Ballyhoo! is at it again with the upcoming release of their 3 song EP titled Halo via Right Coast Records. It includes a remix, cover & another song that was re-done. Read up on the new EP and see what lead singer & guitarist, Howi Spangler has to say…
Here’s what Howi had to say about covering Bruno Mar’s “The Lazy Song”:
“We did the Bruno Mars song for a possible inclusion on a compilation, but we were on Warped Tour and the days blur into each other and we missed the deadline! So it’s just been sitting there collecting dust for 2 years. I was thinking of cool songs that we could pull off and ‘The Lazy Song’ is a fun little jam and I love Bruno Mars. The original song is a laid back reggae tune and I knew if we were going to do it, we had to do a pop-punk version. I’ve played it for some friends here and there and they dig it. I figured why not just get it out to the world.”
Former Ballyhoo! bassist, JR Gregory played his final show April 25th, 2014, but fans will be happy to know that The Halo EP tracks are from sessions the band did with JR on bass. Plus, there are more sessions to be released later that include JR. In the meantime, lets all welcome the addition of new bassist, Nick Lucera.
[Related: Meet Ballyhoo!’s New Bassist]
The band got to work with producer & musician, John Feldman of Goldfinger for their song “Halo”. Howi describes it as “a new, bigger sound for our ‘Pineapple Grenade’ track ‘Beautiful Day’. We were thinking of the next single and we thought it would be a great Spring/Summer song, but we felt it needed a little more love to push it to radio. We booked some time with John Feldmann of Goldfinger. He’s produced The Used, Neon Trees, Plain White T’s and a bunch more. It was huge for me as an artist because he’s the reason I started mixing punk and reggae in my songwriting. We met back in February of this year while in L.A. and got right to work. It was pretty rad to sit across from Feldy playing guitar and writing together.”
Howi continues: “We came up with two new parts for the song and the production is great. We’re really proud of how it turned out and although the original song was released last year, it feels like a brand new song, yet very familiar.”
On Ballyhoo!’s last album Pineapple Grenade, Rome Ramirez (of Sublime with Rome) produced the song “No Good”. Before that happened, Ballyhoo! had their own produced version of the song, as Howi explains: “We included the original version of ‘No Good’ on the EP, then called ‘I Don’t Wanna See Your Face’, because of some popular demand from our hooligans. I love our version, as well as Rome’s, and we thought people would want to hear it done in our signature style. It’s four guys playing instruments. It has a dark, sexy vibe for sure.”
The band intends to continue releasing music as they have six more songs already recorded that us fans will hopefully get to hear, hopefully as soon as this fall! Another idea being kicked around is the band putting out a Live Album from their Fall & Winter BrewHaHa tours. Howi concludes, “Having Right Coast Records and major distribution, we can do whatever the fuck we want and I’m stoked for that!”
You can pre-order the Halo EP on iTunes now by clicking HERE! And when you do, you receive “The Lazy Song” instantly! Othewrise, the EP is set to drop on June 17th 2014 via Right Coast Records.
Ballyhoo! – The Halo EP
1. Halo (Beautiful Day)
2. No Good (Sound Lounge Session)
3. The Lazy Song
Bandsintown
Ballyhoo! Links:
Ballyhoo! Website
Ballyhoo! Facebook
Article By: Mike Patti
Watch: Ballyhoo! – “No Good”
