Banks Arcade: Finding Their Own Frequency

"Music is an emotional experience, and that is what imprints itself on the soul. And I think for me, any great art is art which communicates human emotion." - Greg Lake.

There is no denying that the artistic pursuits of Greg Lake's projects, including King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, are practically incomparable to Melbourne's Banks Arcade (formerly of New Zealand). Besides the obvious generational differences, the respected outfit's musical soundscapes are universes apart. With Mr Lake's endeavours venturing toward the progressive rock classification, Banks Arcade, on the other hand, incredibly integrates nu-metalcore with hip hop, electronica and alt-metal, driven by pop sensibilities.

As vast as these differences may be, the similarity lies within the emotional influence of these artists' creativity. Whether it's King Crimson's brilliant ballad 'I Talk to the Wind' or Banks Arcade's heartfelt serenade 'HAVE FAITH', the soulful magnitude of these charismatic compositions is truly mesmerising.

"Music is an emotional experience, and that is what imprints itself on the soul. And I think for me, any great art is art which communicates human emotion."

Remember that quotation from the English progressive music luminary.

"I would also say that the last song on the album, which is [just] kind of the electronic finisher called 'HAVE FAITH' - there's some vocal stuff on there that I was really stoked on." This is the spirited response from Josh O'Donnell, vocalist and lyricist for genre-blending outfit Banks Arcade.

His enlivening answer comes from the inquisition of which tracks he is most euphoric about with the trio's recently released second studio LP SECOND PLACE SUPERSTAR. Speaking from the comforts of his (now) hometown Melbourne, O'Donnell is brimming with excitement and passionate rapture. 

Understandably so, the three-piece are about to undertake the most exciting chapter of their artistic career thus far, and as O'Donnell explains enthusiastically: "I think this is the first time that we've been fully happy with a project."

"Like in the past, I feel like once you go through the whole recording process and you do everything, you kind of get to the end and then you're fed up with the tracks. But this time, we're still in love with them, every bit as when we wrote them."

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In recognition of O'Donnell's bold sincerity, this scribe will exuberantly admit that the frontman's infectious transparency about the 12 new songs is absolutely on the mark. The enrapturing evolution of Banks Arcade is more than apparent from the band's first full-length, Future Lovers, released in 2022 (via UNFD).

One shining example of this awe-inspiring advancement is the scintillating single 'MIRROR' – an anthem that combines the electronic-dream-pop flourishes of Haux, with The Kid LAROI’s progressive hip-pop and the cinematic metalcore of Architects, all in one transfixing track. What is arguably most engaging about the artistic venture is O'Donnell's forthright lyricism.

"You need the severance" and "souls that feed on arrogance" are only illustrious samples of the raw honesty O'Donnell is exposing on this specific song, but also throughout the record. It therefore plagued this writer to ask the vivacious vocalist about his mind-space when crafting this outstandingly openhearted poetry.

"Yeah, I think I'm usually very forthcoming about what all of the songs are about, and like what you know, I think that it's all pretty personal, and my lyrics are usually pretty direct. They're not super drenched in metaphor or anything like that. But I was saying with this one I've…"

O'Donnell pauses for a moment, as if reflecting on his personal scripture, piecing together its meaning for himself, and for the uncountable number of enraptured spectators who will be singing along enchantingly. Then continues: "In other interviews, I've kind of not really talked too much specifically about the meaning of it. I think to sum up the general gist, it's the idea of freeing yourself from something that is toxic and holding you back, and more so in relation to limiting beliefs. It's not really a song that is aggressive towards a specific person or situation like that. I think that there are lots of things that people get caught up in, whether it be religion, patterns of thinking or group ideology, where people become very aligned with one thing and they neglect nuance. I feel like that is very limiting, and taking a look at yourself and being able to separate from those things and be your own person, then making decisions that aren't dictated by something larger. I think that's very important."

Sort of like a "self-realisation" or "self-enlightenment"?

"We've never been…We've obviously got our own beliefs and we've never been…Like, you know, some bands will be like 'fuck religion', or this, or they kind of go hard [on it]. But I've always tried to stray away from that, which is why I don't...I'm not direct about exactly what that song means to me. So, in a general sense, it's also just letting go of those limiting beliefs and systems that may be holding people back from being the best version of themselves."

So, essentially, it is a self-discovery of perhaps self-belief, instead of a higher power or religion? Is that what you are exploring with your lyrics?

