Since their inception in 2015, Giovannie and The Hired Guns have made a blockbuster career out of wildly defying expectations. With a visceral sound that merges alt-metal, Red Dirt country, Latin pop, Americana, and much more, the Stephenville, Texas-based five-piece have ascended from playing local honky-tonks to taking the stage at major festivals and arenas across the country, drawing an ardent crowd ranging from cowboys to metalheads to skate punks. As they continue their colossal rise—a journey that’s included scoring a No. 1 radio hit with their smash single “Ramon Ayala” and winning the 2023 iHeartRadio Music Award for Best New Artist in Alternative & Rock—Giovannie and The Hired Guns now return with their new album Land of the Lost: a body of work that pushes the boundaries with even more intensity, matching its explosive riffs and unforgettable hooks with the band’s most brutally honest songwriting to date.
Produced by Johnny K (Megadeth, Sevendust, Plain White T’s), Land of the Lost marks the fourth full-length from Giovannie and The Hired Guns (frontman Giovannie Yanez, guitarists Carlos Villa and Jerrod Flusche, bassist/tuba player Alex Trejo, and drummer/pianist Milton Toles) and second LP since signing with Warner Music Nashville through a first-of-its-kind partnership with Warner Music Latina. While the band have always brought a powerful emotionality to their lyrics, the album embodies an unfiltered urgency that has much to do with Yanez’s processing a number of life-altering troubles in real-time, including the death of a close friend and his own relapse into addiction. Recorded at the famed Sonic Ranch (a residential studio near the Mexican border in Tornillo, Texas), Land of the Lost ultimately supplies the kind of catharsis that can only come from exorcising your demons and bravely moving toward a better future. “When I first listened back to this album I realized I wasn’t all there for some of the songs; I was so blinded by the suppressants that I thought were helping me out,” Yanez admits. “But it feels good to look back and know that I made it out to the other side. I hope it ends up helping people realize that there’s always hope no matter how bad things seem. There’s always a tomorrow.”