Brooklyn-based musical trio Bandits on the Run have carved out a sound uniquely their own...Adrian Blake Enscoe, Sydney Shepherd, and Regina Strayhorn formed after a serendipitous encounter busking in New York City subways, and the trifecta has been making music magic ever since with their amazing harmonies, plethora of instruments, and a super cool vibe. Currently, the band is busy with a residency at The Bowery Electric, writing music for a stage adaptation of the novel What's Eating Gilbert Grape , and working on their upcoming EP. We got to hear all about it when they stopped by the LifeMinute Studios to play us some tunes. This is a LifeMinute with Bandits on the Run.
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00:00Hi, we're Bandits on the Run, and you're watching Life Minute TV!
00:12Brooklyn-based indie folk pop trio Bandits on the Run have carved out a sound uniquely their own.
00:18Adrian Enscoe, Sidney Shepard, and Regina Strayhorn formed after a serendipitous encounter
00:24busking in New York City subways, and the trio has been making music magic ever since,
00:29with their amazing harmonies, plethora of instruments, and a super cool vibe.
00:33We got to hear all about it when they stopped by the Life Minute Studios to play us some tunes.
00:45This is a Life Minute with Bandits on the Run.
00:48Bandits on the Run in the house! Woohoo!
00:51Thanks so much for joining us on Life Minute. So glad to have you guys here.
00:55Thanks for having us.
00:56We're so happy to be here.
00:58So tell us about the name. Where did you come up with the name?
01:02We stole it.
01:03You did.
01:04Yes. Well, I guess it's a bit of an homage to like Paul McCartney Band on the Run,
01:10but when we first started playing in the subways, like that's how we kind of got our
01:18sea legs as a band. We kind of had this image of us as like these wild west people creating,
01:25you know, surprise music in spaces. So Bandits just seemed, I don't know, appropriate for us.
01:33I actually just heard from somebody that the early days of Wings,
01:39Paul McCartney like kind of just assembled a bunch of people. He was like,
01:41I want to go back to basics. And he just like assembled some of his favorite artists and went
01:45on the road and they would show up at a place and be like, we want to play here. And they'd be like,
01:50wait, you're and you'd be like, don't worry about it. We're just we're going to play here.
01:54And it kind of reminds me of what we were doing early on. We were just like we would show up on,
01:59you know, the Roosevelt Island Tramway, for instance, and be like, we're going to play here.
02:03And people would be like, what? And then people go, oh, well, all right.
02:08So it was one of those things where it actually happened pretty quickly. And it just kind of
02:13stuck because it was one of those things that felt right. And we're like, yeah, we're Bandits on the Run.
02:16So cool. And how'd you all meet? Where'd you come from? And how'd you get together?
02:21Well, Sydney and I went to our arts conservatory together. And the conservatory also had a high
02:28school program. So we've known each other since our senior year of high school. We were next door
02:32neighbors in a little boarding school sort of situation. And we were best friends and created
02:38work together. And we started writing songs when we were in school. And then Sydney came to New York
02:44City because she was doing a Broadway show at the time. And and then she met Adrian on the subway.
02:51And everyone was like, is that OK? And it turns out it's more than OK.
02:57And now I am your family. I'm the interloper. I just found the good juju and inserted myself into
03:04it. I was I was playing and I saw Sydney and I was like, she looks very interesting.
03:10And started talking in between songs and the train came and I was like,
03:13actually, I'm getting on this train anyway. So you followed me on the train.
03:17But in a romantic kind of way, not at all a creepy kind of way, I hope like a band.
03:26And I found out that Sydney played cello and Sydney later was showing me videos of her and
03:31Regina. And I was like, I really want to start a band. That's the three of us.
03:36Kind of. I was thinking this before Regina even moved before they even knew each other.
03:40Yeah. So in my memory, I'm like Regina moved in with Sydney. Eventually, when she moved to New
03:46York, they lived in the same place. And I remember being like, oh, Regina's there. Went to to visit
03:51and Regina opens it. And I was like, hi, you're Regina. I'm Adrian. We're in a band together.
03:57That's how I remember it, too. I think that is the reality. We just went great.
