This year's best 7" comes from Jersey City, NJ's Banquets. Believe me when I say that each time you spin this little gem will make you love it a little more. Banquets play poppy punk that guitarist Dave Frenson semi-jokingly tell people sound like Eddie Money singing for Hot Rod Circuit.
Besides swingin' the guitar with Banquets and being an overall awesome dude, Dave also runs the label Black Numbers responsible for some real nice records by PJ Bond, The Arteries, Over Stars & Gutters, Higher Giant etc.
I decided to have a little talk with Dave about his new band, the band's new records and running a label. Here's what he said...
Christer: Hey Dave! What are you up to today?
Dave: Building a website for American Express. You're jealous, I'm sure.
Christer: Nah, I don't know. Is the pay any good?
Dave: Better than my last job, that's for sure.
Christer: Last time we talked was actually here in Örebro, Sweden when you were playing the guitar with Static Radio NJ. It was awesome to see you guys over here and I like the fact that you did no less than three shows in my little town. Looking back on it, what do you remember best from that euro-tour?
Dave: That tour was a blast. Other than meeting you, I'd have to say the highlight of the tour was playing Groezrock in Belgium. I've never been much of a festival goer, and I was definitely impressed with how well setup it was. Also, seeing Millencolin for the first time ever was fucking incredible.
Christer: Would you say there's a difference between playing shows over here and doing shows in the United States?
Dave: The promoters do a better job of taking care of the bands. I was blown away by the amount of free meals and places to stay we got over in Europe.
Christer: From what I understand you were only in the band temporarily, right?
Dave: Yeah, I was only in the band for 6 months or so. I initially started playing with them just for the Home for the Holidays shows with the Bouncing Souls, but then they convinced me to go to Europe with them.
Christer: The last time we spoke we talked a lot about New Jersey and how I love quite a few bands from there. Why does so many brilliant bands emerge from your area you think? I mean, the Souls, The Measure SA, Gaslight, Static Radio, The Ratchets, Lifetime. I can go on and on...
Dave: It's probably a combination of us all ripping eachother off, and Glenn Danzig and Bruce Springsteen pissing in the drinking water. Plus, when you're from the same state as Bon Jovi, it's not hard to be brilliant comparatively.
Christer: Ha ha, you got a point there. Do you like Southside Johnny & Asbury Jukes? Awesome in my opinion.
Dave: Can't say I've ever had the pleasure of hearing them. I don't spend much time at the shore.
Christer: Let's talk a little bit about your new band! Give me a short history lesson on Banquets.
Dave: Banquets originally started with just Pete, Chris, and I writing songs at a space we rented in Hoboken. I think we had originally intended on me singing, but I wasn't feeling like that was going to work out. Pretty much as soon as we decided to look for a singer, Travis called me to tell me he had left Let Me Run, so it was only natural for me to ask him. He's been my best friend for years, and he we had been in a band together called The Stand In before he started Let Me Run.
Christer: I know people don't really like getting this question, but try to describe the sound of Banquets to those who have yet to check you out.
Dave: This is a tricky question for sure, since it's so subjective. We semi-jokingly tell people we sound like Eddie Money singing for Hot Rod Circuit. I'll stick with that.
Christer: You recently released your first 7" entitled "This is Our Concern, Dude" on Black Numbers. Tell me a little bit about the songs.
Dave: The songs on "This is Our Concern, Dude." and "Nothing is Fucked Here" (12" vinyl release on german label Coffeebreath & Heartache) were the first six songs we wrote once Travis joined the band. We recorded them with Will Putney at the Machine Shop, and had originally intended to do a 7" with 4 songs followed by a split 7". Plans for that split fell through, so we ended up with two extra songs. I think these songs represent the best material I've ever been involved with writing. We're all really proud of how they came out.
Christer: Well, you should! I don't have the 6-song 12" but the four songs on the 7" are really damn good. My favorite is "What a Bunch of Aaron Burrs". For a debut, the sound is really mature and it actually sounds like you've spending quite a few years together. What was the writing/recording like and who does what in terms of songwriting?
