"Banquet" is a song from British band

Bloc Party Bloc Party are an English Rock music, rock band that was formed in London, England, London in 1999 by co-founders Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, sampler) and Russell Lissack (lead guitar). Their first four albums all featur ...

's debut album ''

Silent Alarm ''Silent Alarm'' is the debut studio album by English rock band Bloc Party. Recorded in Copenhagen and London in mid-2004 with Paul Epworth as producer, it was released on 2 February 2005, by Wichita Recordings. The album peaked at number three ...

''. Originally released on a double A-side single along with " Staying Fat" in May 2004 by

Moshi Moshi Records Moshi Moshi Records is a small London-based record label founded in 1998 by Adrian Pike, Michael McClatchey and Stephen Bass. The label has released music by bands including Lykke Li, Fimber Bravo, Bloc Party, Hot Chip, Late of the Pier, H ...

, it was re-released as a regular single in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Wichita Recordings Wichita Recordings is an independent record label located in London, founded in 2000 by Mark Bowen and Dick Green. Its most notable signees include Bloc Party, The Cribs, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket, Yeah Yeah Yea ...

on 25 April 2005. It was their first single to chart on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

where it came in at number 34, and is often credited as their breakthrough single in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. It was also featured in the song "Bloc Party" on the ''Fort Minor Mixtape: We Major''. It was ranked 31 in ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'''s top 100 tracks of the decade, and was number 54 in Triple J's Hottest 100 of all time. It peaked at No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart. In 2011, ''NME'' placed it at number 20 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years". The song was featured in the 2018/19 video game ''

Life Is Strange 2 ''Life Is Strange 2'' is a 2018 episodic adventure game developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Square Enix. As a main sequel in the ''Life Is Strange'' series, the game's plot features Hispanic American brothers Sean and Daniel ...

''.

Background and music

The song was originally written by Okereke on tour in 2003. Okereke was inspired by

Pixies Pixies may refer to: * Plural of Pixie * Pixies (band) The Pixies are an American alternative rock band from Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1986 by Black Francis (vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriter), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim ...

' record '' Doolittle'' at the time, specifically the song called "I Bleed", which was later used for the phrasing of "Banquet". Apart from Pixies, Okereke was also inspired by the song "

Prince Charming Prince Charming is a fairy tale stock character archetype who comes to the rescue of a damsel in distress and must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell. This classification suits most heroes of a number of traditional folk tales ...

" by

Adam and the Ants Adam and the Ants were an English Rock music, rock band that formed in London in 1977. The band existed in two versions, both fronted by Adam Ant, between 1977 and 1982. The first phase began when the band were founded in May 1977 and were call ...

. The song is in the key of A♯ minor and in 4/4 time signature. One of the most notable parts of the song is the guitar interplay between Okereke and Lissack, which continues through much of the song. The song is about teenage life and contains lines and phrases related to sex.

Music videos

There were two

videos Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) system ...

for "Banquet". A non-released version contains a recurring theme of

hands A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "han ...

, some of which push band members

Russell Lissack Russell Lissack is an English musician. He is the lead guitarist of London-based indie rock group Bloc Party, whom he founded with Kele Okereke in 1999. He released a self-titled album with side project Pin Me Down in 2010, and was a touring memb ...

and

Gordon Moakes Gordon Peter Moakes (born 22 June 1976) is an English musician, best known as the bassist of rock band Young Legionnaire and former member of indie rock band Bloc Party. Bloc Party Moakes became a member of Bloc Party after responding to an ...

around while other hands cover up

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

Matt Tong Matthew Chee Hung Tong (born 29 April 1979) is a British musician from Bournemouth, England. He is best known as the drummer of Bloc Party from 2002 to 2013 and has been a member of Algiers since 2015. Early life Tong was born in Bournemouth, ...

's head and cast a shadow over

frontman The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

Kele Okereke Rowland Kelechukwu "Kele" Okereke (born 13 October 1981), also known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Kele, is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the indie rock band Bloc Part ...

