Antonio Sánchez has announced the release of his new album, SHIFT (Bad Hombre Vol. II), arriving via Arts Music, a Division of Warner Music, on Friday, August 26. SHIFT is heralded by today’s premiere of the new original song “I Think We’re Past That Now,” featuring Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross.

SHIFT (Bad Hombre Vol. II) sees Sánchez joining forces with a range of collaborators – which also features Pat Metheny, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Meshell Ndegeocello, Kimbra, Lila Downs, Ana Tijoux, Becca Stevens, Silvana Estrada, MARO, Thana Alexa. Sanchez made his debut as leader with 2007’s Migration. In 2014, his soundtrack for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Academy Award-winning Birdman proved a milestone achievement, earning Sánchez a Grammy Award for “Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media.”

his project first began with the internationally acclaimed Mexico City-born musician approaching some of his favorite artists for songs he could deconstruct and reimagine via his “Bad Hombre” alter-ego. An exception is “I Think We’re Past That Now,” which is a new original co-written by Reznor, Ross, and Sanchez with lyrics by Reznor. The pandemic made remote collaborations easier to facilitate and also afforded Sánchez additional time to explore ideas and expand his role as a producer and performer. With his “Bad Hombre” persona playing virtually all instruments (including guitar, bass, mandolin, oud, and more), Sánchez infused his compositional, production, and percussion talents to “shift” the songs while leaving their essence intact. While 2017’s premiere Bad Hombre project marked perhaps the most overtly political work of Sánchez’s award-winning career, SHIFT (Bad Hombre Vol. II) places its focus on breaking through creative walls to conquer new sonic territory.

“My anger transformed,” Sánchez says. “And the fact this material did not originate with me changed the equation. It helped me to bring a fresh perspective and a sense of wonder to ‘What else can this be?’ And as a result of pandemic-related delays, I keep joking about my having been pregnant for a couple of years…and now there is a really epic baby.”

Born in Mexico City, Antonio Sánchez began playing drums at age five and performed professionally in Mexico’s rock, jazz, and Latin scenes in his early teens while also being a gymnast on Mexico’s Junior National Team. He pursued a degree in classical piano at Mexico’s National Conservatory before traveling to Boston in 1993 to further his studies at Berklee College of Music. After he graduated magna cum laude, Sánchez obtained a scholarship for a master’s degree in jazz improvisation at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music.

While at the Conservatory, Sánchez’s teacher, the great Panamanian pianist Danilo Pérez, recommended him to Paquito D’Rivera for the drum chair in Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nations Orchestra. Perez later invited Sánchez to join his acoustic trio, followed by extensive touring and recording. From there, Sánchez joined legendary guitarist Pat Metheny for decades of touring and recording.

Pre-order Shift (Bad Hombre Vol. II) HERE