Dave: Thanks, Dude. The writing process for us is pretty standard. Travis generally comes up with a basic structure, or a chord progression... something basic. Then we all start playing it together and flesh it out into a song. I usually write all my leads last, or while we're working on the vocal melodies. Travis writes all the lyrics. Recording with Will at The Machine Shop was awesome. It's definitely the best place I've ever recorded, and we hope to go back.
Christer: What have the response from people been so far?
Dave: I think people are responding pretty well to our stuff. Haven't gotten much in the way of reviews yet, so I could totally be lying to you right now. My mom thinks we're great. Good enough for me.
Christer: I guess, ha ha... Well, as I said before, I think "What a Bunch of Aaron Burrs" is my favorite Banquets song. I really like the lyrics. Any idea of where Travis go for writing-inspiration?
Dave: A lot of the stuff in the songs is really personal, for sure. I'm not really in position to say much about the lyrical content.
Christer: What about song titles? How do you come up with those? Do they have anything to do with the lyrical content whatsoever? "I Wish I Was a Little More Lou Diamond Phillips"...really? Ha ha!
Dave: Some of the song titles are jokes. Some of them are roundabout ways of talking about the song content. The whole band is involved with coming up with the titles. Sometimes the titles are around before the lyrics. Sometimes the titles get changed after the lyrics are written, though. Lou Diamond...was one where the lyrics we're written before anything else. It was the last song we wrote before recording. You'd have to ask Travis what it means.
Christer: So, how much have you been playing live? I'd love to see Banquets hit europe some time soon.
Dave: We started off pretty slowly, with only a handful of shows in our first few months as a band. Things have been picking up recently. It's August 5 as I am typing this, and we have 8 shows booked in the next month. We're doing a weekend tour this upcoming weekend with Static Radio and we're doing a weekend in the Northeast with these dudes The Stereo State in November. As for Europe, that's something we'd honestly love to do, but I'm not sure it's really going to be a possibility. We'll see what happens.
Christer: I saw some pictures of the german 12". Tell me a little bit about it. It looks great.
Dave: Thanks, man. The guys from Coffeebreath and Heartache approached us about doing the release, and having seen what they did with the Iron Chic demo, we were totally stoked on the idea. We knew we were going to be able to push the boundaries a little bit with the art approach, and I had been wanting to have Jamie from the Arteries do some work for us. The timing was perfect and we ended up with a really beautiful record.
Christer: So, other than being a well known rock star, you run the label Black Numbers. How's that going?
Dave: It's going awesome. We have a bunch of projects in the 6-9 month pipeline that we're really excited about.
Christer: I think Black Numbers have done some really awesome releases since the start, in fact I don't think you've done anything that I don't like. How hard has it been to become a semi-known name in the d.i.y. label jungle?
Dave: Thanks so much, man. We really appreciate that. The way I see it, we're barely even a "semi-known" name, but still I think the most important thing to do is to work with bands you geniunely like. It's so much easier to bust your ass working for bands you believe in.
Christer: Well, the economy still sucks, CD's don't sell and vinyl ain't cheap to press. What makes you wanna keep a label going these days?
Dave: This kinda ties in to who you're working with. We've moved away from CD's for the most part, and do our best to make vinyl work. We only work with bands we like and who we know are going to hustle as much as we are. We keep the label going because we love DIY punk/hardcore/indie/whatever you wanna call it and we have fun doing what we do.
Christer: Well, I sure hope Black Numbers will be around for a long time, you do really good things. Good luck with it and keep Banquets awesome! Do you have anything else you'd like to add to this little interview before we say goodbye?
Dave: Nothing other than to thank you for taking the time to talk to me. We've always been big fans of Mutinyzine over at Black Numbers. Thanks again, dude.
/ Christer Davidsson, August 14th, 2010
» Buy "This is Our Concern, Dude" from Black Numbers »
» Buy "Nothing is Fucked Here" from Coffeebreath & Heartache »
