4x Grammy Award-winning drummer Antonio Sánchez has shared the latest single from his groundbreaking new album, SHIFT (Bad Hombre Vol. II), arriving via Arts Music, a Division of Warner Music, on Friday, August 26. “Mi Palabra,” featuring multiple Grammy Award-nominated and Latin Grammy Award-winning Chilean-French singer-songwriter-MC Ana Tijoux, is available now at all DSPs and streaming services. An official music video premieres today on YouTube. SHIFT (Bad Hombre Vol. II) is available now for pre-orders and pre-saves.
Ana Tijoux has earned worldwide acclaim for her genre-blurring fusion of alternative hip-hop, Latin pop, and contemporary R&B, all marked by strikingly powerful socio-political lyrical content advocating against inequality and oppression around the world. Hailed as “Best Rapper en Español” by Rolling Stone after an explosive performance at Austin, TX’s South By Southwest (SXSW), her music has been featured in such diverse platforms as EA Sports’ FIFA 11 and season 4 of Breaking Bad, earning co-signs from avowed fan Thom Yorke and Academy Award-winning Uruguayan musician Jorge Drexler, with whom she collaborated on 2014’s Latin Grammy Award “Record of the Year” winner, “Universos Paralelos.” In “Mi Palabra” (“My Word”) Tijoux now delivers a typically bold statement about the meaning, strength, and power of a woman’s word over Sánchez’s enthralling production.
“The words written by Ana flow effortlessly over the groove that I originally provided for her as the foundation of this poignant and timely musical collaboration,” says Sánchez. “After she delivered her amazing words to me, I added all the extra instrumentation – bass, keyboards, additional drums and background vocals – to try elevate her intricate vocal work to an even higher plane.”
LISTEN TO “MI PALABRA (FEAT. ANA TIJOUX)”
WATCH OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
PRE-ORDER/PRE-SAVE SHIFT (BAD HOMBRE VOL. II)
SHIFT (Bad Hombre Vol. II) was first heralded this spring by new original song “I Think We’re Past That Now,” featuring 2x Academy Award-winners Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross and available now at all DSPs and streaming services. An original new song co-written by Reznor, Ross, and Sanchez with lyrics by Reznor, “I Think We’re Past That Now” was met by immediate applause from such outlets as Rolling Stone, which wrote, “Sánchez’s drumming guides the multi-faceted track, beginning at an off-kilter lurch. rising to a monumental arena-rock boom, then settling into an energetic shuffle before one last explosion. Reznor provides lead vocals on the song (and wrote the lyrics), bellowing over Sánchez’s dynamic drums and the song’s bruising blend of industrial synths.” An official lyric video is streaming now on YouTube
LISTEN TO “I THINK WE’RE PAST THAT NOW (FEAT. TRENT REZNOR & ATTICUS ROSS)”
WATCH OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO
SHIFT (Bad Hombre Vol. II) sees Sánchez joining forces with a diverse range of collaborators – which also features Dave Matthews & Pat Metheny, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Meshell Ndegeocello, Kimbra, Lila Downs, Becca Stevens, Silvana Estrada, MARO, and Thana Alexa – for a riveting, eclectic journey uniting musical voices and perspectives from around the world. The project first began with the internationally acclaimed Mexico City-born musician approaching some of his favorite artists for songs he could deconstruct and reimagine via his “Bad Hombre” alter-ego. The pandemic made remote collaborations easier to facilitate and also afforded Sánchez additional time to explore ideas and expand his role as a producer and performer. With his “Bad Hombre” persona playing virtually all instruments (including guitar, bass, mandolin, oud, and more), Sánchez infused his compositional, production, and percussion talents to “shift” the songs while leaving their essence intact. While 2017’s Grammy Award-nominated Bad Hombre marked perhaps the most overtly political work of Sánchez’s award-winning career, SHIFT (Bad Hombre Vol. II) places its focus on breaking through creative walls to conquer new sonic territory.
“My anger transformed,” Sánchez says. “And the fact this material did not originate with me changed the equation. It helped me to bring a fresh perspective and a sense of wonder to ‘What else can this be?’ And as a result of pandemic-related delays, I keep joking about my having been pregnant for a couple of years…and now there is a really epic baby.”
Sánchez will celebrate SHIFT (Bad Hombre Vol. II) by leading his Bad Hombre combo through a busy live schedule that includes a full headline tour beginning October 18 at Washington, DC’s City Winery. Highlights include a performance at Newport, RI’s famed Newport Jazz Festival on Saturday, July 30. For complete details and ticket information, please visit www.antoniosanchez.net/tour.
ANTONIO SÁNCHEZ & BAD HOMBRE
TOUR 2022
JULY
30 – Newport, RI – Newport Jazz Festival 2022 †
SEPTEMBER
4 – Detroit Beach, MI – Detroit Jazz Fest 2022 †
OCTOBER
18 – Washington, DC – City Winery
19 – Philadelphia, PA – World Café Live
20 – Red Bank, NJ – The Vogel
21 – Old Saybrook, CT – The Kate
22 – Portsmouth, NH – Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club
NOVEMBER
1 – Phoenix, AZ – Musical Instrument Museum
3 – Los Angeles, CA – UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance
5 – Sacramento, CA – The Sofia
6 – Oakland, CA – Yoshi’s
7 – Santa Cruz, CA – Kuumbwa Jazz
8 – Seattle, WA – Jazz Alley
9 – Seattle, WA – Jazz Alley
11 – Portland, OR – The Jack London Revue
† FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE
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Born in Mexico City, Antonio Sánchez began playing drums at age five and performed professionally in Mexico’s rock, jazz, and Latin scenes in his early teens while also being a gymnast on Mexico’s Junior National Team. He pursued a degree in classical piano at Mexico’s National Conservatory before traveling to Boston in 1993 to further his studies at Berklee College of Music. After he graduated magna cum laude, Sánchez obtained a scholarship for a master’s degree in jazz improvisation at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music.
While at the Conservatory, Sánchez’s teacher, the great Panamanian pianist Danilo Pérez, recommended him to Paquito D’Rivera for the drum chair in Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nations Orchestra. Perez later invited Sánchez to join his acoustic trio, followed by extensive touring and recording. From there, Sánchez joined legendary guitarist Pat Metheny for decades of touring and recording. Sánchez made his debut as leader with 2007’s Migration. In 2014, his soundtrack for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Academy Award-winning Birdman proved a milestone achievement, earning him a Grammy Award for “Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media.”
“Antonio is an exceptional musician in addition to being an unbelievable drummer,” says 20x Grammy Award-winner Pat Metheny. “He has a wide view of music and how it functions which informs every note he plays. I honestly never thought that a musician like him would ever be born. He’s a dream…one of the greatest musicians I have ever seen.”
