When you look up Banji on Google, you might be confused to find out this describes a dinosaur and band alike. Anything but extinct or outdated, Banji uses bare-bones, hands-on approaches to crafting a unique sound in a landscape of otherwise similar Indie artists. The Draft Media managed to get ahold of the stunning quartet from the Netherlands in September to discuss their way of soundscaping, touring with De Staat and creating their debut record, 'Freshcakes'.
The Draft Media: Where is Banji based?
Morris: We are based in Utrecht in the Netherlands.
Jasper: I love how central it is. And it's such a nice place. I grew up here, the others moved here.
The Draft Media: So you have been doing a lot of tours promoting your new album 'Freshcakes'. You have supported De Staat, Balthazar, Vampire Weekend. How was that for you? And what can you share about your experience?
Morris: I mean, yeah, we're just happy to play a lot of cool shows. And in a lot of cool places, I mean, you end up in really, really cool, cool places, when you tour with, with bands, like De Staat. It's really nice to see how they still develop their sound and still, like, can captivate an audience when they've been doing this for a long time. We're just happy to, kind of roll with them and study their shows and, you know, kind of get a peek behind the curtains of how a band can be so professional.
Jasper: It's inspiring to see them and see how they do their shows. We're just learning.
The Draft Media: What's the biggest thing you learned from De Staat specifically, because I really feel like they are pushing boundaries in terms of how to use keyboards and how to integrate them into sound. And now they were supporting Biffy Clyro on the tour. And that is, I think, massive for a Dutch band to be able to do.
Morris: Yeah. I guess just watching their show. I think also how they kind of start their show with a real beginning and a real end, like how each of their songs can really match up with the lights and the different places they stand in. They use the stage in a different way and there are just really clever unique kind of things that happen throughout the shows that keep you interested as a viewer and as a listener. I think that there's just those small things like having a very strong intro at the beginning of your show, to build up that tension in the crowd and keep their attention span going.
The Draft Media: Let's talk about Banji! When was your group formed? And what's your background story? How did you four meet?
Jasper: We all met in the HBA Music School in Utrecht, where we all studied and we played in a bunch of different bands together in that school and around studying there. And then at some point, we realized if we want to do this for real, if we want to be a real band, we have to really be focused and make it count. So we decided to drop everything else we do and focus on this one thing. And that's how we started Banji, I think it was around 2017. The first thing we did was just lock ourselves up in a rehearsal space for about a year and write songs. We did it to get a feel for what this band should be like and reinvent our sound a bit. Yeah. And then, right when we wanted to go out COVID hit, but I think we managed to get through that quite well. It's been quite a rollercoaster actually from starting Banji and then waiting a long time to launch it. First it was in the middle of the pandemic, and then still, it kept going really well. We are growing very fast right now. It's hard to see sometimes when you're in the middle of it, but it's quite noticeable right now that we've built something very special.
The Draft Media: How would you say the COVID-19 pandemic has maybe even helped you in a way?
Jasper: It helped us finish our debut album, definitely.
Morris: I think so. It was simply because of the free time and also the kind of forcing ourselves to basically have all this free space in our heads suddenly when it came to songwriting. It gets filled with introvert thoughts, you're kind of forced to spend the whole day alone in your room and then stuff kind of comes out. In some ways, I think it kind of fueled the record.
The Draft Media: Let's talk about your record and the sound, then. According to your website as well as my personal opinion, you really mix LoFi, 8-bit, R&B and synth-driven Indie into a very interesting mix. How did you go about this? And what are main inspirations behind it?
Morris: Yeah, I think I think it kind of started already when we made music from a young age and just the inspirations that came fro listening to Indie rock bands, like The Wombats and Two Door Cinema Club. They kind of peaked my interest, you know, being 15 years old and listening to a lot of bands like that. I started focusing a little bit more on the Hip Hop and R&B stuff later on when I kind of aged. My appreciation for that music kind of matched with the rest of these guys I met at the music school in Utrecht. But I don't think the 8-bit stuff and things like that were part of it, we didn't really set out to do that, it just kind of happened. We were ambitious to create a sound that was unique. And that just peaked our interest when we were writing songs. It was never really that intentional or something, but it just kind of turned out that way. The parts kind of felt like that. So yeah, it's nice to have a sonic direction for a record because that's always very important. We kind of stared into that, I guess. All those other influences were just the building blocks of that sound.
