Chicago – Unless you’ve been living under a rock, chances are by now you’ve heard of New York’s X Ambassadors. The foursome are made up of lead singer and saxophonist Sam Harris, his brother Casey on keys, and their longtime friends Noah Feldshuh on guitar and Adam Levin on drums. They have quickly built a strong following thanks in part to the success of their hit song “Renegades,” which reached number one on Billboard’s Alternative charts. The guys are now ready to release their debut LP VHS via Interscope Records and are to likely gain even more fans and climb more charts.

Before  X Ambassadors’s Bonnaroo performance, Best New Bands chatted with them about their new album VHS, their dream tourmates, and their favorite musicals.

“Renegades” has been everywhere thanks to that Jeep commercial. Are you over this song or is it still exciting to you?

Sam: It’s still very fresh and exciting for us. We’re really pumped about everything that has happened. We found out this week that we were the number one song in alternative radio, and that’s a big, big accomplishment for us, so we’re stoked!

“Renegades” will also be on your debut LP VHS. Tell us about this album!

Noah: It comes out the 30^th of June. We also have a new video out for “Renegades,” which we’re proud of… We sort of took from our old hip-hop records that we all grew up with, for this record, and followed suit in the sense of the format of the record. We took audio clips from home movies from our childhoods – I grew up with Sam and Casey – and also Adam’s [home movies] from childhood. Adam has been playing music equally as long as us. We spread that throughout the record to tell the story of the band

Sam: And from our early band…

Noah: Yeah, and from our early band years, our first tours and shows. VHS is the story of the band.

Any favorite tracks on VHS?

Adam: Yeah, I think we all [have our favorites]. My personal favorite track is probably “Naked” or “Gorgeous.” “Naked” was one of the really early songs.

I especially love “Unsteady.” What inspired this song?

Sam: This song is about our parents getting divorced when we were in high school. I was a little bit uncomfortable when I decided to make the song about that… I felt like everyone’s parents get divorced. Who am I to say anything about it, it’s not a big deal? But I think precisely for that reason, I decided that was why I had to write. We have a great relationship with our parents and our stepmother. We love them so much. We wanted to really emphasize there’s a blamelessness there. These things happen. Relationships fall apart. Families fall apart. No one is to blame.

Sam and Casey, I know you guys grew up listening to film scores and musicals, and I read you two would sing songs from Oliver, which happens to be one of my favorite musicals, so I’m wondering what your favorite musicals are?

Casey: Oh man! Actually [Phantom of the Opera] was some of the first music when we were really little kids that me and Sam had the CD to. That was our jam for a couple years! Then all the classic Broadways; our mom was a cabaret, jazz singer. She’s definitely sung a lot of songs from musicals and she introduced us to most of the musicals we know. You can’t go wrong with classic Broadway. You can’t mess with it!

Sam: Rodgers & Hammerstein, Gershwin! My personal favorite is West Side Story. I’m a big West Side Story guy.

Noah: I’m also [in to] Disney, with concern to musicals, in terms of songs, but also I’d say the most classic in terms of just the music stuff is Porgy and Bess, for me.

Adam: My favorite musical is probably the South Park movie. [everyone laughs]

Noah: What about Seussical?

Adam: No. I played guitar in Seussical one summer in middle school. It’s funny you say Seussical because that is the musical that made me hate musicals. [everyone laughs again] To this day! I’m not even kidding. It’s funny you ask that question because I pretty much have no favorite musical.

You’re huge fans of R&B and hip-hop. I saw this article where you listed your favorites from your childhood, like TLC, Biggie, Missy Elliot, Aaliyah. I’m wondering what current artists are you listening to right now?

Adam: We all love Kendrick Lamar. We’ve all been listening to the new A$AP Rocky, Action Bronson, D’Angelo.

Sam: I got Shamir’s new record. He’s really amazing. I love that new record Ratchet! I’m going to look at my phone right now to see what I’ve been listening to…[pulls out phone] There’s this girl who is more like pop R&B, Alessia Cara. She is amazing and has this one song out called “Here.” Big Rihanna fan. I love Rihanna. It was amazing, I got a chance to work with her. D.R.A.M., he’s from Norfolk, Virginia. He is an incredible new rapper. He has a song out right now called “Cha Cha,” that’s dope. He’s more like a rap, R&B hybrid.

You’ve toured with some pretty big names, like Panic! at the Disco and Imagine Dragons. Is there a band you’d just die to tour with?

Noah: Oh man, there are so many! The list of artists to work with and tour with goes on and on because we love so much music. But we’ve been super lucky to be blessed with the bands we’ve been out with. Every single time we’ve been out on the road with a band, they’ve just become our best friends. It’s like summer camp, you know everyone loving each other.

Sam: Nine Inch Nails.

Casey: Radiohead.

Adam: Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Noah: Yeah, Chili Peppers!

 Speaking of touring,  X Ambassadors are on tour now. They’ll also be touring with Milky Chance before kicking off the VHS Tour. Dates are available on the X Ambassadors facebook page. VHS will be available for purchase on Amazon and iTunes come June 30.

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Sarah Hess

At the age of six, Sarah Hess discovered True Blue by Madonna. This resulted in her spending hours in front of the bathroom mirror with a hairbrush microphone, belting out "La Isla Bonita" off key. Her love for music only intensified over the years thanks to her parents; her mother exposed Sarah to The Jackson Five and had her hustling to the Bee Gees, while her father would play her albums like 'Pet Sounds' and 'Some Girls' from start to finish, during which he'd lecture on and on about the history of rock & roll. Sarah would eventually stumble upon rap and hip-hop, then punk and alternative, and fall madly in love with Jeff Buckley and film photography.

After attending The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Sarah went on to study education at Dominican University, earning a degree in history. When not teaching, writing, or taking in a show, she is most likely to be found with a camera to her eye or hanging out in a darkroom.


You can follow Sarah Hess on twitter at @Sarahhasanh and view her music photography on her website: smhimaging.com.

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