Paul Banks (English Musician)
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Paul Adrian Banks (born 6 July 1973) is an English musician. He is a songwriter and the lead guitarist with the
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band
Shed Seven Shed Seven are an alternative rock band, formed in York in 1990. They were one of the groups which contributed to the Britpop music scene of the 1990s. They originally comprised singer Rick Witter, guitarist/keyboardist Joe Johnson, bassist To ...
.


Career

Paul Banks formed his first band with schoolfriend
Rick Witter Richard James Witter (born 23 November 1972) is a singer/songwriter in the York-based band Shed Seven. He was educated at Huntington School, York. Professional career Rick Witter formed his first band with schoolfriend Paul Banks (musician, b ...
in 1986, while in his early teens, and went on to play in other local bands, including Brockley Haven, with Witter, Tom Gladwin and John Leach.


Shed Seven

Banks joined Witter, Gladwin and John's brother, drummer Alan Leach in Shed Seven just before they gained their first record deal with
Polydor Records Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...
in 1993, replacing Joe Johnson as their lead guitarist. He spent the next six years recording and touring with the band. Banks became known for his distinctive, dramatic riffs and catchy tunes, and from 1993 to 1999 he co-wrote many of the band's most popular songs, with 14 consecutive hits in the UK including " Chasing Rainbows", "Going for Gold" and " She Left Me on Friday". The band's third album ''
Let It Ride Let or LET may refer to: Sports * Let serve, when the served object in certain racket sports hits the net and lands in the correct service court, such as; ** Let (badminton) ** Let (pickleball) ** Let (tennis) * Ladies European Tour, the ladi ...
'' with all music composed by Banks to Witter's lyrics, spawned four singles which all reached the Top 40 of the UK singles chart. In 1999 the record company asked Banks to write a new lead single for Shed Seven's "Greatest Hits" album, ''
Going For Gold ''Going for Gold'' was a British television game show that originally aired on BBC1 between 12 October 1987 and 9 July 1996. It was revived for Channel 5 from 13 October 2008 to 20 March 2009. Background 1987–96 ''Going for Gold'' was ori ...
''. The song, "Disco Down", later became a Top 20 hit, but Banks was becoming increasingly unhappy with the lack of originality in the music he was expected to write and perform. In an interview in 2002, he said: ''Going For Gold – The Greatest Hits'' reached number 7 in the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
, but by the time Shed Seven finally left Polydor in 1999, Banks had already decided to leave the band.


The Rising

After parting with Shed Seven somewhat acrimoniously later that year, officially due to "musical differences", Banks returned to York and formed The Rising with David McKellar (of The 88's on vocals), Rob "Maxi" Maxfield (of
Audioweb Audioweb are an English indie rock band, formed in 1991 in Manchester. They were initially called The Sugar Merchants. Career Audioweb scored two Top 40 hits in the UK Singles Chart - "Policeman Skank...(The Story Of My Life)", and a cover ve ...
on drums) and Stuart Fletcher (of
Rick Witter & The Dukes Rick Witter & the Dukes are a United Kingdom, British alternative rock band (music), band from York, England. Band members * Rick Witter (Vocals) * Rob Wilson (Guitars) * Stuart Fletcher (musician), Stuart Fletcher (Bass) * Matt Lunn (Drums) ...
on bass). He also spent a short time with Fletcher in The Yards, as well as working as a freelance film-maker and music tutor, teaching guitar, bass and songwriting at his studio in
Pocklington Pocklington () is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish at the foot of the Yorkshire Wolds in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, its population was 10,123. It lies east of York, and ...
, York.


Albion

In late 2006, Paul joined the
Alistair Griffin Alistair Richard Griffin (born 1 November 1977) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Already an established songwriter, he first became famous as a solo artist through his appearances on the BBC television show ''Fame Academy 2'' in 2 ...
-fronted band,
Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than "Britain" today. The name for Scot ...
. They wrote and recorded a number of songs together, releasing several free download-only tracks via their official MySpace page.


Shed Seven reunion

However, the following July saw Shed Seven announce their reformation, with the line-up including Banks along with all of the original members. His appearance on the subsequent Greatest Hits tour was the first time he had appeared on stage with the band since leaving in 1999. Following the announcement of the Shed Seven reunion, an official statement from the band noted that it would ''"not affect the individual members' projects which will continue as before"''. Yet, despite this vow, Albion abruptly split up in August 2007, for reasons which were not made public. When interviewed, Griffin commented "Things weren't working out the way we anticipated and it seemed the right time to call it a day". Shed Seven have since recorded and released three new albums. Instant Pleasures in 2017 and A Matter of Time and Liquid Gold which were both released in 2024. Both A Matter of Time and Liquid Gold reached Number 1 in the UK music charts. The band continue to tour regularly.


References


External links

* * Shed Seven song credits at AllMusic Guidebr>Transcription of Q&A session, The Cultural Foundation, 2002.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banks, Paul English rock guitarists English male guitarists English male songwriters Musicians from York 1973 births Living people Britpop musicians 21st-century English guitarists 21st-century English male musicians