A group of five hell-raising and God-fearing mavericks roll into town with guitars and amps in tow, and a party immediately ensues… With drinks poured, fists raised, and smiles wide, Texas Hippie Coalition (THC) always know how to have a good time. A collective of tried-and-true rabble rousers and dyed-in-the-wool storytellers, the Texas quintet-Big Dad Ritch [vocals], Cord Pool [guitar], Nevada Romo [guitar], Rado Romo [bass], and Joey Mandigo [drums]-spike ass-whopping hard rock with a kick of country swagger and a whole lot of Texas grit and gusto. Gathering tens of millions of streams, logging thousands of miles on the road, and energizing countless fans, they deliver ten anthems tailormade to simmer and scorch on their eighth full-length album, Gunsmoke. “In terms of the lyrics, the vibe, and where THC come from, we definitely went home on this album,” says Ritch. “It represents the wild west Texas-Oklahoma area. You’ve got a little red dirt country spilling over into the storytelling and metal. It’s a return to the dirt where we came from.” In 2024, Ritch and Co. Retreated to an Airbnb for a month and wrote what would become Gun Smoke, going on to record in Dallas and at Bell Labs in Northern Oklahoma with producer Trent Bell. Rich says, “Trent allowed me to get as much of myself into the album as possible. It’s similar to our first two records when I was really the captain at the helm. Those records were less polished. So, we got back to the rawness that was there at the beginning.” This time around, the musicians wholeheartedly embraced their country and Southern rock stylings as well as a lifelong passion for westerns. “I’ve always been a western guy,” Ritch affirms. “John Wayne is one of my superheroes. You try to model yourself after people you think have good morals and standards. As a big guy, if I walk in and look like a man who has his act together, it’s like, ‘Here comes this big man’,” he laughs. “‘Gunsmoke’ is me projecting myself at you like, ‘This is what I stand for. This is how I live’.”