. The hands eventually try to

stab STAB or stab or stabs may refer to: *Stabbing, penetration or contact with a sharp object Places *Stab, Kentucky, US * St. Anne's-Belfield School, a college preparatory school in Charlottesville, Virginia, US People and characters * Staff capta ...

all of Bloc Party, set fire to the set and destroy the

instruments Instrument may refer to: Science and technology * Flight instruments, the devices used to measure the speed, altitude, and pertinent flight angles of various kinds of aircraft * Laboratory equipment, the measuring tools used in a scientific lab ...

and amps. Meanwhile, the released version shows the group performing in front of many different people. It is shown in full color and in

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

. The music video has gained around 32 million views on YouTube.

Remixes

The song has been remixed 10 times. Its remix by Phones (Paul Epworth) was released as a promotional single for their remix album ''

Silent Alarm Remixed ''Silent Alarm Remixed'' is the remix album to '' Silent Alarm'', the debut album by British indie rock band Bloc Party. It was released on 29 August 2005 in the British Isles on Wichita Recordings, the band's primary label, and on 13 Septemb ...

'' and their EP '' Bloc Party EP''. The songs remix by

The Streets The Streets is an English musical project led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner (musician), Mike Skinner. The project was founded in the early 90s, while Skinner was still a teenager; however, no music would formally eventuat ...

had a music video made and was released as one of the b-sides for their single " Two More Years". Its two remixes by

Boys Noize Alexander Ridha (born 22 August 1982), better known by his stage name Boys Noize, is a German-Iraqi electronic music record producer, songwriter and DJ known for collaborations with artists including A$AP Rocky, Tommy Cash, and Frank Ocean (for ...

were released as a 10" single. This is a list of all remixes of the song: *" Banquet (Phones Disco Edit)" *"Banquet (

Mix)" *"Banquet (Another Version By The Glimmers)" *"Banquet (Boys Noize Vox Mix)" *"Banquet (Boys Noize Dub)" *"Bloc Party" (Remix of Banquet by

Mike Shinoda Michael Kenji Shinoda ( ; born February 11, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and graphic designer. He co-founded the rock band Linkin Park in 1996 and is the band's co-lead vocalist, as well as rhythm guitarist, ...

, Apathy & Tak of S.O.B.) *"Banquet (Cornelius Remix)" *"Banquet (Black Moustache Remix)" *"Banquet (Fake ID's Feast Mix)" *"Banquet (Junior Sanchez JR Mix)"

Banquet (Phones Disco Edit)

"Banquet (Phones Disco Edit)" was a promotional single by

from their first EP " Bloc Party EP", and their remix album "

". It was originally released as a one sided white label vinyl to promote the " Bloc Party EP", which was limited to 250 copies, but was re-released to promote "

" with the original version of "Banquet" on side B. This version is still available on the Wichita Recordings website. The remix appeared in the video game Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix.

Track listings

Original 12-inch vinyl # "Banquet (Phones Disco Edit)" - 5:25 Re-release 12-inch vinyl # "Banquet (Phones Disco Edit)" - 5:25 # "Banquet" - 3:21 Digital download # "Banquet (Phones Disco Edit)" - 5:25

Track listings

CD: Wichita / WEBB078SCD (UK) # "Banquet" # "Compliments" (

Peel Peel or Peeling may refer to: Places Australia * Peel (Western Australia) * Peel, New South Wales * Peel River (New South Wales) Canada * Peel Parish, New Brunswick * Peel, New Brunswick, an unincorporated community in Peel Parish * Pee ...

Session) roduced by Miti Adhikari# "Banquet" (Another Version by The Glimmers) CD: Wichita / VVR5032983 (European release) # "Banquet" # "Banquet" (Another Version by The Glimmers) # "Banquet" ( EP Version) # "Banquet" (

Phones A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

Disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

Edit) # "Banquet" ( Cornelius Remix) # "Banquet" (video) DVD: Wichita / WEBB078DVD (UK) # "Banquet" # "So Here We Are" (Peel Session) # "Banquet" (Video) # "Little Thoughts" (Video) 7-inch: Wichita / WEBB078S (UK) # "Banquet" # "Tulips" (Peel Session)

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Banquet (Song) 2005 singles 2005 songs Bloc Party songs Song recordings produced by Paul Epworth Songs written by Kele Okereke Wichita Recordings singles Songs written by Russell Lissack Songs written by Gordon Moakes Songs written by Matt Tong