Blog Masonry | Banner Pilot - Part 2
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July 20, 2014

Yo, Guitarists

Note: this is old news (well, 3 weeks old or so) and I just forgot to post it here when I posted it on Facebook. So, here it is!

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We have some crummy news to share— Corey has decided to leave Banner Pilot, and played his final show with us last weekend. It’s been awesome to have him as part of the band for the last few years, and we’re bummed to see him go. Luckily, it’s just because he has other cool stuff going on in his life right now, and not for a bad reason like him being adamant about moving the band in a ska direction.

Luckily for all of you, you can still check him out in his other band, The Manix, and we recommend you do so.

So, what does this mean for the other three sad sacks in Banner Pilot? Well, it means we need a new guitar player! If you’re interested, shoot an email over to bannerpilot@gmail.com. Here is the criteria:

1. You need to be good enough at guitar to play our songs (this is not necessarily the same thing as being “good at guitar”)
2. You need to be able to sing backups and occasional lead vocal parts live
3. You need to not be a piece of shit

Being down for touring, driving a van, etc are also important, but those are the three big ones. Beyond those things, we’re open— for example, don’t feel like you have to have a gruff voice or whatever.

We’re kinda just looking for a live / touring guitarist for now, but if it really works out (and you want to, obviously) it could become a songwriting / recording thing, too.

So wish Corey well on his next adventures and drop us a line if you feel like trying to fill his big shoes

June 12, 2014

Local Shows Coming Up!

wrestlepalooza_bwexnoiseflyerJUNEwebThanks for everyone who checked out our recent Midwest and East Coast tours; the shows were fun and it was nice being back in a few cities we hadn’t been to in a long time. In some cases it had been so long I really had no idea how the show would go — for example, one of my previous memories about Boston was playing to six people, four of whom were in the other band, one of whom was dressed as a pirate — but they were consistently solid. Best Host award goes to Firehouse Pizza in Normal, IL, hands down.

Now we’re back home and we have a couple of local shows later this month. First up is Wrestlepalooza IV at First Avenue, this Saturday the 14th. I’ve never been but have heard great things. They’re going to bring a wrestling ring into the main room and then we’ll play between matches and possibly throw around some folding chairs and stuff.

One week after that, on June 21st, we’re playing the Extreme Noise 20th anniversary, outdoors at Memory Lanes. With… Cleveland Bound Death Sentence!! And a bunch of other cool bands.

Check out both shows if you can, I hereby predict they will be excellent and well worth your time

-Nate

 

April 29, 2014

Jawbreaker Lyrics & Shows & Things

I know you probably can’t tell from our music, but believe it or not, we’re big fans of Jawbreaker. So much so that you can read an in-depth discussion of our favorite lyrics by them over at Noisey. Go check it out!

Also: our album Souvenir is now officially out! You can pick it up at iTunes or Spotify, or buy a physical copy from Fat Wreck or Interpunk or a bunch of other different places. Hope you dig it.

On the fence? I encourage you to be more decisive and just buy the damn thing. But maybe some reviews will help. Alternative Press. Already Heard. Kill Your Stereo…. Just to name a few.

Finally, don’t forget that we’re hitting up a bunch of places in the Midwest and East Coast in May; click on Tour up there.

-Nate

April 13, 2014

Shirts, and stuff

Don’t forget– our new album Souvenir comes out this Tuesday on Fat Wreck! You still have time to pre-order it from Fat or from iTunes. Wouldn’t that be a nice way to start your Tuesday, with a link to some MP3s in your inbox? Come on, it would be awesome.

You can check out an interview I did with Absolute Punk as well.

And we have three new t-shirt designs you can grab– click on Store up there.

Finally– 2nd single comes out tomorrow. Check back!

-Nate

April 1, 2014

Our New Album

COVER PICHello! There is a bunch of new and exciting news in Banner Pilot Land so let’s get right down to it and not bother with any goofy and pointless run-on introductory sentences like the one you’re reading right now: We have a new album called Souvenir! It comes out April 15th on Fat Wreck and we are very stoked about it. If we were bummed about it, I would still lie and tell you we were stoked. But I assure you, we are actually stoked! You can go check out the first single, Modern Shakes, at Noisey. And you can preorder the record over at Fat or iTunes (just click on the iTunes logo on this page).

We’re playing a few shows in the Midwest and East Coast; check out the Tour link on the top of the page.

We are playing the greatest festival in America, The Fest, again!

We have a freshly revamped website, which you are looking at right now. Thanks to Erica Ruch for all the help in making it work and look great.

And there’s going to be a lot of other cool news in the next few days, so check back. Talking about t-shirts, videos, 2nd singles, you name it.

-Nate

October 6, 2013

Recording a New Album!

In Exciting News, we’re recording our 4th full length album this Friday! I mean, not the whole thing. That’s just when we’re starting. Here’s what Fat posted about it:

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Banner Pilot are gearing up to hit the studio this October with producer Jacques Wait (Prince, Off With Their Heads, Soul Asylum) over at The Terrarium. Check out what Nate from BP had to say below!

“In early October, we will be heading into the studio to record our 4th full length record. We couldn’t be more excited to work with Jacques Wait, at The Terrarium in Minneapolis, just as we did on Collapser and Heart Beats Pacific. (OK, technically, yes, we could be “more excited”—- if the studio had a trampoline or something, we would probably be slightly more excited, but suffice to say we are VERY excited as-is).

We have 12 new songs and I think/hope we’ve struck the right balance between the extremes of “Do exactly what you did on your other albums” and “Completely re-invent yourselves”. I think the new songs are a little different. but in a good, natural way. One example is that on previous records, the rhythm guitars were doing power chords probably 95% of the time. This time around, it’s more like 70%. But it’s not like the other 30% is ska, or polka, or whatever—the changes should be noticeable, but not jarring. Hopefully, the average listener will think, “You know, this sounds a little different, but I can still tell it’s Banner Pilot”, as opposed to, “Oh my god, what are these idiots trying to do?” We’ll see, but I think people will dig it.

Once the album comes out, we’re hoping to hit up some of our favorite spots in the US, maybe get back to Europe, maybe get over to somewhere new like Japan. We all can’t wait to get some new music out there, and then go and play it for all of you (or at least those of you who happen to be within a reasonable proximity to the geographic areas we perform said music in).”

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Check back here, and/or our Facebook page for sporadic updates from the studio. Looking back, it looks like I did exactly one studio diary for our last album and it was a real gem, so get stoked. Actually I guess I technically did a 2nd studio diary when we were almost done. Either way, I’ll try to keep up that pace this time around!

-Nate