No Longer Bandits

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NoLongerBandits_Jamazing_192K.mp3

NoLongerBandits_DontDelay_192K.mp3

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Band Members: Johny Harris (vocals, acoustic guitar); James Gorton (bass); David Shannon (lead guitar); Jamie Potter (drums)

Style: Alternative pop / rock

Website: www.nolongerbandits.co.uk

Four firm friends from Maidenhead and Marlow are all taking a gap year before university to see if they can make it in the music industry.

The former Sir William Borlase's Grammar School pupils got together at the tender age of 12 to form a band to 'be cool mainly'.
The boys have since stayed together as a pop/rock act and are now beginning to take things a little more seriously.

Lead singer Johny said the band began as "friends who like to play music every so often."
More recently they play as many gigs as they can, but still remain "friends first, musicians second", which creates the right atmosphere in the band.

Their fusion of musical tastes brings a diversity to their tracks and their influences merge together as the four of them write songs, such as ballad 'Jamazing' and the heavier 'Tremendon'.
Subject matters for them are all things teenage and real life which people can relate to, from girls to the high feeling when walking home from a gig.

The boys' decision to take a gap year was a pact made four years ago. Their dedication to their music means they wanted to devote their year to seeing where their music could take them so they wouldn't look back and think 'what if?'

The band's name origin is simple -  'No Longer Bandits' is a reference to their former name 'Betamax Bandits' - taken from The Mighty Boosh - which they changed in case of any copyright issues.

The highlight of the band's career so far is taking the runner-up spot out of nearly 400 acts who entered the Battle of the Bands national competition three years ago.
They played to 2,000 people at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham and were hailed as a 'breath of fresh air in the rock genre' by the judges.

They also made up most of their 30,000-plus hits on MySpace without any promotion.

No Longer Bandits have an EP, Slightly Tipsy Laughing Loudly, which they recorded in their school's studio, and they are currently about to record their second in London.

And what does the future hold? Johny said: "Hopefully before next summer we'll be touring anywhere that will want us, and if we don't get anywhere doing that, at least we'll have had great fun trying.
"We're going to take it step by step, and in the future it would be nice to be able to sell out a venue and headline anywhere where people come to see us."

LISTEN: Click above to hear tracks 'Jamazing' and 'Don't Delay'.