The Draft Media: Jasper, do you have anything to add as a drummer who's using sampling pads, what's your take?
Jasper:
At some point, as a drummer, it really hit me that I should be incorporating those techniques, because I've always been very into technology. It didn't make sense to me to just play acoustic drums anymore. That was I think around the same time we started playing together, and I really got into it. And like Morris said, we had a lot of influences. I think, funnily enough, those influences develop together. So we started out as like typical Indie Rock kids together and we gradually got introduced to Hip Hop and R&B songs and even jazz. I don't know, our sphere of influences grew kind of together and we sent each other a lot of music as well. And then all of that goes into a blender and out comes this strange mix of music. The only way to make sense of that is to use those samples and synths and everything we have at our disposal. We don't try to have the writing informed by how we have to play it live. So first we write it, and then we figure out, for example how are we going to do this live. And then there's no other way to do it than sampling a lot of sounds, and it's a lot of fun, actually, I enjoy it so much to play like that.
Banji from left to right: Morris Brandt, Jasper Meurs, Twan de Roo and Gilles de Wees (2022)
The Draft Media: So that also means that you split samples and sounds after having written them and then see how you can do it live? Because from what I've observed, every one of you has, of course, different instruments at their disposal. But there are keyboards going on, there's synth sampling pads going on that you are playing as a drummer plus random noises. What's the process in the rehearsal studio when you try and put all the sounds together?
Jasper: Yeah, that's really funny because we write in logic together. And in the writing process, the song goes by everyone a bit. We send around the project and then once it's finished, we sit together, we open up the project, and we literally colour-code. Okay, this part is a guitar, probably Morris you play it and of course, he's gonna sing the vocals, that part is easy. Afterwards it's like, oh, there's another guitar. So maybe Gilles, who can play every instrument, basically, he'll play guitar for this song. Or maybe he will play bass or keys or bass synth or what's needed. And afterwards we get to a point where we think oh shit, there's three keyboard parts and two drum parts and a percussion loop. So then it's up to me and Twan to slice those up and figure out a way to be three persons at the same time. So it's a lot of figuring out, and we literally colour-code the project, for example the red colour is every part that Twan is supposed to play. And he just goes home and figures it out. It's a puzzle sometimes.
The Draft Media: I was wondering, since you already mentioned Logic, what are some other softwares or equipment that you use to make this possible?
Jasper: Oh, well, definitely, for me, I use the SPD-SX by Roland. And I'm extending it with a lot of triggers. I have some Roland bar triggers and drumhead triggers and also an electronic kick drum pedal, stuff like that all connected, but I try not to work with a laptop live because I want it to feel like I'm playing an instrument still. So the SPD-SX itself is really controllable for me, and I can use a lot of effects down there, it's very hands-on. And then I think for Morris, maybe you can talk about that. But he has this Roland 54 vocal effect, which he uses a lot.
Morris: I mean, for live gigs, I think the biggest things in the production in terms of vocals were always the little formant shifts, maybe sometimes a song calls for like a megaphone effect. It's also just about an intuitive way of using delay and reverb and stuff like that in a production. We kind of set out to search for something, for a way to just do that live. We stumbled upon this pedal, which was the Roland VT-4 pedal. Basically just everything is in the box that we needed. So there was a pretty clear option for us to use that live, and it's what we've been using it for ever since. There are a lot of people coming up to me asking what the pedal is after the show. I like that pedal very much. I enjoy using the delay and stuff for timing things. It's nice to just kind of be in the moment and not see it as something fixed since I never saved like presets or anything like that - we're always just playing that battle also.
Jasper: Yeah, I think what applies to the whole band is that we like to play and still have instruments even if it's technology-based. It needs to stay hands-on. Gilles is also using the Korg MS-20 for a lot of his basses and that's you know, this is very hands-on without presets. Twan is running Mainstage on his laptop and he's got all the sounds that he needs but he'll also find ways to use controllers on his keyboard to influence the sound. We're always trying to do playing musically, we're also never really using a backing track or anything running along. Sometimes I use a click, but that's mostly for my personal guidance for the tempo. But we go over it a lot. I think the key for us is we want to feel like we're playing music, like we're locking in together and we're listening and we can improvise if we want. That's really the focus for the live show.
