Banquets

While Banquets’ debut 7", 2010's This Is Our Concern, Dude, was well-received and showed off a wealth of potential, the band’s first full length, Top Button, Bottom Shelf, blows all expectations and pre-conceived notions out of the water. Sometimes a band comes along and is able to cut directly through all the bullshit. Banquets do just that on Top Button, Bottom Shelf. The band catches your attention right from the start with a sense of urgency and a call to arms that is palpable. The ten songs that make up the Top Button, Bottom Shelf build and hold the momentum for an incredibly rewarding and all too short 25 minutes. Waiting for some lull or filler to catch your breath is fruitless as the band delivers gem after gem. Banquets’ refreshing take on melodic punk rock truly transcends any limitations of the genre. Of course you can talk of the band’s pedigree, Banquets lead singer Travis Omilian was the original singer for Let Me Run and other members have played in bands such as Outsmarting Simon, Static Radio NJ, The Stand In and The Banner, but all that undersells just how quickly Banquets have grown into their very own exciting entity. Top Button, Bottom Shelf burns with passion and desperation as Banquets are searching for clarity amidst all the confusion of the world. These are songs about the frustrations of love & life told through weathered eyes and battered hearts. Yet there is an aching hopefulness for something real still to come. –Will Miller(Beartrap PR) Banquets.