The Pieces (Second Mix Mastered)

‘Mary Mary’ is a risqué rock/pop song with edge. It tells the story of innocent little Mary, who eventually embraces her sexuality and ‘comes out’, as the lyric goes. The song is a pure celebration of female sexuality, which the vocal performance captures in its sexy, husky tones and salacious-sounding vibrato. The accompanying music video is not one to be missed!

Mary Mary

The Banquets spread their wings with “The Beautiful”. They experiment with string arrangements and exciting production techniques. This dark and brooding song combines the melancholic with the rousing. It is both exciting and ethereal.

The lyrics tell a semi-autobiographical story of lead singer Gem’s ongoing battle with depression. Lyrical inspiration came from a line in Emily Dickinson’s poem As Imperceptibly as Grief. A passage in the poem reads “Our summer made her light escape into the beautiful”.

The musical arrangement of the song follows the charge of the lyrics. Galloping, then cantering, then crashing and then galloping again. Throughout with each whim of meaning conveyed. All this effort drives the drama of the whole track and pulls you in. This is one of the band’s finest works yet.

The Beautiful

Restless is about being locked down and the effect it had on band members Leon and Gem, two quite extroverted people! The song lyrics are a collaborative effort of Leon (Guitar, Backing Vox) and Gem (Lead Vox). They lived at a very fast pace before lock down. Holidays, music, performing, partying. Then, de nada! The song captures that moment, melancholy but soulful too.

Restless

I (Gem) sadly lost my dad 16 years ago to a brain tumour. He was truly one of the kindest and most special people anybody could wish to meet. He called me and my sister his little acorns. In honour of this, I wrote a song about him. Although obviously sad, it’s also a positive song, with the thought and hope that he is looking down at us, continuing to inspire us to follow our dreams. My dad was a pure music man – I can only hope that there’s some kind of heaven out there, and that on some kind of spiritual plane, he knows about The Banquets. 
‘Two Little Acorns’ is a song that so many people will be able to relate to, and I hope that it inspires people never to give up on their dreams. Our fans have been requesting that we record this song for such a long time now – as it seems to remain a firm favourite when we play it live. So here it is – a song for my dad, my sister, and our dedicated fans.

Two Little Acorns

We wrote this song one night, completely off the cuff – it came together very organically. I (Gem) originally started writing these lyrics with a misogynist predator in mind, who is lurking in the night, preying on the virtuous. 

But the song has taken on a whole different dimension now, and so although that’s still what I see when I sing the song, the song also relates to a certain cultural cold war that is going on right now, which is quite disturbing. 

We live in ‘strange’ times and I guess the song reflects this. But at the same time, it explores the inner conflict within us all about the desire to be good and pure versus the desire to let it all go and have a good time – virtue and vice: a constant inner conflict for us Banquets.

Lyrics - Cold War
 
Verse 1
A sea of strange is out tonight
The parasitic appetites
Strange faces are out tonight
The ones with the deadly appetites
 
Chorus
It’s a cold war
Between the virtue and the vice
A deadly cold war
Where the strange ones don’t think twice
 
Verse 2
Strange people without a fight
Modern cultured parasites
Strange faces lurk in the night
The ones with their virtue appetites
 
Chorus
It’s a cold war
Between the virtue and the vice
A deadly cold war
Where the strange ones don’t think twice
 
It’s a cold war
Between the dead wood and the night
A deadly cold war / It’s a cold war
Please don’t roll the dice
Don’t roll the dice
 
(Bridge)
A sea of strange
A deadly sea of strange
 
A sea of strange
A dead wood sea of strange
 
It’s a cold war
It’s a cold war
It’s a cold war
 
Chorus
It’s a cold war
Between the virtue and the vice
A deadly cold war
Where the strange ones don’t think twice
 
It’s a cold war
Between the dead wood and the night
A deadly cold war / It’s a cold war
Please don’t roll the dice
 