04:02Oh, good thing you're cool. You know, you can be like, what?
04:05Well, now we're fast forward. We're twins. We like, yeah, this is this is our running
04:10bit is that Regina and I sometimes when we are recording, we lose track of whose voice is who
04:16because we have similar ranges. Yeah, the voices sound it's I mean, they're very distinct, like
04:21types of voices. But yeah, the range is so interconnected. We'll be listening back to
04:27tracks and be like, is that Regina? No, that's Adrian. Wait, who's who's that?
04:31So yeah, Regina once wrote me a song for my birthday. We all we've written each other
04:35songs for birthdays. That's what happens when you're very poor.
04:38And in the song, she was like, we're opposites and twins at the same time, like shoes.
04:53Wow, what an interesting story. You all came together.
04:56Oh, we're chock full of them.
04:59And you all sing, like you said, did you guys always know that, you know, you had music in
05:05your soul, like from a young age, and like, were you taught with your instruments?
05:10None of us studied music in college. I mean, we all like Sydney took cello lessons. I took piano
05:16lessons. And like I did chorus and stuff in high school, but like, none of us were like bound for
05:21a career in music. It just kind of happened. Yeah, well, I feel like it's we all studied acting. So
05:28it's all very interconnected together for us. Like, I was thinking like, have has music always
05:33been? And I think so. But like, for me, it was from the point of view of like a director, because
05:39I was like, four years old, like, watching Disney movies, and then like making everybody like,
05:44like reenact the movies. And like the Disney movies, like music is so part of the stories
05:49and those that it just like, it felt like a natural form of expression, in a sense,
05:55like it didn't feel separate from like, Oh, I'm an actor, or I'm a musician. It's like,
05:59I'm an artist. And like, this is how I tell the story, interact and tell the story. So yeah.
06:04Yeah. Interesting. And of course, I saw you recently and swept away the Broadway musical.
06:10You're amazing. I'm so glad you got to see it. So, so good. I don't think that that show that I would
06:18have been involved in that show had it not been for bandits. Because the the whole crux of that
06:24needed to rely on non traditional Broadway voices, it couldn't be, you know, it couldn't be done like
06:29a regular Broadway musical. And so they were they had Stark, they had Johnny, they had Wayne,
06:35they were looking for a little brother who, who is kind of like outside of the zone of musical
06:40theater. And I had been working mainly as a bandit. And then on a TV show, and I sent in a tape. And
06:47they like, without even seeing my audition, they, my tape, they were like, Oh, yeah, we heard about
06:53him. He's, he's involved in, in a band too. And so they just brought me in for a callback. And
07:00that was how I booked the role. So I it's, it's weird, because it feels like a lot of times people
07:05will ask, I think all of us, like, what is your track? Like, which track would you rather have,
07:11if you could have only one, the music track or the theater acting track? People love that question.
07:17And, and like, it seems so interconnected. And, and I don't want to say tangled, but like,
07:22just like, sometimes it is. Yeah, it is.
07:27You can't differentiate between the two, because one has jumped in to support the other at every
07:31moment. Yeah. And we're also writing for musical theater now much more over the past couple of
07:36years, which makes a lot of sense. In hindsight, it's like, Oh, yeah, this is the natural sort of
07:40continuation of the braid of like, theater and music making.
07:44And the Avett brothers, were you guys fans?
07:48Yeah, absolutely. Regina and I are from North Carolina. So like, we grew up listening to the
07:53Avett brothers. And they're like, my mom's like, favorite band, like, and I mean, we love them as
07:58well. But like, she had been to like, a lot of their New Year shows and things like that. So
08:02when Adrian booked this, it was like a really special, like, moment.
08:06I remember too, that we were down in North Carolina, right before the pandemic, we were
08:10watching that documentary, right? Judd Apatow made May it Last about the Avett. And it was such
08:17a, I mean, I have gone back to that moment so many times, because because of what ended up
08:22happening. But just thinking about how in that documentary, you're able to see how the Avett's
08:28really grew from a tiny act, it was so like, unexpected. But they did it off of out of the
08:36love of their craft and the love of each other and their community.
08:39And we feel a lot of like, kinship with them. And with that, and that just sort of like
08:43grassroots, like you make your fans by going out and playing.
