THE SANCO LOOP

The Sanco Loop is an amalgamation of music in Austin, TX. The band’s recordings are made up of fuzzed-out guitar, atmospheric pedal steel, Rhodes, synthesizers, live and looped drum beats, and Wagner’s surprisingly wide-ranging voice. If James Blake and Peter Gabriel tried to make a red dirt country record, this might be what they’d come up with.

Sad, weird Americana.

The band has released 3 full-length recordings, including Wagner’s solo album, Grasshopper, the self-titled Sanco Loop, and Strangeways, recorded with legendary producer, Stuart Sullivan. Another recording, titled Oh Love! is due to come out in the Spring of 2023.

The current configuration of the band includes Augie Gmitter on bass, Mikey Best on drums, Christian Glakas on lead guitar, and Phil McJunkins on pedal steel.  See them live around Austin and beyond.

“He may have spent some years in respite and his sound has certainly had a couple facelifts, but there’s no real point in doubting Peter Wagner’s nook in Austin, going back to the late ’90s. You’d never guess that the guy who cut his teeth on 6th Street playing Sonic Youth covers would be killing it in Americana these days but lo and behold, Wagner’s solo project-turned-five-piece The Sanco Loop is here to stay and as real as it gets.”

–Jack Anderson, KUTX

"The Sanco Loop, is a melting pot of some the best musicians Austin has to offer. Their self-titled debut album is thick with pedal steel, looped drum beats and Wagner’s haunting vocals. It is red dirt country for the modern world." 

- Georgina Cook, KUTX

"After the end of the Austin band the Mercers, Peter Wagner bounced around the country, getting pulled to West Texas, and spending time in Idaho and Arkansas. His new project, the Sanco Loop, tips its hat to all this circular motion. Sanco is a ghost town north of San Angelo that sits on a stretch of looping road. Coincidentally (or not), Wagner started writing songs for the project building loops before expanding into a full band. All these tributaries feed into The Sanco Loop, his debut under the new name.

"'Hot Year' ambles out of the gate with just guitar, bass, electronic beats, pedal steel, and Wagner’s dusty voice. It’s more concerned with letting in the space than filling it. 'Not the one you knew before,'” Wagner sings first, staking out this new territory. The song sounds like the end of something–a relationship, a feeling–and at the same time, it’s a beginning."

- Art Levy // host, producer, My KUTX