Michael Anthony Banks, better known as "Mad" Mike Banks, is an American record producer. He is the co-founder, along with

Jeff Mills Jeff Mills (born June 18, 1963, in Detroit, Michigan), also known as "the Wizard", is an American DJ, record producer, and composer. In the late 1980s Mills founded the techno collective Underground Resistance with fellow Detroit techno pro ...

, of record label

Underground Resistance Underground Resistance (commonly abbreviated to UR) are an American musical collective from Detroit, Michigan. Producing primarily Detroit techno since 1990 with a grungy four-track musical aesthetic, they are also renowned for their militant ...

and was a key player in the "second generation" of

Detroit techno Detroit techno is a type of techno music that generally includes the first techno productions by Detroit-based artists during the 1980s and early 1990s. Prominent Detroit techno artists include Juan Atkins, Eddie Fowlkes, Derrick May, Jeff Mi ...

. Banks lives in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, and is a former

studio musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a record ...

(bass/guitar), having played with

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Funkadelic Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. As one of the two flagship groups of George Clinton's P-Funk collective, they helped pioneer the funk music culture of the 1970s.John, ...

among others.Night Drive: A Bluffer's Guide to Detroit Techno
''Stylus Magazine'', March 7, 2006. He worked in the second half of the 1980s with the collective Members of the House, releasing several 12" singles. Banks and Mills founded the label Underground Resistance in the late 1980s, and the pair, along with

Robert Hood Robert Hood (born 1965) is an American electronic music producer and DJ. He is a founding member of the group Underground Resistance as a 'Minister of Information' with Mad Mike Banks and Jeff Mills. He is often considered to be one of the fo ...

, produced most of the label's early releases.Sean Cooper,

Mad Mike Banks Michael Anthony Banks, better known as "Mad" Mike Banks, is an American record producer. He is the co-founder, along with Jeff Mills, of record label Underground Resistance (band), Underground Resistance and was a key player in the "second gener ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

After Hood and Mills's departure from Underground Resistance, Banks headed the label himself, releasing material from acts such as

Drexciya Drexciya was an American electronic music duo from Detroit, Michigan, consisting of James Stinson (1969–2002) and Gerald Donald. Career The majority of Drexciya's releases were in the style of dance-floor oriented electro, punctuated with el ...

and

Sean Deason Sean Deason is an American techno producer from Detroit. His aliases include Project X, Sounds Intangible Nature, Freq, and X-313. Deason got his start doing graphic design for Detroit techno artists while studying at the Center for Creative S ...

in addition to his own productions. He is also co-founder and co-owner with Christa Robinson of Submerge Distribution since 1992. Submerge, along with Underground Resistance, is an

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

which distributes Detroit-based techno worldwide.Chris Handyside
Progressive Heroes: Mike Banks
''

Metro Times The ''Detroit Metro Times'' is a progressive alternative weekly newspaper located in Detroit, Michigan. It is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area. The ''Metro Times'' was an official sponsor of the now-defunct De ...

'', November 10, 1999. Among Banks's early influences are Derrick May,

Juan Atkins Juan Atkins (born September 12, 1962), also known as Model 500 and Infiniti, is an American record producer and DJ from Detroit, Michigan. ''Mixmag'' has described him as "the original pioneer of Detroit techno." He has been a member of the Belle ...

and

Marshall Jefferson Marshall Julius Jefferson (born September 19, 1959) is an American musician, working in the house music subgenres of Chicago house and deep house. Biography Sometimes known as the father of house music, Jefferson was originally a record produce ...

; his later work shows his increasing interest in

acid house Acid house (also simply known as just " acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synt ...

and industrial. Banks has hewn strictly to an ethic of the underground and refuses to be

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, or more generically referred to as an ''image'' or ''picture'') is an image created by light falling on a photosensitivity, photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor. Th ...

ed in public as part of this ethic. His releases often deal with elements of political and social commentary, which have made him a controversial figure from within the Detroit electronic music scene. Banks quit playing live shows in the late 1990s due to continuing problems with bringing electronic equipment through

customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

agencies, but began doing live shows again in the mid-2000s.Mike Banks interview
''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...

'' #285, November 2007. (Banks discusses live music on page 4 of 5.)

Discography

Productions

* Members Of The House - ''Keep Believin' '' (1987) * Members Of The House - ''Share This House'' (1988) *

- ''Your Time Is Up'', ''Direct Me'' (1990) * X-101 - '' Sonic Destroyer'' (1991) * Underground Resistance - ''Waveform EP'' (1991) * Underground Resistance - ''

Nation 2 Nation Galaxy 2 Galaxy is a live electronic music, electronic and jazz music collective featuring members of Underground Resistance (band), Underground Resistance. The name comes from an EP created by Mike Banks (musician), Mike Banks in 1993. Fame in t ...