"Yes, yes. And I think for me, I was raised in a very religious household, and I think that being into heavy music and pursuing this kind of lifestyle, it wasn't very aligned with my family and what they wanted. And so, I think I went through this arc of listening to all the bands that were like 'fuck religion' and this kind of thing, and I really aligned with that, and I saw a lot of the negative things. We all know - I mean, like you go on Netflix, and there's like 1,000 documentaries about all the weird cult stuff that happens with religion, and there's definitely a lot to be criticised, and there's a lot of people that need to be held to account for what they've done. But it's just like people might look at, you know, some friggin' Norwegian metal bands that went and burnt down churches and did a bunch of bad stuff, and then be like: 'Oh, these metalheads are bad people!' And I think that ['MIRROR'], it's about not generalising in the sense of saying that 'yes, some of these things have a negative impact', but there's also a lot of people that engage with faith who I know that have very good lives, and give a lot to society, and are able to utilise that to get through."

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Essentially, the world needs to be more of an open book and accepting, instead of focussing on division?

"I feel like as long as you're not limiting anyone else's ability to be who they want to be, that it can be good. So, I stepped away from being like this, and I thought, you know, that's not for me. But I can obviously condemn the bad parts and still be okay with people engaging it in it with a way that works for them, which is why I've chosen, you know, coming from that background, and maybe having a negative experience with it myself. There's obviously an outlet there to be quite direct about pointing the finger at that, but I've made the decision not to do that simply because I think it does have…It does provide a lot of positivity for certain people, and I don't want to take that away from them."

"…any great art is art which communicates human emotion."

In reference to "art" as the guidance of this article, the astronomical film clip for Banks Arcade’s single 'ROCKSTAR' is undeniably a rapturous journey. Echoing the extravagance of KoЯn's Issues era – the video features a rather captivating and complex visual of a tattoo artist engraving their riveting artwork onto O’Donnell's neck – it seemed VERY necessary to ask if this scene was more "acted" than reality?

"We worked with Jon Pisani, who has worked with Thornhill quite a lot. We actually met him when we were on the road with Thorny in America - him and Jacob from Thornhill worked on the first clip that we did for 'SEVERANCE'. Jacob was away for the next part, so Jon just kind of took over and did those next three videos, including 'ROCKSTAR'.

"The girl in the video who's tattooing me is one of our good friends; her handle is @RATSMACKERTATTOO – she does really fantastic work, and she just literally came down and fricking did it!" O'Donnell exclaims in happy disbelief, then elaborates further.

"Actually, I think I went to her studio and she tattooed me, and then we went down to the location for the shoot, but she had actually done the piece already. So, we were trying to complete the clip and show the tattoo scene, but she clearly didn't have to put the tattoo in, because it was there and obviously a fresh tattoo. However, Jon was then like, 'This isn't looking right…' and she responded, 'Well, I could just go right back into it; it's gonna hurt, and it might get infected…' and then I was like. 'Ah, fuck it! Just do it'. So, she went back into a fresh tattoo in the clip, but we got it done."

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"…go right back into it."

This will be the modus operandi for O’Donnell and Banks Arcade for the distant future in celebration of SECOND PLACE SUPERSTAR. Touring is an integral part of the voyage for the three-piece, having successfully completed numerous campaigns in the USA and Europe, including the renowned Download festival ("We love the fans everywhere we go. I think we've had harder tours in Europe than we have in America for sure, mostly because air-conditioning is far less common in Europe," O'Donnell declares with a laugh), the band's next step will be an Australian tour supporting Pennsylvania's nu-metalcore-pop brethren From Ashes To New on their headline Australian jaunt this October.

"Yeah, that'll be really exciting. I can't wait to jump out on that one! When we did The Plot In You support, we played a set of all new songs, like all unreleased songs, which was us trying to do things a bit differently. We thought that maybe this might not have the best impact, given that it's the biggest shows that we've ever played in Australia. Playing only new songs might not have been the best idea, but it actually worked very well! I feel like for a lot of people who were at those shows, they were already starting to talk about those tracks before they were out. So, I think that that'll be cool to like see people that heard it back then now experience the songs that are out, and live their reaction with them."

"Music is an emotional experience, and that is what imprints itself on the soul. And I think for me, any great art is art which communicates human emotion."

Experience and connect with Banks Arcade's great art and emotion.

Banks Arcade's SECOND PLACE SUPERSTAR is out now. Listen here. Catch Banks Arcade supporting From Ashes To Fall at Lion Arts Factory on Tuesday 13 October. Tickets on sale at destroyalllines.com.