• As well-versed with the music of Joe Ely as [they are] with that of Social Distortion

    — San Diego Union-Tribune

  • Regional music at its most inspired: taking an old tradition and giving it a hard twist.

    — Paste Magazine

  • Vandoliers are deadly onstage, delivering their cowpunk/ska/Tex-Mex blend with abandon.

    — Rolling Stone

  • They are as capable of summoning the passionate, galvanizing spirit of the Gaslight Anthem and the rowdy punk defiance of the Dropkick Murphys as they are siphoning the gas out of Jason and the Scorchers’ moonshining hot rod.

    — Elmore Magazine

  • As if they were children of Jon Langford, this six-piece Dallas-Fort Worth group is the new face of insurgent country. You can taste the Texas dust in their mix of defiant cowpunk, rugged Red Dirt country, resilient Tejano, twang, and groove taken to the next level.

    — No Depression

  • What might have been had Lucero been a little more Texas than Tennessee

    — Dying Scene

  • If there was a perfect remake of already perfect 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly' or a 'A Fistful of Dollars' the only band that could pull off the soundtrack would be Vandoliers.

    — Buddy Magazine

  • A triumphant Old West feel, something that puts you in mind of in the closing scene of an old John Wayne film — if, say, Guy Ritchie were directing it.

    — Americana Highways

  • If the Pogues were from Texas instead of Ireland, they might sound something like the Vandoliers.

    — Americana Highways

  • Josh Fleming and company have brilliantly combined punk, country, Tejano, and rockabilly influences to create a dynamic and modern cowpunk staple.

    — Noisey

  •  A six-piece cowpunk band that took Fleming's punk and ska roots and dressed them up with acoustic guitar, brass, and fiddle for a jet-fueled take on the Texas two-step.

    — Rolling Stone Country

  • ...as if Calexico and Dropkick Murphys got together for a fiesta.

    — Dallas Observer

  • Blends their Texan identities with Tejano, cowpunk, Americana and classic country sensibilities, creating what may be one of the most interestingly cohesive sounds in decades.

    — The Boot

  • The lyrical and instrumental foundations of Texas country greats delivered with an intensity usually reserved for punk rock bands like Rancid, Social Distortion...

    — Wide Open Country

  • With a boisterous mix of Telecasters, fiddles, horns, and banjos, the Vandoliers set late-night, honkytonk and bits of bluegrass against Joshua Fleming’s strained, punk rock croon.

    — No Depression

  • They’re genre-bending, Tex-Mex punk that sounds like someone dropped NOFX in the middle of Corpus-Christi.

    — No Depression
Hometown: 
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX

Vandoliers are the next wave of Texas music. The six-piece Dallas-Fort Worth group channels all that makes this vast state unique: tradition, modernity, audacity, grit, and—of course—size. 
 
Formed in 2015, the self-proclaimed "Converse cowboys" emerged from a group of Dallas-Fort Worth musicians who'd already logged more than a decade in their own punk and folk bands. Vandoliers mix raw, rough-edged roots music with the focused, fiery storytelling of frontman Joshua Fleming, who says of joining Bloodshot: 

"When we received the invitation to perform at Bloodshot's annual SXSW party we were completely beside ourselves. Being from the same hometown as our heroes the Old 97’s, we've grown up fans of the label and have wanted to be a Bloodshot band since day one. I even sent a terrible demo submission when we were first getting started three years ago. I can’t put into words what it feels like to have the faith of the same institution that has put out so many of my favorite albums, but I am happy to call Bloodshot home and can’t wait to get to work on our next album."

Behind him, the band (bassist Mark Moncrieff, drummer Guyton Sanders, fiddler Travis Curry, electric guitarist Dustin Fleming (no relation), and multi-instrumentalist Cory Graves) kick up plenty of fast-moving dust, filling the songs with train beats, gang vocals, blasts of brass, and bursts of guitar. Vandoliers' sound is truly a tour of the many subgenres that originated in the Lone Star State, from outlaw country to Texas swing, electric blues, and even Tejano. At the same time, it’s a twist on those familiar sounds, delivered with a wink of the eye and a bang of the head. (As the Dallas Observer amusingly asserted, it's "as if Calexico and Dropkick Murphys got together for a fiesta.") It's twang and tattoos, grit and guitars, honky-tonk and horns, Tejano and Telecasters. It's Vandoliers.

Vandoliers' first two albums Ameri-Kinda (2016) and The Native (2017) were released on State Fair Records. The band has toured with such country and rock-n-roll stalwarts as Marty Stuart, Lee Ann Womack, Old 97's, and Reverend Horton Heat. 

And no, we don't know where Joshua's "terrible demo" is. 

Artist Website
Recommended if You Like: 
Jason & the Scorchers
Calexico
Old 97's
Social Distortion
Dropkick Murphys
Texas Tornados

Similar Bloodshot Artists

  • Ha Ha Tonka Bloodshot Records

    Ha Ha Tonka

    Coming straight out of Springfield, MO, Ha Ha Tonka specialize in disarming and effortless anthems that owe as much to high and lonesome Ozarks mountain music as chugging college rock.
  • Sarah Shook & the Disarmers Bloodshot Records

    Sarah Shook & the Disarmers

    North Carolina’s Shook sings with a conviction and hard honesty sorely lacking in much of today’s Americana landscape. Always passionate, and at times profane, Sarah walks the line between vulnerable and menacing.

  • Cordero

    Cordero can set the scene for a golden, reverby, south of the border sunset or an ill-conceived encounter with a stranger in the back booth of a dimly lit bar. This potent mix will have you snake-charmed with it's sassy sensibilities and romantic flair.
  • Jason Hawk Harris Bloodshot Records

    Jason Hawk Harris

    Jason Hawk Harris hit rock bottom during the writing and recording of his debut full-length Love & the Dark. In the last few years, the Houston-born-and-raised, Los Angeles-based musician endured life-altering hardships—illness, death, familial strife, and addic
  • Waco Brothers Bloodshot Records Artist Header

    Waco Brothers

    "It's so direct and honest, it's almost painful ... All the songs are about sex and death and drinking. If you listen to early George Jones, it's simple, three-chord stuff where the subject is everyday life ... It could be the Buzzcocks."
  • Whitey Morgan 78s Artist Page Bloodshot Records

    Whitey Morgan and the 78's

    Whitey Morgan and the 78's are a Honky Tonk band from Flint, Michigan. They haven't re-invented the wheel. They just picked it up and got it rolling all over again.
  • Bottle Rockets Bloodshot Records

    The Bottle Rockets

    Punk-rock pedigrees and arena-rock energy, tougher-than-Springsteen storytelling and their romantic hearts sewn to their denim sleeves. The Bottle Rockets are true folk music, albeit it with beards, biker wallets and a lot more muscle.

  • Old 97's

    They came on like a fully formed gang: Ken Bethea's guitar a post-punk Luther Perkins; Philip Peeples the fucking Ringo Starr of the train beat; Murray Hammond on the bass and West TX harmonies; and Rhett Miller's manic energy, super-literate songwriting and swoony charisma.