The Phantoms

Nashville's the Phantoms make a swaggering, bluesy style of modern rock centered on singer/songwriter Andrew Simple. Formed in 2011, the Phantoms came together as an outlet for Simple to express his love of hard-hitting, electrified rock. A native of Nashville, he spent his high school and college years fronting a handful of bands and even relocated to Los Angeles for a period. However, after returning to Nashville, he embarked on a fruitful acoustic, singer/songwriter career. With several solo albums under his belt, he even found his work being used in various commercials, films, and TV shows including The Walking Dead and Elementary. Despite his success, he missed making robust, garage rock-informed anthems and put together the Phantoms, debuting the group with a 2012 self-titled EP. In keeping with his solo projects, Simple's music continued to garner attention and the Phantoms' single, "Make It Beautiful," was licensed for use in promotional material by the New York Jets football team. Two years later, the band released the full-length Different Drum. In 2016, the Phantoms returned with their second EP, Take the World, Vol. 1, featuring the single "Take the World (Let's Go)." ~ Matt Collar