08:47Um, so let's talk about your music a little bit. So when did you guys get your big break? First of
08:52all, we're still waiting.
08:54You know, yeah, I don't think we feel like we've had a big break, because we're constantly sort of
09:10creating and bringing new stuff forward and like, you know, rowing the boat.
09:15Well, what's funny is like the closest we did get to a big break was like in January of 2020. I feel
09:21like and like we had like, all of this momentum, like we did this interview with NPR. We like
09:26signed with a big fancy booking agency, like we went and we played at Sundance. And we had like a
09:30show lined up at the Kennedy Center and another show like lined up for opening for these Grammy
09:34winners. And then like, pandemic was like, nope. So I feel like now we're just kind of getting back
09:39up to the place where we were before that it's been a very nonlinear sort of journey.
09:45So how would you describe your sound?
09:47It's easiest to say we sort of do like indie folk pop rock, because we are the the sort of main
09:57center of all of our songs are harmonies. And we do something kind of special, which which we all
10:03love where we switch off who's the lead singer. And we all write so our sound is very like I come
10:09back to this word playful because we don't really think about trying to stay within a genre. In fact,
10:14we actually quite like sort of bouncing around and stretching the limits of well, what is a
10:19bandits on the run song like how if if we're doing it, then then it's a bandit song. So let's,
10:25let's play with that. But yeah, but we have most of the time, our configuration is cello,
10:31guitar, suitcase drum accordion, but there's also a bass. There's also banjos. Sometimes there's,
10:37you know, we mix it up. Cool. And tell us about your singles new singles.
10:44Yeah, oh, yeah, we're we're on a kick right now. We just put out this song called back home.
10:55It was kind of in the Avett Brothers world. There's a banjo feature prominently on it.
11:01And making that track felt like an homage to that. Yeah, like a little like stump clap this of it.
11:07And we're also putting out this single called let's go below, which we wrote a couple years
11:11ago. It's kind of also about playing and singing in the subway. And how wild and I mean, we did
11:19that for years and years. And like, we saw a lot of really weird, interesting things. And then we
11:26also worked a year or so ago on a production of as you like it. And we started writing these songs
11:33based on Shakespeare text. And we kind of just took it and made it our own and, you know, added
11:37choruses and did whatever we really wanted with it. And so we're putting we're sitting on an EP
11:43that we're releasing this spring of a bunch of those tracks. It's not just for as you like it,
11:48it's a number of different Shakespeare texts. But I'm super stoked about that. And our residency
11:54is at the Bowery Electric. And we're doing it once a month until May. So we have a different opener
12:01for every show that are like dear friends of ours. And we're really excited about. And yeah, I mean,
12:06last year, we were touring so much. And we didn't get a lot of opportunities to play to our audience
12:12in New York. So it feels like a gift to have this many shows that like a really cool home base in
12:17New York that you can come to. Is that your home base? Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. We even have a dot NYC
12:24domain. Yeah, our band website. That's how you know. So New York. All right, you're gonna play
12:29for us a few songs. What are we gonna get? So you guys want to play today?
12:38We're gonna play our new single Let's Go Below. And we're also gonna play radio. And we'll also
12:45play You Have Changed. We're Bandits on the Run and we're gonna play Let's Go Below.
13:06Below this town is a city in itself. The underground sounds with a mighty hell.
13:14There's a glory in the grit and the magic in the steel. It's a flying machine on wheels.
13:22Most go through with the head bowed low. Others take a guitar and they put on a show.
13:29You can be heaven or hell riding those rails. Those strange subterranean trails. Let's go below.
13:38Let's go below. Let's go below. Let's go below. Let's go below. Let's go below. Let's go below.
13:51Well, you can meet your match. You can meet your muse. In a moment of silence when the tracks blow a fuse.
13:59Hear the wild wind howl of the trains ringing forth. It's a furnace where the city was scorched.
14:06And if the band you wanted to be a train troubadour. I've seen kingdoms rise and fall on their floor.
14:13I've seen kids jumpin' tracks and folks fall in love. Adventure's not a way to go.
