Jess and the Bandits are US/UK country rock band fronted by Texan vocalist Jessica Clemmons. The band line-up is completed by Louis Riccardi, Dave Troke, Steven Reid Williams and Ricci Riccardi. They are often joined by Matt Park. They released their debut album Here We Go Again in 2015.
Formation
Jess and the Bandits formed after meeting on The Overtones 27 dates UK and Ireland theatre tour. At the time Jess was a solo artist, who had recently released her sophomore album Loving This Day, which was released independently in 2012 on Jessica's own record label, After Midnight Girl Entertainment having partnered with UK distribution and marketing company Absolute earlier that year. While Jess was focused on a pop sound at the time of the tour, she took time away from touring to reflect on her recording career to date. As a Texas Girl born an bred, Jessica felt that she had drifted from her roots and early inspirations founded from her love of country music. She travelled to Nashville where she focused on writing songs that were honest and reflective. Jessica spent time in the studio with multi-award winning songwriter Jeff Cohen, who won a BMI Award for his song Postcard From Paris, recorded by The Band Perry. Cohen's credits also include Sugarland, Josh Groban, Macy Gray, and Nick Lachey. Jeff introduce jessica to songwriter James T Slater, infamous for his Grammy nominated song In My Daughter's Eyes by Martina McBride, and to Country Music star and writer Sherrie Austin. The resulting body of work became Jessica's EP What If, co-written with all three writers, produced by Jeff Cohen and recorded at the Beaird Studios in Nashville. At the end of 2013, Jess was invited to join Boyzone on their BZ20 20th Anniversary tour. In need of a band to play with on the road, she reconnected with Dave, Louis, Ricci and Steve and asked them to join her as her backing band. The response to her new sound, which featured her BBC Radio 2 playlisted single Single Tonight, taken from the What If EP, was huge and the group really bonded over the formative tour. By the end of the tour, the band had been born. In September 2014, Jess and the Bandits accepted the invitation to join Pete Molinari on his UK tour. To coincide they released their debut single 'My Name Is Trouble', which has been described as 'infectious and uplifting experience'. Following the Pete Molinari tour, Jess and the Bandits spent the remainder of 2014 writing and recording their debut album. Having kept a low profile, they returned to the stage in February 2015 for sold out performances at The Little Rabbit Barn and as the headliner of the Country Collective alongside Red Sky July and Lucy May, which led to For The Country Record declaring, 'I’m sure these guys are on the brink of a huge career.'. UDiscover selected the group as one of the stand out performances of 2015, noting their 'two winning shows' at the Brooklyn Bowl.
On 6 April 2015 Jess and the Bandits released their debut album Here We Go Again to critical acclaim. The album featured lead single My Name Is Trouble alongside Jess' solo single Single Tonight and a recording of Glen Campbell's Wichita Lineman, which had previously been showcased on Sir Terry Wogan's BBC Radio 2 show. After their performance, Wogan declared 'Well with the greatest respect to Glen Campbell, that was the most fabulous version I have ever heard. That was terrific.' The album debuted at #6 on the Official Country Chart. To coincide with the release, the band unveiled the single You Can't Stop Me. Praise for Here We Go Again: "Like Shania at her trashiest or a whiskey-drunk Kelly Clarkson, these songs have the swagger of bad women and even worse men." Gay Times "“It’s hard to fault this album” is a pointless phrase; it’s impossible to fault this album. Uplifting and passionate, Jess’s vocals work perfectly with the support of The Bandits, to form a debut offering that exceeds all expectations. The band have truly gone above and beyond to create a record that’s bound to bring them success on both sides of the pond, and only gets better with each listen. 10/10." "Jess And The Bandits know how to tickle your fancy, Here We Go Again is country with zing and sparkles." Renowned for Sound "10 out of 10" Six Shooter Country "A great album, full of enough variety to earn its place in any CD collection, no matter what genre you favour." Essentially Pop "It’s a fun, melodic roller coaster mix of country rock and ballads." Nashville Over Here
Evans
In July 2015 Evans unveiled Jess as their latest ambassador, a position previously held by Beth Ditto and Chaka Khan. Jess and the Bandits released the single 'Nitty Gritty' to coincide with the #STYLEHASNOSIZE campaign, which saw Evans launch a nationwide search for women to feature in the single's video. Jess appeared on Lorraine, The Wright Stuff and Weekend to talk about the campaign.
Touring
Following a series of festival appearances over the summer of 2015, including Isle of Wight Festival, Ramblin' Man Fair and SummerTyne, the band announced their debut headline tour for October 2015. In the build-up to the tour, they announced that Belfast's The Rising would be joining them at all dates, while each date would see a special guest appearance - these included The Southern Companion, Dexeter, Acoustic Journey, Luke & Mel, Na Fianna and Fitzwallace. A headline tour has been announced for April 2016 with Luke & Mel as support.
Awards
'My Name Is Trouble' won Best Video at the BCMA Awards 2015. At the 2016 BCMA awards, Jess and the Bandits won Group of the Year as well as the top honour: Entertainer of the Year. In 2017, they were nominated for four BCMA awards: Entertainer of the Year, Group of the Year, UK Album of the Year for "Smoke and Mirrors" and Video of the Year for "I'm Not Going Home".
