"I’m an old hippy at heart": Banco de Gaia on festivals & the digital revolution

Jasmine Phull speaks to Toby Marks of veteran electronic act Banco de Gaia ahead of his Alchemy Festival gig this month.

Going to a festival means many things. Most times it means a crazy three days of music, mayhem and of course tents. It means no work. It means new friends. It means for three days you get to leave the world behind and enter a euphoric situation where every moment has a, live, soundtrack.

It’s festival season and Banco de Gaia couldn’t be happier and as he comments on the way the ‘environment and lack of constraints’ affect the way people engage with his music, you immediately begin to wonder just how many of these three-day ‘utopias’ Banco de Gaia has had the pleasure of performing at. 

Starting out in 1989, the UK’s electronic musician who indulges in Arabic and middle Eastern samples has lived through a lifetime of musical changes and bore witness to its ‘evolution’. At a time when it was too expensive to put music onto CD or vinyl, Banco de Gaia used tapes, and that’s exactly where you’ll find his first three albums. On tape. 

Whether good or bad, the UK artist is currently writing and recording his next album entirely on his laptop because all he can really do is embrace what the music world has become. But that doesn’t mean he’s given up on analogue. ‘Strumming an acoustic guitar for realtime music making’? You just can beat that, he says. 

Banco de Gaia formed in 1989. Can you name three reasons the music industry is no longer what it used to be?

It became an increasingly small part of the ‘entertainment industry’ through the 1990’s as people started spending their money on computer games and videos/DVDs as well as CDs. As a result less money was available from the big companies to develop new musical talent and mediocrity became the norm. The CD burner and MP3 downloads made widescale piracy commonplace until we reached a situation where it was normal not to pay for the music you listen to. Anyone with a PC in their bedroom can now produce ‘music’ so the world is flooded with ‘albums’ with very little quality control. There is more recorded music available than ever; most of it is rubbish.

You’ve released a number of albums, why were you three first albums only made on cassette?

They were DIY releases, the 80’s equivalent of burning your own CDs. It was way too expensive to consider manufacturing vinyl or CDs back then just to sell a few at gigs, so until I hooked up with a record label cassettes were the only option.

How important is environment to the creation of your tracks?

It matters, but not totally. At the moment I’m trying to write in the spare bedroom with builders working in the house and being constantly interrupted, but at least I still see trees outside the window and live in a rural area. If I lived in a city I’d probably be doing dubstep.

As a kid you were in classical choir, would you ever contribute vocals to your music?

I would, and perhaps I have… Probably not my strong point these days, though.

Did your childhood have a great impact on the path you lead today?

Everyone’s childhood moulds who they become in later life so of course I am the product of that. Fortunately I was not discouraged from exploring music as a kid so I locked onto that as a way to spend my life early on, but the kind of music I make would no doubt have been different had I grown up in different circumstances.

You’re known for working with eastern and Arabic musical styles. For someone who’s originally from South London, what first drew you to these sounds?

When I was growing up in the 70s in London I was hearing all sorts of music in the street, on the radio, or on TV even. In the 80s I discovered people like John McLaughlin experimenting with eastern/ western fusions then later on some of the hip hop guys were sampling all sorts of exotic stuff, and it instantly seemed the right way to go for me.

How important is visual aesthetic to Banco de Gaia?

It varies. I have always made an effort to give a visually interesting performance on stage, whether with lighting, video or whatever, and with video I also like to use it to enhance the meaning of the music. These days, though, I’ve accepted that it is primarily the music that people enjoy so I’m not so hung up on how it all looks.

Festival season is in full swing. How important is festival season for artists?

For me personally it’s where I have many of my best gigs. I think the environment and lack of constraints like bus timetables and work the next day change how audiences engage with the moment. For other artists it’s irrelevant though, so I guess it’s a matter of taste and personal focus; I went to my first festival in 1979 and loved it so I’m an old hippy at heart and love that environment.

There’s no denying it’s a digital world. In terms of your music, have you fully embraced the Internet and all that technology has to offer? Are you happy to evolve and embrace it?

There’s no fighting it so I embrace the positive it has to offer. I am currently writing and recording my new album totally on a laptop, that’s why the spare bedroom is an option right now. I don’t ignore ‘analogue’ though; you still can’t beat strumming an acoustic guitar for realtime music making.

Last song you listened to?

It was by a young band called Crook at Endorse-it at Dorset festival. I don’t know anything about them, just came across them playing in a little tent mid-afternoon, but they were bloody superb. I hope we’ll be hearing more from them. Oh, and it wasn’t a song, it was instrumental (thanks iTunes for defining all musical recordings as ‘songs’!).

First album you bought?

Top of The Pops compilation 1972, or Ride A White Swan by T Rex.

Interview by: Jasmine Phull

Catch Banco de Gaia at Alchemy Festival from 16th-18th September. Tickets are available below. 

Tickets are no longer available for this event