The Draft Media: Let's get down to your plans and message for Banji. I feel like your songs are very direct and personal. You really integrate day-to-day life into your lyrics. But I wanted to ask who writes the lyrics? Is it just Morris? Or do you all collectively think about a theme that you would like to address?
Morris: No, it's usually me. Some songs are easier to write than others. I just kind of look at the sonics and the way the chords flow, and sometimes lyrics come first. Sometimes, they'll come second after the whole song is basically done. It's mostly about frustrated feelings and self-discipline, maturity and adulthood, I guess. But really, this whole record was kind of a challenge to finish. It's because I have a lot of high standards when it comes to what the message of the song is and how it flows into the next song on a record. I never want a song to be about just one thing, I always would like it to be a bit more three dimensional. And I don't really want it to be very clear about what the message is. But I always have to write these little summaries for our record label since they want to know what the song is about and I always have to type it out. Usually when it comes to that point, I've had enough distance to kind of look at it objectively and realize what it's about. But normally, I just kind of write what I feel and hopefully it'll come out okay. Sometimes I struggle with it a long time; sometimes it's just really easy to plan it out.
Jasper: It was such a nice moment when we were waiting for Morris to have the last sentence ready to tie the record together. It's literally the last thing we did for the record and the last thing we recorded. Morris has very high standards for that. You can tell I think it could never be as personal if, you know, he didn't write those on his own and about his personal life and experiences. So it's really incredible to see what he comes up with.
The Draft Media: I think it's really refreshing that you bring this type of honesty in your lyrics. It really translates in your songwriting because there are many Indie projects that have no core or soul to them. And with you four I really feel that there's something deeper.
Morris: Awesome. Thank you so much, that's cool to hear.
The Draft Media: You had a single come out recently called 'Maybe', for which you also did a session. I feel like it's got this slow, even kind of heavy vibe to it, at least from the midsection. What's the song about and why did you put it last on the tracklist?
Morris: That's a good question. I think it really felt like a song in which I like envision the curtains closing. In contrast, the intro song of the record, 'Freshcakes', really felt like the curtains opening. So it just made a lot of sense to put it last just because the song is kind of sonically very different from our other songs. It kind of ties in to the idea that we don't really want to be known for just one specific sound or something. The whole point of Banji was to focus on musical output, all of our musical output so to speak, through one entity, one project. We just feel like anything goes so I guess it's our mission statement to show every side of what we're interested in. I guess that's why it's even on the record, and I felt like it was appropriate to end it with that.
The Draft Media: Did you have any previous EPs or other things that are not released currently or is your debut record the absolute beginning of Banji?
Jasper: It is, I feel.
Morris: Yeah, it is, definitely. I mean, on the record there's also songs that we wrote when Banji wasn't even really a thought-out thing and we hadn't really played live shows before. So a lot of these songs like 'Dog breath' and 'Listen' and singles that have been out already, they're from kind of a different era of Banji. So it's nice to just kind of finally put them out there in their full form on this debut record. The release is like a weight off of our shoulders, basically.
The Draft Media: And you have some touring plans, what other things are coming up for Banji other than the release? Tell me more about the tour?
Morris: We have a lot of shows planned. Basically, we're going to Germany to play Reeperbahn Festival, which is a very cool showcase festival. We're going to the UK a few times throughout October and then at the end of October, we're doing this massive tour with De Staat going through Germany, and what else?
Jasper: We're going to Prague, Warsaw, and Austria, so that's really going to be fun.
Morris: Very intense. Definitely.
Jasper: Two weeks of almost nonstop shows throughout Eastern Europe and then Milan in Italy.
Morris: The most important shows are probably going to be at the end of November when we play our own Dutch tour with our own shows. So that's going to be probably the most fun I think. It's because it's just our own thing you know where we take over the stage.
Jasper: We're starting off in Utrecht on the 18th of November. Then the 19th for playing Simplon in Groningen. Afterwards, we're playing Amsterdam on the 25th and then Nijmegen on the 26th. Actually, I just built our website myself and I just refreshed the live dates web page today, so it's looking really fresh and shiny. So you can go there and check out all the dates.
The Draft Media: Thank you for your time and see you on tour!
You can find all of Banji's tourdates here:
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