The Villains
Photo by Drew Crozier
The Villains, out of Atlanta, draw inspiration for their vocal-driven, country-inflected rock from the catalogs of The Band, The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac. For their 2012 sophomore release, Velocity (Toucan Cove/Universal Republic), the band turned to producers Stan Lynch (Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Don Henley) and Billy Chapin (Backstreet Boys, Edwin McCain), recording in Nashville’s Sound Emporium and Sound Kitchen, with Gordon Hammond engineering. “The Villains have three lead singers, and each singer required a style and ‘scale’ of production that allowed his voice to shine,” Lynch says. “It’s like making three different records at the same time that have to all work together. Billy and I had never worked with the band. The songs had not been ‘road tested’ and we had two days to rehearse, so we all worked hard and fast to arrange the tunes and give them a band feel.”