'' (1991) * Members Of The House - ''Reach Out For The Love'', ''These Are My People'' (1991) * X-102 - ''Discovers The Rings Of Saturn'' (

Tresor TRESOR (recursive acronym for "TRESOR Runs Encryption Securely Outside RAM", and also the German word for a safe) is a Linux kernel patch which provides encryption using only the CPU to defend against cold boot attacks on computer systems by perf ...

, 1992) * Underground Resistance - Acid Rain II; Belgian Resistance; Kamikaze; Message To The Majors; The Seawolf; Piranha; Death Star; Happy Trax No. 1 (1992) * Underground Resistance - ''

World 2 World Michael Anthony Banks, better known as "Mad" Mike Banks, is an American record producer. He is the co-founder, along with Jeff Mills, of record label Underground Resistance and was a key player in the "second generation" of Detroit techno. Bank ...

'' (1992) * Underground Resistance - '' Revolution For Change'' (1992) * The Martian - ''Meet The Red Planet'' (1992) * Davina - ''Don't You Want It'' (1992) * Galaxy 2 Galaxy - ''Galaxy 2 Galaxy'' (double-maxi comportant les morceaux ''Hi-Tech Jazz (The Science), Hi-Tech Jazz (The Elements), Journey Of The Dragons, Star Sailing, Astral Apache,Deep Space 9, Rhythm Of Infinity, Metamorphosis'') (1993) * The Martian - ''Cosmic Movement / Star Dancer'' (Red Planet) (1993) * The Martian - ''Journey To The Martian Polar Cap'' (Red Planet) (1993) * The Martian - ''Sex In Zero Gravity'' (Red Planet) (1993) * The Martian - ''The Long Winter Of Mars'' (Red Planet) (1994) * Members Of The House - ''Party Of The Year'' (1994) * The Martian - ''Ghostdancer'' (1995) * L'Homme Van Renn - ''The (Real) Love Thang'' (1995) * The Martian - ''Firekeeper / Vortexual Conceptions'' (1996) * The Martian - ''Particle Shower / The Voice Of Grandmother'' (1996) * L'Homme Van Renn - ''Luv + Affection'' (1996) * UR - ''The Hostile / Ambush'' (1997) * UR - ''Codebreaker'' (1997) * UR - ''Radioactive Rhythms'' (1997) * UR - ''The Turning Point'' (1997) * UR - ''Millennium To Millennium'' (2001) * UR - ''Inspiration / Transition'' (2002) * UR - ''Illuminator'' (2002) * UR - ''The Analog Assassin'' (2002) * UR - ''Actuator'' (2003) * The Martian - ''Pipecarrier'' (2003) * The Martian - ''Tobacco Ties / Spacewalker'' (2003) * Perception & Mad Mike - ''Windchime'' (Underground Resistance, 2004) * UR - ''My Ya Ya'' (2004) * The Martian - ''The Last Stand EP'' (2004) * UR - Presents ''Galaxy 2 Galaxy - A Hi-Tech Jazz Compilation'' (2005) * Mad Mike - ''Scalper'' (Underground Resistance, 2005) * Mad Mike - ''Attack Of The Sonic Samurai'' (

Somewhere In Detroit Somewhere may refer to: Music Albums * ''Somewhere'' (Eva Cassidy album) or the title song, 2008 * ''Somewhere'' (Keith Jarrett album), 2013 * ''Somewhere – The Songs of Sondheim and Bernstein'', by Marina Prior, 1994 * ''Somewhere'', or ...

, 2006) * 040 - ''Never'' (Underground Resistance, 2006) * Mad Mike - ''Hi-Tech Dreams'' / ''Lo-Tech Reality'' (Underground Resistance, 2007) * X-102 - ''Rediscovers The Rings Of Saturn'' (Tresor, 2008)

References

External links

Mike Banks
discography at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

.
1992 Radio Interview
Recorded in September, 1992. Adelaide, South Australia. Interviewed by Georgie Knight on Community radio station 5MMM (now with callsign 5DDD and known as Three D Radio)
"Use Your Ears" - Mad Mike Banks BBC Radio 1 Interview
Recorded in May, 2017. London, United Kingdom. Interviewed by Benji B on BBC Radio 1.
2021 Interview with Mike Banks
b

mmaayyss on Dreaming Live podcast. {{DEFAULTSORT:Banks, Mike American techno musicians Living people Musicians from Michigan American electronic dance music DJs Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American musicians