Denim on Wax: Preview: Lucero with Banditos at the Hi-Fi, Indianapolis

Lucero (photo credit: Jamie Harmon)

The barroom-ready, rollicking tag team of Lucero and Banditos are rolling into town toting scorching live sets of tight, Southern-born rock and roll and hard-won soul. Lucero, the beloved band of Memphis road dogs and veteran purveyors of beer-and-whiskey-soaked tunes, are one of my longtime favorite bands, and I rush out to catch them play any time I get the chance. Their Hi-Fi set, the second time I’ll have seen them since the release of the band’s most recent, excellent album, 2015’s All a Man Should Do, is guaranteed to provide ample returns on the price of admission on a Monday night. If you dig top shelf rock and roll tunes of rowdy, electric attitude in arguably the best small club in town, Lucero playing the newly expanded Hi-Fi is one of the top live music bargains of the summer.

Banditos (photo credit: Nicole Mago)

Sweetening the deal even more is the chance to see Birmingham/Nashville-based six-piece rockers Banditos merely days ahead of the release of their album, Visionland, the band’s second full-length and follow-up to the thrilling 2015 self-titled debut, a wildly eclectic blast of swaggering fresh air that won me over on first listen and remained in heavy rotation for the long haul. Early tastes of Visionland, including the Nuggets-kissed lead single “Fine Fine Day” and the smoldering powerhouse of a ballad “Healin’ Slow,” sure seem to find Banditos promising anything besides taking a step back with Visionland. My bet is it’ll make good on all the badass verve they tapped into all over the debut and push even further into the psychedelic edges of the jangling rock/soul songs of Banditos. Touring alongside the likes of Lucero should find the band winning over plenty of kindred spirits and, hopefully, earning some new fans along the way.

Lucero and Banditos play the Hi-Fi on Monday, June 19. Buy tickets here.

Lucero - "Baby Don't You Want Me" (official video)