A sea of strange

© The Banquets 2023
Song: Leon Russell-Hills
Lyrics: Gemma Russell-Hills
Produced by Dom Bennison

Cold War

'About the song' composed by Leon: This is the most electrifying  track The Banquets have put together yet! Fusing Pop Rock, Hard Rock and Psychedelia together with style, the track moves with a raucous energy. Lyrically, the song is inspired by an acid trip gone wayward and uses myth and fairytale to leverage the imagery. Gem's vocal delivery is blisteringly dramatic, going toe to toe with the band until the last second, who give romping baselines, gutsy percussion and easy to grab guitar hooks.

Like Alice

The Banquets wrote 'Not Me' about Arthur Shelby, a character in the British TV series "Peaky Blinders". If you haven't seen it, it's about a family of gangsters from Birmingham. (Fran, the band's drummer/percussionist, is from there!) The Shelby family are absolute nutters, but Arthur is a special kind of nutcase. He is a complex character with many layers to his personality. He is the outsider. A different kind of nutcase. This was written for his wife, a victim of his mad family, setting herself free from the clutches of his mad family. They all meet their destruction, and you’ve got to find the strength to get out of there.

Not Me

‘Faithless’ is a gritty indie ballad full of passion, grief and anger, and it’s a song that many people will relate to. It tells the story of an unhappy relationship – she knows her partner is unfaithful to her, but she doesn’t have the strength or courage to leave him: ‘Too scared to let go, too scared to say no.’ At the end of the song (during the bridge), there is a moment where it seems she has gained strength – in a moment of roar, violent passion – but the final line ‘just don’t give me those dead excuses’ suggests it was just in her head; she will keep allowing him to be faithless.

Faithless

Buzz to Feel It
 
We feel it, feel it coming
This state of fear
Or whatever it may be
Oh-oh-oh
I hear, I hear a drumming
But no longer the beat of anarchy
Oh-oh-oh
 
But damn I need it
I need some liberty
To tread in the steps of madness
The more I understand it
The more the madness infects me
 
It’s a buzz to feel it
And I will never let go
A mad fire burning
Oh-oh-oh
A fire inside
And you should never
And you should never try to let go
 
Round and round we go
On this mind-forged wheel
Too afraid of saying no
Oh-oh-oh
I hear a marching, drumming
But no longer
A ghorilla army, no
Oh-oh-oh
 
But damn I need it
I need some liberty
To tread in the steps of madness
The more I understand it
The more the madness infects me
 
It’s a buzz to feel it
And I will never let go
A mad fire burning
Oh-oh-oh
A fire inside
And you should never
And you should never try to let go
 
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Hey
 
The more I understand the madness
The more it tries to infects me
It’s a buzz to feel it
And I will never let go
A mad fire burning
Oh-oh-oh
A fire inside
And you should never
And you should never try to let go

Buzz To Feel It

"Barely like anything I’ve recently heard before!" - Music for the Misfits "Like a modern day Fleetwood Mac" - The Music Files "The Banquets are turning heads left, right and centre" - The Other Side Reviews

The Banquets are an alt rock/pop 4-piece that formed in Leeds during 2018. They’ve been described as “a modern-day Fleetwood Mac” and have attracted wide acclaim during their time as a band. 
The Banquets’ music is a simple mix of rock, blues, and pop music, whilst maintaining the great tradition of British rock. The musical influences of the band stretch far and wide, and go right back to the early 20th century blues scene. Their sound is hugely impacted by the music that has flowed out of America over the last century, and like most British music, it reflects back that sound and rubs in some northern British magic.
This emerging band have already seen success in their music, winning a place on the Introducing Stage at The Great British Folk Festival and gaining huge support from the likes of Amazing Radio. After spending the past couple of years establishing themselves as a serious force to be reckoned with in the genre of rock/pop, The Banquets have been busy in the studio working on several tracks and exciting music videos. You never know what these little music wizards have up their sleeves next!