INCOMMINICADO:  Refers to a situation or behavior to which communication with outsiders is not possible for voluntary or involuntary reasons due to confinement or reclusiveness.

“We named this record INCOMMUNICADO because that sums up our band for the last several years.  We’ve been hitting the pavement for a long time and we’re going to keep doing it until people pay attention.” Chad Sullins has never been known to mince words as anyone who has listened to his songs can verify. A long and turbulent adolescence that never laid roots in any one place for very long cultivated a man who has always found “home” to be on the road, his music to be his compass and his angst to be his true education.  A punk rock band as his first musical outlet was understandably a perfect way to uncap the pressure of his youth in revolt, but it was when he staked his own claim in Stillwater, Oklahoma that his inner landscape took on a new form. The anomaly that is known as Red Dirt music originates from this part of Oklahoma and has been referred to as the bastard child of country music.  The musicians who take refuge on this particular platform made a profound impression on Sullins as they seemed to possess free reign in their musical stylings yet stood united in their independence and attitude. Chad Sullins was as at home as a man like him could be. 

Chad’s beginning stages in music is a pretty common story replete with all the hard knocks and due paying that it requires to get your foot in the door at music venues.  What is not common is his unique take on the cards he was dealt in life and the raw and sometimes irreverent way that he communicates his experiences lyrically.  Much like the best and most influential artists to ever lay pen to paper, Chad makes no apologies for his sobering assessment of things be it a raucous glass raising anthem or a razor sharp ballad about loving with a wounded heart. Chad met Josh Rutz (lead guitar), Jerry Stanley (bass) and Jeremy Clark (drums) who form the Last Call Coalition during his early days in Stillwater and in 2008 set out to make their presence known on the live scene. A rock band that plays country music calls to mind the victorious days of Cross Canadian Ragweed, and similarly, Chad Sullins and the Last Call Coalition have been hard pressed to find a permanent home on the radio airwaves over the years, yet that has in no way impeded on their live show reputation that has taken precedence over everything else. They have shared stages with a diverse line of artists including the Turnpike Troubadours, Micky and the Motor Cars, Cody Canada & The Departed, Jason Boland and The Stragglers, Mike McClure, No Justice, Stoney LaRue, Wade Bowen, the Eli Young Band and Gretchen Wilson. They have released two records including their debut album UPHILL BATTLE and an acoustic EP titled WHAT’S LEFT OF ME, the title track from which won the “Texas Toss Up Challenge” on 95.9 The Ranch radio out of Ft. Worth Texas. Both the perfect warm to their next incarnation.

INCOMMUNICADO produced by Wes Sharon will be released by Smith Music Group on July 10^th, and in addition to the Last Coalition, features guest performances from Jon Knudson (The Damn Quails/b3 organ and piano), Ryan Engleman (Turnpike Troubadours/lap steel, extra guitar), Parker Milsap (resonator guitar), John Cooper (Red Dirt Rangers/mandolin), Randy Crouch (fiddle) and Tony Pearce (harmony vocals).  It is well known that Chad Sullins prefers that live sound over studio polish, and that’s exactly the effect this record delivers.  The moment the record fires up straight through to the finale, you are at the foot of the stage, drink in hand, your head ringing with reverberation.  Fan favorites like the pummeling “Scratch,” the first single “Thank God For Jack Daniels” and the autobiographical “Full Throttle” hit hard, but then you have the vulnerability of ”10 One 10”  and the brooding “Paris” that eases like a cooling salve. In contradiction to the title, INCOMMUNICADO embodies the real human condition and translates that camaraderie with absolutely no hesitations.