Since emerging out of Oakland in 2011, Bonnie & the Bang Bang has been crafting its own brand of music that burns with western vibes, though not necessarily in the same way prescribed to genres like Americana, blues or country. Bonnie’s sound is western is a way that summons imagery of both dusty boots and polished oxfords, endless desert highways and dimly lit bars, sometimes the swanky kind and other times the smokey kind.
When asked how he would describe his band’s sound, bassist Robby Cronholm offers “thrash folk,” which may invite notions of aggression and shredding guitar parts,
Lead vocalist Patrick James explains, “The name ‘Bonnie & the Bang Bang’ reflects the types of songs we write. There are parts that are polished and smooth, and there are parts that are aggressive and heavy. So the name represents a duality in the music and alludes to the classic story of Bonnie and Clyde.”
With velvety vocal stylings that switch between sounding soothing and surly, Patrick lends the band much of its rough-refined flavor while also adding tough twang with a 12-string guitar. He remembers, “When we arrived as a band two years ago, we were typecast as another indie-folk/Americana band in the vein of Mumford and Sons or The Devil Makes Three.”We utilize a lot of Folk/Americana instrumentation. One of our musicians, Jake Dineen, plays several classic Americana instruments including banjo, 12 string guitar and mandolin,” adding, “I feel like we’ve grown into something much more complex than indie folk.”
While there are indie folk elements woven into the fabric of the band’s sound, the sweetness of the words “indie” and “folk,” when put side by side, does nothing to highlight the grittier, witty tones that Bonnie’s music can take on, particularly on its brand new debut LP The Dark Dream has the basic song writing elements that we exhibit as a band with more raw power then anything we’ve put out previously.”
The Fat Angel Sings 