Bucking Bronchos

If you’re finding out about Oklahoma bands from NPR, you know you’ve been out of the loop. Trust me, it’s possible. I was sitting at a friend’s house reading an article on NPR Music about the best garage rock bands of 2011 when I stumbled upon this piece of magic:

Try Me Out Sometime by BRONCHO

They call themselves BRONCHO.

And yes, it is pronounced “braun-CHo” and not bronco, much to the dismay of many University of Central Oklahoma student to whom I must say yes we know it was a correct spelling at the time of your schools founding, but please stop correcting people. Those people who you think are mispronouncing the name of your school’s mascot are clearly talking about Oklahoma’s brightest new garage rock band.

BRONCHO is Ryan Lindsey, Nathan Price, Ben King, and Johnathon Ford. Do any of those names sound familiar? They should be. Lindsay also plays for Starlight Mints, Price is from Tulsa progressive outfit Native Lights and The Hero Factor, King has played bass and song-wrote for CHEYENNE and Ford comes from the mostly instrumental ambient band Unwed Sailor.

If their personal biographies were college degrees, BRONCHO has a combined doctorate in garage-rocking and awesomeness.

I Don’t Really Want To Be Social by BRONCHO

Other music writers have described BRONCHO‘s sound as 70’s and punk-ish. I feel that these words alone don’t quite do it justice. To me, BRONCHO has a lo-fi punk structure but with a twist of 70’s-era rock styling as set to modern post-punk vocals. But that’s actually the most boring way I can describe their sound, so I’ll try and make it fun again. They must have a time machine, because either they used one to get that sound or every other band isn’t trying hard enough.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R2Y429oizE[/youtube]

A great place to start with BRONCHO is the song “Try Me Out Sometime.” It’s fun, it’s raucous and it’s one of those songs you have to tap some part of your body along to. The video for this song is also great. BRONCHO hits Norman where they start setting up their equipment and then proceed to rock out in various locations. Coffee Shops, Guestroom Records and even a college class. Nothing was safe nor sacred. Also, the class they crashed was Ron Haas‘ class. That dude has crazy Martin Van Buren sideburns that you can see at about 21 seconds into the video. Haas teaches an expository writing class at OU called Legacies of the 1960’s. Something tells me BRONCHO would have liked that class.

BRONCHO is one of the many bands stopping by at Norman Music Festival this year. If you missed them last year you’ve got to catch this. Firstly because they’re awesome and deserve your attention, and second because it’s one of the few chances you’ll get to see them in the state, thirdly watch for the mosh pit. In April and May alone, BRONCHO has 13 shows in 9 states. If you miss seeing them at NMF, you’ll have to wait until June 13th when they play Cain’s Ballroom. Also, even if you go to NMF you should also go see them at Cain’s Ballroom.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is… you should try them out sometime.