On the heels of releasing two new singles, the band was this week’s guest for Local Spins on WYCE, which also featured new tracks by Phabies, Mannhattan, Superfluiid,Michigan Rattlers and more.
Inspired by Seger and So Many Others: Paradise Outlaw on stage in Lowell. (Courtesy Photo)
Kevin Langeland fondly recalls “horsing around and rough-housing” as a kid while his dad blasted Bob Seger’s “‘Live’ Bullet” with its iconic rock classics “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man,” “Heavy Music” and “Katmandu.”
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“That probably was my biggest inspiration as a musician for the type of blue-collar, hard-driving, singing about real experiences,” said the guitarist for Grand Rapids’ Paradise Outlaw.
“He’s a Michigan guy (who) just did it all and he did it the real way. It’s kind of the mold I would like to follow.”
Langeland and the rest of the members of Paradise Outlaw – singer Colin Tobin, bassist John Johnson, drummer Nate Vredeveld and recent addition Alex Austin from Deerfield Run on guitar – bask in blue-collar rootsiness with music that straddles Southern rock, country and folk.
“We blend it all together for kind of an Americana sound,” Langeland suggested.
And after a 2020 permeated by the COVID pandemic, the band has re-emerged this year with new music and a handful of live appearances, including a headlining show Saturday night at Grand Rapids’ Tip Top Deluxe Bar & Grill. Lisa Mackie and Ryan Gladding open the 9 p.m. show; tickets are $5 and available here.
For this week’s edition of Local Spins on WYCE, the band spotlighted its two most recent singles – “Don’t Make ’Em Like They Use To” (an homage to influential artists of the past) and “Forget ’Em.” Scroll down for the songs, the full interview and radio show podcast.
“We’re just real happy to be back to it now,” said Langeland, the band’s chief songwriter. “Having the crowd reaction and sharing the music again. That’s kind of what it’s all about, kind of the end goal for all the music stuff is to play for people.”
Current Lineup: Alex Austin recently joined Paradise Outlaw. (Courtesy Photo)
Among other upcoming shows will be an Oct. 9 date at the revived Skelletones, which celebrates its officially grand reopening in Grand Rapids on Sept. 10.
After playing its first shows in a year last month, the band has “shaken the rust back off and things feel more or less like they did when we left off.”
They’re also pleased with the lineup addition of Austin on guitar.
“We share a lot of common influences and our vision as guitar players is very similar,” Langeland said. “So, it’s a lot of fun to play with him and work out parts to songs.”
After recording the aforementioned singles at Grand Rapids’ River City Studios in the spring, the band currently is “working on a few more new tracks” with hopes of eventually releasing the follow-up album to 2019’s “Shadows.”
“We’ve just been plugging along trying to keep the whole thing going,” Langeland said. “It’d be great to record another one this year perhaps, but we don’t have a target date or timeline in mind as of now.”
The Aug. 6 episode of Local Spins on WYCE – which spotlights local and regional music at 11 a.m. Friday on WYCE (88.1 FM) and online at wyce.org – also featured new music from Phabies, Michigan Rattlers, Mannhattan, Superfluiid, The Last Straw Motel, The American Hotel System and Laura Rain & The Caesars, as well as tracks by Serita’s Black Rose, hi-ker and Bob Seger (Langeland’s musician’s pick of the day). Listen to the podcast here.
PODCAST: Local Spins on WYCE (8/6/21)
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