to hit the road again soon .” Now both 27 years old , Sparks and Lenington grew up in Commerce , where they played together occasionally , but didn ’ t officially join forces until after Sparks moved to Austin and Lenington to San Marcos .
Sparks – who sings lead , plays acoustic guitar and is the principal songwriter – has been playing since he was 13 and has fond memories of sitting around campfires , listening to his father play the guitar . He ’ s also been writing for nearly as long .
“ I just love storytelling , and I ’ ve been gradually bringing more and more of myself into my songs ,” Sparks said . “ At the same time , though , I love how people who listen to the music experience the songs differently , and will come up with their own stories as to what they interpret them to be about .
After two and a half months of touring with well-known alternative rock band Blue October , former Commerce residents Christian “ C . J .” Sparks and Hunter Lenington are back in Austin with their band , Beatnik Bandits , getting back into the swing of writing , recording and gigging locally .
“ We ’ re back to working on booking some local gigs and we ’ ve been in the studio re-recording some tracks as we continue to develop songs ,” Sparks said . “ We also plan
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I ’ ve always been very much into Americana , but I try to change it up with songs where I go back to the roots with some folk , then delve into some blues , then give the people some rock and roll . But , Americana is what I mostly want to continue making .”
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— Christian “ C . J .” Sparks
“ Sometimes I like their stories better than mine ,” he said with a chuckle .
Some of the songwriters that Sparks names as influences include John Prine , Johnny Cash , Bob Dylan , Neil Young and modern alternative folk band The Lumineers .
Meanwhile , Lenington , who plays the drums , credits a lot of his initial inspiration to jazz legend Buddy Rich . Lenington can often be seen on stage , enthusiastically providing backing vocals as he infuses many of the songs with the Beatnik Bandits ’
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