Two Gallants

Vocalist, guitarist, keyboardist and harmonica player Adam Stephens had been playing music with drummer, guitarist and vocalist Tyson Vogel since the pair were 12. It wasn’t, however, until the duo reached the age of 21 that they began performing together in houses, warehouses and street corners, around the San Francisco area and recorded a number of self-released CDs. After the release of Two Gallants’ debut album “The Throes” on Alive Records in 2004, Stephens and Vogel swapped street corners for clubs and soon developed an early following, who became fond of their brand of edgy indie-folk.

In 2005 Two Gallants signed with Saddle Creek Records and performed for the first time in Europe with shows in London and Reading and Leeds Festivals. A year later Saddle Creek issued the band’s sophomore album “When the Toll Tells”, which became both revered and criticised for its social commentary of black oppression. The album spawned the singles “Las Cruces Jail” and “Steady Rollin’”, and was supported by a tour across the U.S. and Canada, including a show at the SXSW Saddle Creek showcase in March 2006.

Ahead of the band’s self-titled album, Two Gallants released a five-song EP entitled “The Scenery of Farewell” in 2007, which marked the duo’s first release since an incident during a performance in Houston, Texas, where a police officer took to the stage and floored both band members, after which Vogel spent a night in jail. Undeterred, Two Gallants released their eponymously-titled third studio album in September 2007 to positive critical and fan response, featuring the single “Despite What You’ve Been Told”.

The band’s fourth album “The Bloom and the Blight”, released on ATO Records, appeared after nearly a five-year hiatus, and earned similarly strong reviews as its predecessor.