Blanders

Our story

Every great journey begins with a story. Ours is no different. Established in 2022, Blanders started as a small group of two. Cofounders Anders Jensen and Brendan Colangelo created the band in high spirits after unsuccessfully trying to form a band using a musician connecting app. The name Blanders was from combining the names of the two members along with a close friend that had helped film the first couple music videos.

The first songs that Blanders played were covers, including “A Horse With No Name” by America and “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash. Many of the songs were incorporated into silly music videos featuring the former gorilla mascot, wild west chases, cute dogs, and comical scenes that left lasting memories for both the musicians and viewers. Early on, Anders and Brendan both played guitar, and would add in additional tracks to recorded videos. Many of the songs were folk and older generation songs, which tended to require less drums and other complex parts. There was no good studio access that was affordable, so practices were held at either members’ homes in the bedroom space.

As Blanders added to their collection of songs, focus was shifted from music videos to learning more songs and improving overall quality in preparation for live gigs. New members came and went. Around mid 2023, old high school friend Dominic Addonizio joined the band working with percussion, adding a sweet twist to the songs with tambourine. Gabriel Madero joined as an electric guitarist. Not long after, the band began playing open mic concerts at the universities that Anders, Gabriel, and Dominic attended. Later in 2023, Charlie Lima (drummer) joined the band which brought a much desired energy to the music. It wasn’t until this point that the band had worked with a talented drummer drum set, which brought great excitement to the members. A few months later, Charlie showed a growing desire to play guitar or bass, so he was swapped with Dominic on drums. Throughout this time, the band continued to learn new songs and play gigs. They also had a few original songs under their belt.

Early 2024, the band acquired a drum set thanks to the parents of Dominic. As it was, the set was being stored in an elementary school, but was getting very little use. Unfortunately, Dominic’s household did not have space for it, so the best alternative was to store the drums in the recently cleaned out garage of Anders’ home. Despite, these inconveniences, Dominic had been able to improve his craft as a beginner drummer and build great rhythms for the songs played.

The band put more effort into learning originals while learning new songs for live performances. Although the YouTube channel existed for some time containing the past music videos and performances, the band expanded their social media platform to Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Today, the band is refining originals and cover music for upcoming gigs and continues to keep the attitude up that it is all in good fun, but has hopes for more future opportunities!