Bandit

Bandit is a name used by several different acts, including a grindcore and powerviolence band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a hard rock band from Germany, and a number of other projects in rock, hip hop, and hardcore.

Philadelphia grindcore and powerviolence band

The Philadelphia Bandit plays grindcore and powerviolence. The available detail identifies it as a band from Pennsylvania and lists Warsaw 4 among its releases.

British hard rock band

Another Bandit is a UK hard rock group associated with the late 1970s. Its first album, Bandit, appears in 1976 on Arista Records. The line-up includes vocalist Jim Diamond, guitarist Danny McIntosh, bassist Cliff Williams of AC/DC, guitarist and harmonica player James Litherland, and drummer Graham Broad, who later plays with Roger Waters.

Most of the band writes on the debut, although Diamond writes about half the material. A single, “Ohio”, is taken from the album but does not chart. The band later parts ways, and Diamond goes on to join PhD, where he has a UK Top 10 hit with “I Won’t Let You Down”, before later having two further chart-toppers as a solo artist.

The group continues with a near-complete change of personnel, leaving McIntosh as the only returning member. The new line-up has Gerry Trew on vocals, Theodore Thunder on drums, and Tony Lester on bass, with Lester writing most of the material. Their second album, Partners in Crime, is produced by Matthew Fisher of Procol Harum and released on Ariola Records in 1978. The single “One Way Love”, written by Lester, reaches No. 76 in the US Billboard chart.

A third album is recorded with Mick Grabham of Procol Harum replacing McIntosh, but it remains unreleased. A five-track EP from that session appears in 2016 as Bandit3 EP. The band’s final tour is with John Miles in 1979, with Trew, Lester, Grabham and Thunder in the line-up. Both full-length albums are long out of print. McIntosh later becomes guitarist for Kate Bush and her husband. The group is also remembered for its connection to AC/DC through Cliff Williams.

Other acts using the name

There is also a Bandit from Nashville, described as an indie-rock project led by Angela Plake, whose debut full-length Of Life appears in January 2015 on Broken Circles Records.

A separate Bandit from Liverpool is active since 2019 and fronts a rising indie-rock act led by Nat Waters. That group draws influence from Fontaines D.C., Cage The Elephant and The Strokes, and releases the EP The Good Times Are Killing Me.

Other acts listed under the same name include a German hard rock band that releases one album, Tuff 'N Dirtee, in 1992; a Swiss hip hop artist who founds Luut & Tüütli and releases Dr letscht wos git and Zrugg id Zuäkunft; a hip-hop artist from Long Beach, California signed to Robbery Records; and hardcore or psy-trance acts from Japan.