Hi Y'all, I'm Brian Banks
If you've never heard of me before today that's alright. Chances are I never heard of you either!
That being said, I'll get on with it.
I've been writing songs for nearly 40 years but my music career is just beginning.
My dad was part owner of a steel fabrication business in Tacoma, Wa. I grew up working in the shop with my dad every chance I got from the time I was 12 years old until I had a life altering injury on the job at age 23. The doctors called it “a traumatic amputation of the left thumb and a both bone fracture of the left forearm.” After 15 months of recovering I spent most of 25 years in the trucking industry; and got into real estate investing as a side hustle.
Songwriting is something that I have just always done. I've been asked how I write songs. The simple answer is that I start with an interesting hook and then i build a story around it. A hook is the phrase that grabs your attention, “the more you drink, the better I sound” or a metaphor you instantly relate to, “she's a humming bird the way she changes direction”.
If you listen to my first two releases Broken & Cowboy Beachbum you'll hear those lines in these songs and, knowing that I started with these lines, you can see the stories I built around them.
I create a tune in my mind and build the song to the tune. By the time I finish the song I have it memorized. The music is a whole other thing. I have a great producer, Mason Shirley, who is an incredible musician as well as producer. I send him a rough track of me singing and playing my guitar; he puts the music together. In my humble opinion, we make some damn good music!
2026 is the year that I am making my music my priority. Building this website is part of it. You'll never get where you're going if you stay where you are!