Toy Soldiers | pt

Toy Soldiers is a rowdy, hard-working bunch who spent most of 2011 playing 120+ shows across the east coast and southern U.S. tearing through everything from tiny dive bars to festival stages to big theaters with a brand of soulful rock n' roll music that takes it's roots, puts it in a blender and pours out that good old feeling made for today. From it's beginnings as a duo started by Ron Gallo in Philadelphia in 2007, to it's era of fluctuating cast of players and it's eventual growth into a solid 5-piece band consisting of Gallo (lead vocals, guitar), Dominic Billett (drums), Bill McCloskey (bass), Matt Kelly (guitar), and Luke Leidy (keys), Toy Soldiers love a good song and dance with no pretense and no wall between the band and audience (literally, as members often times end up in the crowd).
Their first record, "Whisper Down the Lane" was described by WXPN/World Cafe as a "gritty, dirty collection of liquor-fueled Americana music. Shifting flawlessly from roots, to blues, to country, to rockabilly…an undeniable barn-burner". Their follow-up "Get Through the Time" EP was a look into the more pensive and heartfelt side of the songwriting. While, their most recent release, a split EP with good friend/Nashville artist Jordan Hull, embraces the communal, live aspect of the band (having been recorded all live in Nashville in April 2011).
After a great 2011, with appearances at CMJ in New York and having shared the stage with Dr. Dog, Justin Townes Earle, Fitz and the Tantrums, The Walkmen and many more they are about the enter the studio in January 2012 to make their next full-length record with Engineer/Producer Bill Moriarty (Dr. Dog, Man Man) and embark on a monthlong U.S. tour in March. .