Paul Banks

Paul Banks first earned attention in the early 2000s as the singer for Interpol, but once he started stepping out on his own, his path led him to some very different places from where he started out. British by birth, Banks was born in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. But his family skipped around the globe when he was young, and he spent time everywhere from Mexico to Michigan. He eventually made his way to New York City to attend NYU, and it was in New York that he ended up forming Interpol with guitarist Daniel Kessler, bassist/keyboardist Carlos Dengler, and drummer Greg Drudy in 1997. The band's sound was heavily inspired by the moody post-punk of late-'70s/early-'80s British bands like Joy Division and The Cure. In due course, Interpol became part of the New York post-punk revival scene that included the likes of The Strokes and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Before they knew it, they had become a "buzz band." They earned plenty of attention with their 2002 debut album, Turn on the Bright Lights, and their popularity increased with the years and albums that followed. By 2009, Banks was ready to make a musical statement of his own. Though he remained with Interpol, he released his first solo album, under the pseudonym Julian Plenti. Julian Plenti Is Skyscraper wasn't a huge departure from what Banks had done with Interpol, nor was the 2012 album issued under his own name, Banks. But not long after that, Banks began to shine a spotlight on a little-known side of his musical makeup. As it happened, Banks was a lifelong hip-hop fan, and in 2013 he put out a DIY hip-hop mixtape, Everybody on My Dick Like They Supposed to Be, featuring guest appearances by rappers Talib Kweli and El-P. Then in 2016 Banks made his hip-hop heart even more apparent with the release of Anything But Words, a collaboration with RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan under the name Banks & Steelz.