The last we heard from Banquets, they announced their third and final album, 2016’s Spit at the Sun. The Jersey City quartet had decided to hang it up after years of shows and several releases and they played their final show in February of 2016. The members went their separate ways, parting on good terms but with the understanding that the realities of life made it difficult to carry the banner any further. In 2021, the band started practicing with the intention of playing The Fest, but the effort ultimately failed. Despite the physical distance between all the members of the band, the seed was planted and the spark was there. That spark started a new fire among the band members, who started working on new material almost immediately after the cancelled Fest performance. Slowly at first, they started sending demos back and forth. Once time and geography allowed, Banquets were back in the same room again hammering out what would become their fourth album. With 11 new songs done, Banquets tapped longtime friend Andy Clarke to produce at Philadelphia’s Retro City Studios. 

Their new full length, Petty Relics, picks up where Spit at the Sun left off, even if it took them almost 10 years to get here. The album is a reflection on getting older while you still have the passion for something you loved when you were younger, while also looking to the future and what’s left in your wake. Sonically, Petty Relics draws from a lot of Banquets‘ usual influences, but has a more natural and indie-leaning feel. Despite the melancholy self-reflective tone of the lyrics, the brightness of the melodies and instrumentation gives the listener a sense that Banquets are satisfied with the mark they’ve made over the years. Banquets have now released their new single, Episodes, with Pretty Relics set to follow on October 17th via Black Numbers Records, with the album available for pre-order on coke bottle clear with white splatter vinyl in the US here, in the EU via Cruise Records and in the UK via Brassneck Records.

Banquets will also be making their return to the stage on the 30th August at New Jersey’s Crossroads with support from Makewar, Errth & Bad Boys.

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