Las Vegas Weekly

Afghan Raiders regroup at Ghostbar

… and record new music in the process

Afghan Raiders’ Francis (left) and Campillo at Ghostbar

Photo: Jorge Novoa/N9NE Group

Ah, Beans, how we’ve missed your high-impact head-bobbing.

December 1 at Ghostbar, the whiplash-waiting-to-happen also known as Vincent Campillo teamed with Mikey Francis and Drew Marcogliese for the first Afghan Raiders show in Las Vegas since July. Campillo, a longtime local, now lives in San Francisco, with Marcogliese.

Once fixtures on the Downtown scene, the Raiders moved on up to the top of the Palms for this gig, taking over the weekly Snitch Wednesday-night party—and recording material for a planned live video and live EP in the process. “The whole idea was, let’s do everything ourselves,” Francis says. “Let’s do photos, video, EP, everything. Then go to a label for distribution, rather than go to the label and say, ‘Hey can we get money for this and go into the studio?’”

The trio performed two sets of the material—“If Only,” followed by “Tunnel Vision,” “Teenage Fantasy,” “Midnight Lovers” and “Calls from the Universe”—in an effort to achieve audio and video excellence. “It was definitely different than a typical show for us,” Francis says. “What we were concerned about was everyone having a good time—which we think they did.”

Friends and fans were expectedly energetic at the foot of the stage, but even the crew from ZF Films—whose previous video clients include the Deftones and Squarepusher—sounded enthusiastic. “[They] came up to us after and said this was the best video footage they’ve ever gotten in their entire lives,” Francis says.

As for whether Francis will follow his bandmates to the Bay Area, “I definitely want to,” he says. “It makes sense to get up there. I’ve just been taking my time. But eventually I’m definitely going to be up there. Hopefully before the summer.”

Keep an eye on afghanraiders.com, for all things Afghan. And if you’re itching for tastes of the new EP and video, Francis says the group plans to release at least one song and some footage in the near future.