Paul Banks

Best known as <a href="spotify:artist:3WaJSfKnzc65VDgmj2zU8B" data-name="Interpol">Interpol</a>&#39;s distinctive baritone vocalist, <a href="spotify:artist:6h7Y3QR7IjzAD05Qw5QYO4" data-name="Paul Banks">Paul Banks</a> was a singer/songwriter in his own right before joining that band. During the mid-&#39;90s, he adopted the alias <a href="spotify:artist:4RlEYUI2Q5gKfDn1VwKQpK" data-name="Julian Plenti">Julian Plenti</a> to perform as an acoustic solo artist at New York venues such as the Knitting Factory and Tobacco Road. Around that time, Banks ran into his old friend, guitarist/vocalist Daniel Kessler, and joined his up-and-coming band <a href="spotify:artist:3WaJSfKnzc65VDgmj2zU8B" data-name="Interpol">Interpol</a>. As the group worked its way from eight-track demos in the late &#39;90s to signing with spotify:search:label%3A%22Matador+Records%22 , Banks continued to write and perform his solo material. However, as <a href="spotify:artist:3WaJSfKnzc65VDgmj2zU8B" data-name="Interpol">Interpol</a>&#39;s fame and time commitments grew the solo work was put on the back burner.


Three years and two <a href="spotify:artist:3WaJSfKnzc65VDgmj2zU8B" data-name="Interpol">Interpol</a> albums later, Banks revisited the <a href="spotify:artist:4RlEYUI2Q5gKfDn1VwKQpK" data-name="Julian Plenti">Julian Plenti</a> material, demoing new and old songs; in 2008, he recorded final versions of these songs recruiting friends like <a href="spotify:artist:3WaJSfKnzc65VDgmj2zU8B" data-name="Interpol">Interpol</a> drummer Sam Fogarino, <a href="spotify:artist:57dN52uHvrHOxijzpIgu3E" data-name="Ratatat">Ratatat</a>&#39;s Mike Stroud, Striker Manley, and <a href="spotify:artist:7079ySMZ1VkEgAXxH5k8dn" data-name="The Occasion">The Occasion</a>&#39;s <a href="spotify:artist:4Oh7v6b7XbHIXA9dUcZfw4" data-name="Charles Burst">Charles Burst</a>.


In 2012 Banks returned to his solo career, issuing the Julian Plenti Lives EP -- which featured covers of songs by <a href="spotify:artist:0IVcLMMbm05VIjnzPkGCyp" data-name="J Dilla">J Dilla</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1Mxqyy3pSjf8kZZL4QVxS0" data-name="Frank Sinatra">Frank Sinatra</a> -- under his own name that June and following it with the simply named Banks album that October.


In 2013 Banks began recording material with <a href="spotify:artist:34EP7KEpOjXcM2TCat1ISk" data-name="Wu-Tang Clan">Wu-Tang Clan</a> leader <a href="spotify:artist:4iCwCMnqsNZ6atvRiADgtn" data-name="RZA">RZA</a>. Their collaborative efforts were unveiled in 2016 as <a href="spotify:artist:3bWdqOEkgKiSmVnHZM2feN" data-name="Banks & Steelz">Banks & Steelz</a>. Anything But Words arrived in August 2016 and featured guest appearances by <a href="spotify:artist:6FD0unjzGQhX3b6eMccMJe" data-name="Ghostface Killah">Ghostface Killah</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3zFaWPA8Jobgf5egh38KD2" data-name="Kool Keith">Kool Keith</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4VmEWwd8y9MCLwexFMdpwt" data-name="Method Man">Method Man</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0ME1RawvWt3qOJnYnxVqeh" data-name="Masta Killa">Masta Killa</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0IROOdQ2fQUcoaEPqt1Isg" data-name="Florence Welch">Florence Welch</a>.