rock grit,
BRONCHO were born.
The band's first full-length outing,
Can't Get Past the Lips, surfaced in 2011 and eventually led to press and national touring, and ranking as one of NPR's best-of-2011 albums, among other accolades. The album was re-released in 2013 on producer
Kevin Augunas' Fairfax Recordings label, and the band started recording a second album. After leaving the label and
Augunas, the group issued a single for Park the Van, "Try Me Out Sometime," in 2011, then returned with a single for CQ Records in 2013. The song, the unstoppably catchy "It's On," was used memorably over the end titles on the third season of hit television show Girls.
Moving to a new label, Dine Alone, and down to the trio of
Lindsey, King, and
Price, the band's second album,
Just Enough Hip to Be Woman, was released in the fall of 2014. They added bassist
Penny Pitchlynn and guitarist Mandii Larsen of the Low Litas for the tour that followed, and
Pitchlynn stuck around for the next album. The new wave-influenced
Double Vanity was released in June of 2016.
The band spent much of the next couple years on the road, opening for
Queens of the Stone Age and
Cage the Elephant and also headlining their own shows. Along the way, they found time to record their fourth album,
Bad Behavior. Inspired by world events and people's less-than-good behavior, the record was released in October of 2018 by Park the Van. A series of remixes of
Bad Behavior songs followed, including reworkings from Computer Magic,
Yeasayer,
of Montreal,
Generationals, and
Methyl Ethel. These remixes were collected on 2020 EP Bad. The same year,
BRONCHO returned with new single "Friends," and in 2021, they offered up the slightly twee jangle and breathy vocals of new song "It's Complicated." More high-profile song placements factored into
BRONCHO's exposure, with songs of theirs being used in campaigns by the Cartoon Network, the 2015 film Vacation, and shows such as Santa Clarita Diet and Reservation Dogs. ~ Fred Thomas