Behind the scenes & in studio with BANFF making “Renew”

Brisbane songwriter BANFF has recently emerged from the studios with a brand new single in “Renew”, a bright effort from the artist who was quick to turn heads initially last year and has wasted no time in capitalising on the momentum through this year.

A personal track, BANFF (Ben Forbes), explains the genesis of “Renew”. “”Renew” kinda talks about the insecurities that I felt as an artist just deciding that I’d launch new music into the world, and waiting to really change the traditional treatment that I’d given all my songs. It’s like a love story with the art of writing songs.”

Along with the story of the new single, BANFF has shared with us some special behind the scenes shots from his recording sessions in Brisbane alongside Machine Age and Konstantin Kersting.

Check them out below!

Another beaut guitar loaned from Ian Haug. This Telecaster features a heap across many new BANFF tracks. We experimented a lot with some weird guitar tones using one of my favourite pedals, the ZVEX lo-fi junky. The junky captures those warbly, lo-fi sounds I’ve used across a lot of lead guitar lines.  
All smiles after five days of tracking. Age, Konny and I spent all five days out at Airlock Studios together. Here’s to 2017!  See you next year. Big ups to @bgerbanas and @alex.cummings_ for the studio shots!
The Gibson Dove. The nicest acoustic guitar I’ve ever played. We borrowed a bunch of incredible guitars off Ian Haug (Powderfinger, The Church). The Dove featured most prominently on “Act of Misacting”. Cheers Ian – absolute legend.
A bird’s eye from the control room at Airlock Studios. We spent four days cooped up inside this room recording new BANFF tracks. The LED lights which lined the ceiling could be colour customised depending on your mood, and the vibe you wanted to create in the room. It occupied most of my time in here.
Great mate Konstantin Kersting engineered across our studio sessions at Airlock. He’s also pretty handy of the bass, which helped a lot while tracking “Renew”. After spending a bit of time myself trying to recreate the bass line I wrote in the “Renew” demo, Konny grabbed the bass and nailed it almost immediately. Sharp shooter.
Mix time. Big ambitions, and a lot of buttons to help achieve them…   
Dom Spooner. Dependable bass man. Never hits a wrong note.
This is Adrian Mauro (aka Machine Age). Age can do everything. He plays guitar, piano, keys, synths, trumpet, and lends a hand on backing vocals when we play live. He has been involved in BANFF right from the start, after Tom Iansek from Big Scary introduced us during the making of my debut EP ‘Future Self’. Here, Konny and Age were working through some synth pads on new track, “Act of Misacting”.
This is Dan Puusaari. He’s played drums in my live set up for the past couple of years and also leant a hand in the studio. I love Dan’s versatility as a drummer, and the studio sessions were really relaxed after playing the songs live for over a year together.  

Stay up to date with BANFF here!

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