Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Banner Pilot to tour

Banner Pilot

01/27/12 Seattle, WA at The Funhouse

01/28/12 Portland, OR at Backspace

01/29/12 Corvallis, OR at Cloud 9

01/30/12 Sacramento, CA at The Press Club

01/31/12 Santa Cruz, CA at Blue Lagoon w/ Nothington

02/01/12 San Francisco, CA at Thee Parkside

02/02/12 Pomona, CA at VLHS Warehouse

02/03/12 Los Angeles, CA at Blue Star

02/04/12 San Diego, CA at Shakedown Bar

02/05/12 Las Vegas, NV at The Bunkhouse Saloon

03/02/12 Chicago, IL at Beat Kitchen w/ Dan Vapid and the Cheats

03/03/12 Madison, WI at The Frequency

03/31/12 Fargo, ND at The Aquarium



Remember Banner Pilot? Sure you do. They’re a quartet of beer swilling, bookworm punks from Minneapolis who play the kind of gritty pop-punk that seems so synonymous with the Midwest. Two years ago they dropped Collapser, their second full length on Fat Wreck Chords, which was so beloved that it even appeared on Punknews.org’s best of 2009 list. They did a few tours and then, right when shit was getting good, Banner Pilot decided to take their sweet ass time getting around to writing more songs and playing more shows. In their absence, the beard-and-flannel set, often seen in shitty dives drinking PBR and squeezing in yet-one-more slice of pizza, began to get antsy and then finally, they started complaining. “Where the fuck isBanner Pilot?” they could be heard asking all the other touring Fat Wreck bands, over and over and over and over again. This shit, I’m told, got pretty old after a while. Well, the bands and beardos alike can all stop bitching because finally, Banner Pilot is back with Heart Beats Pacific, their newest full length on Fat Wreck Chords, due out on October 25th and they’re going to be touring extensively on it too, so strap on your spare liver and poke some new fat-boy notches in your belt, because this shit’s about to get real messy.

A quick background check reveals that Banner Pilot started in 2006 out playing their take on dark, midwesty sounding punk rock a-la Jawbreaker, the Alkaline Trio and the Lawrence Arms with a fucking drum machine (they’ve since acquired a live-flesh drummer). Some of the dudes used to be in Rivethead, an outfit that also boasts members of Dear Landlord. One of the guys works at Wells Fargo or Target or something. One of the guys was the studio bassist for all the Off With Their Heads records. They used to be on Go Kart, who put out their debut full-length, Resignation Day, before they signed with Fat who dropped the aforementioned Collapser in 2009. There. We up to speed? Okay, then let’s get this baby up to 88 and check out the future.

Heart Beats Pacific, described by the band as “Collapser on steroids” was recorded at the Terrarium by Jacques Wait, who also recorded Off With Their Heads, Dear Landlord, and The Soviettes. When pressed for a blurb about the HBP, Banner Pilotsaid:

“Whenever a band starts a new album, they have a choice to take a step backwards…. Or take a step forwards. We chose to take a step backwards. That gave us more room to jump two steps forward. What does that mean? Better songs, but still in the same vein as before. A few new things that make the album less straight-forward, but not in a weird way. Thicker guitars, and an overall better sound. We even cracked out a grand piano for a four-count-em-four note piano part. New things, but we don’t abandon or ignore our old sound."

It’s a fancy way of saying “Collapser on steroids” if you want my opinion, but few people ever do, and besides you know artists, always jib-jabbin’ away about harmonies and notes and instruments and shit like that.

Where was I? Oh yeah, the touring cycle for Heart Beats Pacific is gonna take these dudes to CMJ, Riotfest and a trip to the Fest in Gainesville with none other than labelmates Dead To Me. Sources close to the band have expressed that there’s gonna be more touring on the horizon after that, so get out there and check out Banner Piloton their triumphant return from hibernation. An earlier draft of this bio even said “grab your Camus Cliff’s Notes and your Budweiser Zubas” and uh, well, I like that, and since this is ending now I just thought I’d throw it in here too.

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