Banned & Outlawed perform tomorrow as part of the Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) Country Music Week Celebration at Bottle Screw Bill’s Pub in Calgary! You can catch them from 10:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. representing Hazel Ridge Manitoba.
Brothers Jon and Dan Hnatishin make up the two-person group and they are thrilled to put on a good show!
“It’s pretty exciting, this is our first time here (at CCMA Country Music Week). I haven’t been to Calgary since I was a kid, we were walking downtown last night and we were like ‘wow, that’s pretty cool,’” Jon said.
If you watch their show, you can expect all the original music, as well as the very first listen to music they haven’t released yet!
“We’re also playing some new stuff on this bill. We’re probably releasing an EP next month or the month after that, so we’re playing two of those songs on that EP there, and it’s going to be the first time that we never played live,” Jon said.
The two-man band says country music is built on three chords and the truth. For them, having truth and real experiences in their music is very important.
“Life stories, life experiences. That’s what we love. The lyrics are really what drives it,” Dan said.
The brothers explained that the music they write is based on stories from their father and grandfather, as well as their own experiences.
“For our songwriting, we forget about our experiences and our family experiences, and that’s about it. And we hope people can relate to that,” Dan said.
The brother’s emphasis on three-chord country music with an emphasis on lyrics comes from the music they heard growing up and their inspirations.
“We always grew up listening to country music, our parents, my grandfather, always listened to country music, and we just like the three chords and the truth. We don’t like country pop, we like real classic country simple things,” Dan said.
The things that are real to us and are our real stories,” added Jon.
As for who their inspirations are, they pointed to artists like Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Eric Church and Morgan Wallen. The brothers enjoy the music of these artists because of the lyrics and stories they tell.
“You really have to think about it and think about how you can relate to this song,” Jon said.
“Their songwriting is like, you gotta read between the lines, that’s what I love. You gotta think about their lyrics and what they’re about. And that’s some truthful stuff, I think, that’s why I loved it.”
These inspirations even directly inspired their group name!
“We like guys like Eric Church, Morgan Wallen, Waylon Jennings, we like that outlaw vibe, I would say,” Dan said.
“It’s like a different style of outlaw country, it’s songs that are different from mainstream country, which we think is pretty cool,” Jon added,
When they are not performing, the two brothers are also electricians. Together with their father, who is a mechanic, they are working on making their own tour bus! They renovate and repair an old bus to become their own tourist bus. When these brothers talk about real-life experiences and the blue-collar lifestyle, you can tell they mean it, because they might be the only band to travel in a tour bus they made themselves. !
Catch Banned & Outlawed tomorrow at 10:30 p.m. at Bottle Screw Bill’s Pub in Calgary tomorrow! They’ll also be back in Calgary on the 23rd and 24th at the Ranchmans, so you’ll have another chance to hear them live.
