Getting to interview a talent like BANNERS is an honor we didn’t expect but one we definitely appreciated and enjoyed. We could tell his love for music is so big and genuine, we know you will feel it through his answers as well. The artist talked to us about his latest album, All Back To Mine, what music means to him, and some of his favorite things.
The album is filled with songs that will lift your spirits and fill up your energy bar. It’s a no-skip release, and we simply can’t recommend it enough. If you listened to any of the pre-released tracks, you know they were an indicator of that. Without further delay, check out our interview with BANNERS while enjoying his music.
Welcome to The Honey POP! We are so excited! To start us off, can you tell us what you want people to associate your name and music with?
Hi! Thanks for having me. Oof! That’s a big opening question. When you first start out in music you spend quite a lot of time figuring out who it is you want to be to people and how you want to present yourself. It’s tricky because you haven’t really figured out who you are to yourself yet! But as you go along and release more and more music, you get more comfortable with just being yourself. You write songs that matter to you because you realise that those are the songs that matter to other people too. I really think people can hear and feel if you’re being truthful, and there’s really no point in trying to present yourself as something you’re not. Really, I just want to make music that helps in some small way to make people’s day a tiny little bit better. I’m not sure I can change someone’s life, but I think if we all spend our days trying to make other people’s day a little bit better, then we’ve got a better world and music is my opportunity to do that.
Your album, All Back To Mine, is a way to celebrate your return to Liverpool. Was there something different in the creation process compared to your previous releases?
Moving back home was a real opportunity to make things with my friends. I’ve somehow ended up with a group of pals that are insanely talented, so it’s been amazing to get to do this stuff with them. It’s great because I end up with all these songs and videos that I really love, but also I just got to spend entire days hanging out, being silly. Making music is my dream job, and getting to do it with people I love is the absolute best thing.
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
I sometimes wonder if interviewing singers and songwriters is the hardest job in journalism because we genuinely don’t know what we’re doing, and if we wrote a good song in the past, we don’t know how we did it. I have a song called ‘Someone to You,’ and I thought of the concept for that song on the walk to a songwriting session in LA, I’d been there for a month, and I was really sick of feeling car sick in the back of Ubers, so I walked for about 2 hours to get there and thought of the idea when I was listening to a podcast about space. Yep. Good old space.
I don’t really know why doing those things happened to inspire something, but there you go. So, I think the answer is always the environment that you create for yourself. If I’d have taken an Uber I don’t think I would have come up with an interesting idea for a song, and if I was listening to music, I’d have had other thoughts. I really think though the key is trying to be happy in yourself and be in places and with people that inspire you. People you think are great and that make you feel great. And to relax if you can. If you’re trying to write music the worst thing you can do is stress because you’re not feeling inspired. It’ll come if you let it.
The album has such positive vibes, it feels very recharging. Do you have favorite lyrics from any of the songs on the track list?
I really like ‘Name In Lights’ as a thought. It can be a fine line with positive, supportive songs because they can end up sounding preachy or like you’re saying, “everything is going to be fine because I say so.” ‘Name In Lights’ is just trying to say, “I think you’re brilliant, and I have total faith in you, but you don’t need me to make anything happen for you. You’ve got this all on your own, and I’ll be there front and centre being really proud of you whatever you do.” Awwww. Nice, that innit?
It’s so hard for us to pick a favorite song from All Back To Mine, so we are wondering, is it the same for you? Is there a song or two, that has a more special meaning to you?
Well, ‘All That You Made Me‘ is about my mum, so as much as it’s a song for everyone, it’s mainly a present for her and she was so happy when she heard it. And ‘The Best View in Liverpool‘ got played at Anfield and has gone some small way to convincing my family that I actually do this for a living.
It’s funny, obviously, you want as many people as possible to hear your music, but streaming figures or sales is really a terrible way of judging if a song has worth or not. Those 2 songs and experiences are incredibly precious to me whatever anyone else thinks of those songs, really.
Aside from the release of your new album, what are your other goals for this year?
I’m really looking forward to heading out on tour and playing these new songs live. You make music because you want to feel connected to people, and you hope that they feel connected to you. That’s the real privilege of making music. Playing live is the greatest because, for that small moment, you get to feel connected with all these people that have come along. I feel so lucky that there’s gonna be people there to see us. And that I get to share the stage with people I really care about. That I’ll get to share all this with them. I’ll also start writing the next album too. I’m excited to find out what I think about things! Mainly, I just want to keep doing creative stuff with my friends and see where that takes us.
Your music has been played as soundtracks to various TV shows, movies, trailers, and more. How does it feel to be part of such projects? If you can pick the next soundtrack for your music to be part of, what do you want it to be? What about the genre it will represent?
It’s always amazing when somebody you don’t know thinks that your music might make their own art, a TV show or a movie or something, a little bit better. All music is a soundtrack to our lives really anyway, isn’t it? But it’s always fun to see it on a big screen. I’m not picky, but it’d be great if one of my songs got used over some sort of montage of Liverpool FC doing something really good. Because then Liverpool would have done something really good. That would be good.
While on the topic, and because we love learning a little more about artists, can you tell us if you have a favorite movie, show, or book? We would love any recommendations.
The new series of Gladiators on UK TV is absolutely amazing!! The sort of thing that you didn’t know you needed, and then it turns out you really did. I’d love to have a go of that travelator bit at the very end. That must be really hard because they make it look like hard work, and those people are crazy fit.
Your album is filled with feel-good songs. Can you describe what your perfect day would look like?
I had a boss day yesterday, actually.
I got up, went to have some breakfast with my friends, then walked to Anfield in the sunshine with some other friends, went to the match and hung out with loads of my family, sung my little heart out, the good guys won. Had a big ole chat on the phone with my Dad and about all that, then went to a different friend’s house and ate a load of curry. Loads of boss people having an absolutely lovely time.
Thank you so much for your time! To wrap this up nicely, we want to ask you to share a positive message with your fans and all our readers.
Things always get better, and progress doesn’t happen in a straight line. If you’re ever feeling down on yourself that’s ok and tomorrow will be a little bit better. Good things happen when you don’t expect them to. So take your time and be with people you love.
Thanks for having me!
Did you enjoy our interview with BANNERS? Are you already a fan like us? Let us know what you thought of our talk with him, and drop your favorite songs at @thehoneypop, or on our Facebook, and Instagram.
Want to learn more about the artists behind the music? We have plenty more interviews for you to dive into.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BANNERS:
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