14:22Let's go below. Let's go below. Let's go below. Let's go below. Let's go below. Let's go below.
14:35Come on down now.
14:49And I know that in life there ain't no guarantees of a future to face.
15:00Unless we face what's beneath. So I'll take the stairs down. Join the wild to believe and see.
15:17Let's go below. Let's go below. Let's go below. That hole we know. Let's go below. Let's go below.
16:17So this one is called You Have Changed.
16:26You, you have changed.
16:38You, you have flown away.
16:49How can I live without you?
16:54How can you come back someday?
17:00You, you have changed.
17:09I always thought we were one and the same,
17:12inseparable until the day came
17:16when the heavens crashed open and the world split in two.
17:20How I tried through the cracks to hold on to you.
17:24I cried a river a thousand miles long.
17:28I tried to find you with a lonesome bird song.
17:31I keep looking for light, I keep looking for dawn.
17:35I keep trying to find you, though I know that you're gone.
17:41You, you have changed.
17:49You, you have flown away.
17:56How can I live without you?
18:00How can you come back someday?
18:04You, you have changed.
18:12I still feel like you're hanging around,
18:15like I could get in a wagon and find you somehow.
18:19But as fast as I ride or as far as I go,
18:22you won't be next to me singing to the radio.
18:26They say when the flood comes to ride the waves,
18:30you'll be lost at sea for days and days.
18:34Well, I've been adrift and I'm not giving up,
18:37but it's getting so hard and I miss you so much.
18:41You, you have changed.
18:46You, you have flown away.
18:54How can I live without you?
18:58How can you come back someday?
19:02You, you have changed.
19:08You, you have changed.
19:14I love you and I wish we didn't have to say goodbye.
19:20I hate starting over and I hate losing life.
19:27Once you told me that living is a dance between
19:33and release, but I'm not ready to release.
19:37Be the one thing I keep, you're the one thing I need.
19:42Oh, you, you have changed.
19:51You, you have flown away.
19:59You, you have changed.
20:07You, you have flown away.
20:15You, you have changed.
20:22You, you have flown away.
20:29How can I live without you?
20:34How can you come back someday?
20:42You, you have changed.
20:52You, you have changed.
20:57And I am not the same.
21:05Woo!
21:09Woo!
21:13Ready?
21:14Yeah.
21:15This song is called Radio.
21:19One, two, one, two, three, ba-ba-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
21:29Let's all gather round the radio.
21:32Hear what they all have to say.
21:36Gather round, round the radio
21:39and learn the songs of judgment day.
21:43Hear the man sing out a mighty tune.
21:46There's the women crooning along Now the kids are howling at the moon
21:53And will you join, oh, will you join the show?
21:59Oh, it's astounding how you found yourself At the center of the fog in the road
22:07And when the drum rings out, where will you go?
22:11To the dance or to the depths of your soul?
22:14And will you wander back, my dear, or linger down below?
22:21Well, come back to us one day
22:26On the radio
22:35Let's all gather round the TV screen How can this be?
22:38Watch the wigs and makeup fly What do you mean?
22:42Let's all gather round around the TV screen How can this be?
22:45Now let it fill your weary eyes See the cartoon cat with dynamite
22:51What did you do?
22:52And the newscast all in red It's not that bad
22:55Is this the end?
22:56The country flickers in the candlelight Who can I talk to?
22:59Will you lose, oh, will you lose your head?
23:05Oh, it's astounding how you found yourself At the center of the fog in the road
23:13And when the drum rings out, where will you go?
23:17To the dance or to the depths of your soul?
23:20And will you wander back, my dear, or linger down below?
23:27Well, come back to us one day
23:32On the radio
23:48Let's all gather round the windowpane Look for birds up in the blue
23:55Gather round around the windowpane And see if anything's still true
24:03There's an angel in the countryside There's a devil at the store
24:10There's a child who will no longer hide And will you open, will you close the door?
24:20Oh, it's astounding how you found yourself At the center of the fog in the road
24:27And when the drum rings out, where will you go?
24:31To the dance or to the depths of your soul?
24:35And will you wander back, my dear, or linger down below?
24:42Well, come back to us one day
24:47On the radio
25:12On the radio