Banyan | |
|---|---|
 Banyan in 2009 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Art rock, alternative rock |
Banyan is an art rock/alternative rock band with heavy jazz and funk influence based in Los Angeles, California. [1] [2]
Banyan | |
|---|---|
| Banyan in 2009 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Art rock, alternative rock |
Banyan is an art rock/alternative rock band with heavy jazz and funk influence based in Los Angeles, California. [1] [2]
The leader and co-founder is Stephen Perkins, [3] who first played drums for Jane's Addiction (1986–1991, plus later regroupings), and then for Porno for Pyros. He co-founded the group with Emit Bloch. The core members of the band are Nels Cline on guitar, Willie Waldman on trumpet and Mike Watt (Minutemen) on bass. Mike Watt also sings on some Banyan songs. Both Mike Watt and Nels Cline generally play only West Coast dates and at various times the band has had Rob Wasserman and Daniel Shulman who played with Garbage on bass and Clint Wagner on guitar fill in when they are unavailable. Saxophone players Steve Mackay and Herman Green, guitar player Calvin Newborn, Dave Aron on clarinet, and bass player J. D. Westmoreland have also joined the band during select live shows.
Los Angeles artist Norton Wisdom paints on a wet-erase board while the band plays, and the imagery he creates interprets the music much in the same way that lyrics might. [3] To see the band in more than one performance, you will see some images that recur and some that are new, since the songs are compositions whose structure remains the same while there is also a large amount of improvisation, in the jazz tradition. [3]
The first EP featured Money Mark as keyboardist labeled as the Freeway Keyboardist. The first album was engineered by the Dust Brothers at their studio and produced by Turin and Perkins.
Notable guest appearances on the second album Anytime at All include Flea, [4] John Frusciante [4] (both from the Red Hot Chili Peppers), Martyn LeNoble (Perkins' former bandmate from Porno for Pyros), Rob Wasserman [4] and Buckethead. It was produced by Dave Aron (Producer/Engineer/Mixer of Snoopdogg, Sublime and moe.) and Willie Waldman as the Blunt Brothers.
For their third album Live At Perkins' Palace (named after the fact that it was recorded at Perkins' home studio, not after the live performance venue of the same name), the band reduced itself to a four-piece unit of Perkins, Watt, Cline, and Waldman. [4]
Steve Kimock sat in with Banyan during their August 26, 2007 performance at the Riverview Music Festival in Chicago.
In liner notes and personal conversations, members of the band cite Igor Stravinsky and Miles Davis as influences.
Jane's Addiction is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1985. The band consists of vocalist Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Chris Chaney.
Michael David Watt is an American bassist, vocalist and songwriter.
Porno for Pyros was an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1992, following the break-up of Jane's Addiction. The band comprised former Jane's Addiction members Perry Farrell (vocals) and Stephen Perkins (drums), as well as Peter DiStefano (guitar) and Martyn LeNoble (bass).
Nels Courtney Cline is an American guitarist and composer. He has been the guitarist for the band Wilco since 2004.
Porno for Pyros is the debut album by Porno for Pyros, released on April 27, 1993, on the same label as Jane's Addiction, Warner Bros. Records. Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro and bassist Eric Avery, battling substance abuse issues, had left the band in 1991 in an attempt to stay clean, though the other half of the band wished to continue creating music. The remaining members of Jane's Addiction, Perry Farrell and Stephen Perkins, were joined by guitarist Peter DiStefano and future Jane's Addiction bassist Martyn LeNoble, and continued under the new band name Porno for Pyros. The band name is a reference to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which are mentioned throughout the songs on the album as a recurring theme.
Good God's Urge is the second and final studio album by American alternative rock band Porno for Pyros. It was released in 1996 on Warner Bros. It was the band's only album to feature bass guitarist Mike Watt, who assisted the band in finishing the album after Martyn LeNoble left before all his bass tracks had been completed. There were three singles released from the album.
Stephen Andrew Perkins is an American musician and songwriter. A drummer and percussionist, he currently plays with Jane's Addiction and Hellride.
Hellride is an American music group formed in the 1990s by guitarist Peter DiStefano, bassist Mike Watt, and drummer Stephen Perkins. Hellride is a side project to the musicians' other full-time bands.
Ball-Hog or Tugboat? is the debut solo album by former Minutemen and fIREHOSE bassist, songwriter and vocalist Mike Watt. It was recorded in 1994, and came at a personal and professional career crossroads for Watt. fIREHOSE had broken up after eight years and six releases earlier in 1994, and his marriage to former Black Flag bassist Kira Roessler had ended in divorce.
The Secondman's Middle Stand was Mike Watt's third solo album and the first full-length recording that he had made under his own name since the release of Contemplating The Engine Room in 1997.
The Black Gang was the trio Mike Watt formed in 1997 to record and tour behind his second solo album, Contemplating The Engine Room. Of all of the "project" (semi-temporary) bands that he has formed since the disbanding of Firehose in 1994, The Black Gang has gone through the most permutations of any of Watt's backing groups.
The Crew Of The Flying Saucer was former The Minutemen/Firehose bassist Mike Watt's second touring band, formed to continue touring behind his first solo album, 1995's Ball-Hog or Tugboat?. The band consisted of, along with Watt on bass and vocals, guitarist Nels Cline and two drummers, Vince Meghrouni and Michael Preussner. Meghrouni also doubled on saxophone. All three had played on various cuts on Ball-Hog....
David Edmund Turin, known as Emit Bloch, is an American songwriter and musician.
Contemplating the Engine Room is a punk rock opera by Minutemen veteran Mike Watt. Released in 1997, the album is a punk rock song cycle that uses navy life as an extended metaphor for both Watt's family history and his first band, the Minutemen. The album was critically well-received, though not universally. The cover art features a picture of Watt's father in his Navy uniform.
Martyn LeNoble is a Dutch bassist and a founding member of the alternative rock band Porno for Pyros.
Banyan is the debut album from Banyan. The record is dedicated to Marc Perkins. "They are compared to a deeply rooted Banyan tree which is ever increasing its hold on earth."
Anytime at All is the second album by American rock band Banyan, founded by Stephen Perkins of Jane's Addiction and Porno for Pyros fame, and David Turin. It is a unique record in that it features nearly two dozens players, half of which are well-known. Like their first album, this one is dedicated to Perkins' deceased brother, Marc. The album is more upbeat and organic-sounding than the band's previous work and the songs are much more varied.
Live at Perkins' Palace is the third record of Banyan, founded by Stephen Perkins. On this disc, Stephen decided to take the legion of musicians from Anytime At All and cut it down strictly to a quartet. Once again dedicated to Marc Perkins.
Behind The Player: Stephen Perkins is an interactive music video of Jane's Addiction drummer, Stephen Perkins
Minutemen were an American punk rock band formed in San Pedro, California, in 1980. Composed of guitarist/vocalist D. Boon, bassist/vocalist Mike Watt, and drummer George Hurley, Minutemen recorded four albums and eight EPs before Boon's death in an automobile accident in 1985; after Boon's death, the band broke up. They were noted in the California punk community for a philosophy of "jamming econo"—a sense of thriftiness reflected in their touring and presentation—while their eclectic and experimental attitude was instrumental in pioneering alternative rock and post-hardcore.
