AMERICAN NOMADS HAVE A WHOLE LOTTA NEW MUSIC IN THE WORKS

American Nomads /photo by Sarah Duval / courtesy of the artists

Greenpoint-based American Nomads have 20 new songs “in various stages of recording, mixing and mastering,” in their Brooklyn recording studio, founding member Walter Kenul tells Brooklyn Roads. These will comprise a double album with 10 songs dropping this summer under the collective title Hats Cleaned and 10 more debuting in the fall as Shoes Shined.

The band made a significant personnel change last year, with Matt Schneider joining as lead guitarist. “As the youngest member, he brings fresh insights to not only playing the music but also writing,” Kenul says. Schneider’s new song “Wanted Man” is going on Hats Cleaned and  “he is already a favorite when we perform it live.”

American Nomads at Utopia Studios In Bearsville, NY /photo by Neil Segal /courtesy of the artists

“I saw a band with a musically diverse background that knows how to handle success,” Schneider tells us. “Joining an Americana band seemed like a way to further broaden my songwriting and guitar style.” Having previously fronted a band, he now prefers “being in a band and collaborating with like-minded musicians.”

Schneider’s contributions are part of a greater evolution American Nomads has undergone in recent years. This evolution “is mostly apparent in our sound, but also in our songwriting,” singer/percussionist Susan Darmiento tells Brooklyn Roads.

American Nomads at Colony Woodstock /photo by Jerry Heard/ courtesy of the artists

“We are now working with Grammy Award-winning producer Neil Dorfsman for the live album that we recorded,” to be released early next year. “Knowing that we have these big studios and producers allows us to think on a larger scale during the songwriting process…a much greater expanse in creativity.”

Darmiento also tells us that, while “Ninety-nine percent of our music is original,” a couple of the band members started playing “Whole Lotta Love” at a rehearsal “in a very Americana way, and I jumped in with the vocals. We knew we had something special. It was fun and powerful.” It has become a highlight of the band’s live performances.  Schneider adds that the band has also taken its existing catalogue “and reinvented some of the tempos, rhythm, and overall feel of our sound. Our goal is to outdo ourselves each time.”