On Wednesday night, long-standing band drummer Benji Cachia, AKA Banjo Rancho, was joined by former band members bassist Dean Montanaro and guitarists Patryk Cutajar and Kyle Drakard, AKA KYLO, for a performance of the band’s music from the last decade.
The night proved to be a hugely enjoyable rollercoaster, featuring inventive melodies, driving rhythms and virtuosic solos, all wrapped up in the band’s trademark multi-faceted style evoking rock, progressive jazz and fusion.
The concert came ahead of a second performance on Sunday at the 2025 edition of Rock the South Malta, taking place at Marsascala’s seaside Zion Bar.
Since 2015, The Ranch – encompassing different line-ups as musicians left and new members joined – has released three albums and performed extensively both in Malta and overseas.
Prior iterations of the band included former regular members vocalist Eglė Lapė, bassist Alan Portelli and guitarist Andrew Francica, joined by various guests in the recording studio.
Its first release Cuckoo Island debuted in 2015, followed by 100 Smiles an Hour two years later and Together to Get Here, To Get Here Together in 2019, with Wednesday’s gig featuring a collection of music from all three albums.
And the band clearly holds a special place in the hearts of its musicians, something emphasised by those performing Wednesday night; speaking during a mid-concert discussion moderated by X2, they described the band as a form of “school”.
Cutajar explained, “We all grew up in it, in a sense… it’s a part of us; it’s very special,” to the agreement of his fellow players, with Drakard describing being asked to join The Ranch as “a dream,” noting he was around the age of 16 when he started playing in the band.
“In Malta it’s rare to find a band like this and I didn’t know what it entailed. So, it was our school – not just musically, but even in life,” he said.
Montanaro noted it had proved “very challenging from the beginning”, however – something not difficult to imagine considering the avid complexity on display Wednesday – recounting the group spending “hours and hours” rehearsing every day.
But those hours of rehearsal, while challenging, gave the band room to explore new musical territory, as Cachia explained: “It was all about freedom, adventure… the whole point was for us to be able to have a place to express ourselves”.
Boundless energy
That freedom and sense of adventure were clearly on display Wednesday, in a performance that was exciting as it was inventive.
The night kicked off with an atmospheric opening marked by intriguing use of effects and inventive cymbal work from Cachia, which soon gave way to a solid upbeat groove bursting with energy that set the mood for the rest of the performance.
Explosive solos were on offer throughout the night, kicking off with Drakard on the first track and Cutajar’s debut solo on the second, both brimming with energy and originality.
Throughout the night, the two guitarists displayed not only distinct solo personalities, but an unerring sense of ensemble achieved through years of working together, supporting the group without getting in each other’s way.
Montanaro underpinned the music with agile, imaginative and at times acrobatic bass lines, while the third track of the evening provided opportunity for an atmospheric solo feature that at times had a vocal-like quality.
Meanwhile, Cachia’s boundless energy was evident throughout the performance, driving the performance on with skill and enjoyment. His rhythmic control was particularly evident in an improvised intervention in the fourth track, effortlessly crossing the beat to juxtapose the repeated fragment of the rest of the group.
The band’s set was well chosen, showcasing an eclectic array of songs in different genres; the fifth, for example, exhibiting well-earned funk credentials replete with idiomatic ‘Wah’ pedal effects and a bass line that made it impossible to sit still.
Other songs, meanwhile, evoked heavy rock while others proudly wore jazz or fusion badges.
While the set could have provided room for further exploration of darker, more sombre moods, its offerings and length were well judged and did not leave this listener wanting.
‘We like to live on the edge’
Asked to describe the experience of playing The Ranch’s music again for Wednesday’s performance – which the band noted was the first time it had been performed in that lineup – their answers reflected the performance well: “Exhilarating” and “fun” said Cutajar and Cachia, respectively.
Montanaro, quoting a comment from a singer friend of the group, chose “uncouth” to the amusement of the crowd, while Drakard simply said, “edge” to the nods of the others.
“We like to live on the edge,” agreed Cachia.
While their lives and other projects have taken the band members in different directions – Montanaro now lives in Rotterdam, for example – they remain confident that work on The Ranch will continue.
“Watch this space,” said Cachia.
In the meantime, don’t miss the opportunity to see The Ranch play on Sunday at Rock the South Malta.
To find out more about The Ranch visit their Facebook page.
