What is time? How is it already March 2023? These are all questions we’ve found ourselves asking as we share The Zone @ 91-3’s Band of the Month, The Bankes Brothers.
Victoria’s Bankes Brothers have been on the grind in the local scene for the last few years. With residencies at Canoe Club (RIP) and The Duke (as the Good Time Society) also turning heads with rocking festival performances at All Ways Home and Implosion Explosion in the Phillips Backyard.
Brothers Morgan and Nelson Bankes share duties as songwriters, guitarists, and vocals, with Carson Cleaver on lead guitar, rounding things off with drummer Gray Oxley.
Releasing their debut single, In Waves, on February 24th, 2023 — just a few days before announcing their residency as The Zone @ 91-3’s March Band of the Month — the timing has never felt better.
After a whirlwind photo session with The Bankes Brothers, Tyson Elder had a chance to chat about working with Steve Bays on their debut EP, their debut single, and all things Sidney (where both the band and Tyson spent their formative years).
Tyson Elder: March 2023’s Band of the Month, The Bankes Brothers. How’s it going?
Nelson Bankes: So good, man.
Morgan Bankes: We’re so stoked.
TE: We just wrapped up our photo shoot on the day your debut single, In Waves, came out on Spotify and it’s doing really well so far. It’s going to be the feature song on The Zone for your Band of the Month run. Can you tell me a little about In Waves?
Morgan: It started out as a few chords he had [gestures to his brother, Nelson]. Carson came up with this like kind of first try and it was such a hook we were like “this has to be something, and it’s too good to put on the shelf.” We spent some time with it, and the song was actually really slow at first. It wasn’t until we got into the studio that it became the upbeat song it is now.
Carson Cleaver: We must have had a few different versions of it.
Morgan: Yeah, we had a million versions of that song and it’s finally out in its final form.
Nelson: The song was very folky when it started off and we found it was lacking the moxie we wanted.
Gray Oxley: I think it actually came down to the morning we were going to be recording it. We needed to workshop it so we went into the studio and just figured out how to amp up the energy.
Carson: That’s where the drum fill came from.
TE: Let’s talk about the recording process on the EP. You worked with Steve Bays — Victoria music royalty — now living in Vancouver. How awesome is it to work with someone of that notoriety and basically being from the same city?
Carson: He’s like the coolest person in the entire world. [band laughs in agreement]
Gray: It was really incredible. I grew up on Hot Hot Heat so getting to work with him was amazing. I played it cool for the first few weeks but after I had a few drinks…
Morgan: “I’m your biggest fan!” [band laughs] We definitely fanboyed pretty hard with Steve but we ended up becoming like such good friends with him in the process. The recording ended up being a lot longer process than we initially projected. Through that we became such good friends with him and now we talk all the time.
Nelson: It’s just cool having some guy who has our dream job and he’s also from our same neck of the woods. He’s like a mentor that can show us the ropes and it’s just really nice having that.
Carson: And he’s shooting all our music videos.
Nelson: Oh yeah! He’s shooting our fucking videos.
TE: I was about to get to that.
Morgan: He’s like a one stop shop of rockstar energy. We actually refer to this time period as the “Steve Bays Rockstar Bootcamp.” [laughs]
TE: That’s really awesome. Who better to put you through the wringer and really guide you guys in the industry?
Nelson: Exactly!
TE: So, Steve Bays shot your music video at The Duke and our friend Ian Locke’s place for the party scenes. I just remember seeing all these videos on Instagram and wondering “why am I not at this party?” [everyone laughs] Filling up Ian’s bathroom with smoke and I just kept thinking “fuck, this looks like fun.” [laughs]
TE: It’s so cool to see those kind of connections happen. The music industry can be this huge thing and to connect with someone like Steve has got to be pretty beneficial for everyone.
Morgan: The coolest thing about it is that we’ve made little connections here and there along the way. Often those connections are “I know that guy and I know that guy” but when we met Steve it all sort of ties together. The music industry is so massive and he has so many cool insights and directions to point us in. It’s also a small world at the same time.
TE: We were talking about how it’s a small world during the photo shoot earlier. All of us are from the Sidney [everyone laughs] and it turns out that I graduated school with Grey’s brother and we were good friends for a very long time.
Gray: You probably don’t remember this but you literally picked me up at one point and moved me out of your way.
TE: Probably. It sounds like something I would have done.
TE: You recently finished your residency at The Duke with your cover band, The Good Time Society.
Morgan: We wanted to differentiate ourselves from this project. We knew we had our new release coming out soon and we did the cover thing for years. That’s kind of how we got out there in the first place.
TE: Yeah, that’s how I remember seeing you in the first place. I’d seen you here and there and at places like Boondocks.
Carson: That was one of first bar gigs [laughs]. It’s almost been six years of that sort of playing. Three forty-five minute cover sets twice a week sort of thing for like $300 and your tab.
TE: And now you’re playing original music for less than that and maybe a smaller beer tab. [everyone laughs]
Grey: Upward trajectory. [laughs]
TE: What else do you guys have coming up in 2023? Do you have a full record coming?
Morgan: The EP will be coming out this year but there are a few singles to come before that. It’ll be a six song EP also named In Waves. So, this is In Waves, from the In Waves EP. [laughs]
Morgan: One of the cool things that came out after we recorded at Steve’s: we came back didn’t know what to do with ourselves. We all felt very creative and we were suddenly writing songs like crazy. I feel like we are pretty ready to get back in the studio already.
TE: That’s good. So many people sit around waiting for their release to come out before doing anything. If you’ve got the stuff keep putting it out there.
Grey: After our time in the studio all of us spent so much time just throwing out ideas all the time. Now our entire approach to writing is different and everyone is part of that.
Carson: We got a lot more comfortable having ideas and not being afraid to share them. You get really timid when you’re first starting off writing together, but in the studio you’re more comfortable saying “why don’t we try this even if it sucks?” Now, 95-99% of the time, the idea sucks, but getting to the point where you can throw out shitty ideas is good.
Morgan: Steve was really good at helping us not be insecure with those ideas saying “just go for it.” We actually hummed and hawed who was singing what on the record. I remember my first vocal take on a track I was singing on the EP and I was like “no, I shouldn’t do it – I’ll get my brother to sing it.” He [Steve] took me into his kitchen and poured me a shot of bourbon and was like “take the shot.” I did then he was “now go in there and do it.” [laughs] Then I did and we got it in one take. Liquid courage. [laughs]
TE: Okay, I’ve only got one more question for you guys. What’s your go-to spot in Sidney?
Nelson: Oh, we are Dickens guys. [laughs]
TE: The Dick, eh?
Nelson: The Dickens is the home of Sidney’s number one boy band. [laughs]
Morgan: The bartender has been calling us Sidney’s number one boy band since our inception. [laughs] The Dickens was actually our first ever bar gig too.
TE: Thanks for your Sidney tip and congratulations on being March’s Band of the Month. Looking forward to big things this year.
The Bankes Brother: Thanks!
Catch The Bankes Brothers‘ debut single, In Waves, all March long on The Zone @ 91-3. The band will also be opening for local heroes, Current Swell at The Royal Theatre on April 1st, 2023. Find out more about The Bankes Brothers on their Band of the Month microsite.
Rocktographers is a proud supporting sponsor of The Zone’s Band of the Month program.