Andrew Banner

Andrew Banner (1972)
Summerseat, England

Producer, DJ.
Currently living in Greece Andrews’s passion for music started at a very early age. I remember making my parents buying all my instruments in pairs; one was for practice and the other for concerts. Unfortunately, at the time, after coming to Greece I had to drop my music sessions in order to learn a new language and adjust to a new culture. Luckily, still having a lot of friends and family back in England, I could get all the cool music I liked’ sent to me; and soon I found my self, setting up, organizing and DJing at the school parties and in a few local bars. (1987-1991)

My influent at the time was manly, the Cure, new wave, punk, Goth, electronica and the first impact from industrial/tech. I remember when I heard for the first time Kraftwerk; I listened to the album every day for months.

I got my first PC, Amstrad CPC 464, in 1984 and was fascinated by this new “game” music I was hearing; so I read the manual, leaned the BASIC and stared to write music tunes in raw code. There was no idea of what I had coming for me.
Returning to England in the early 90’s I found my self cursing the London underground scene, totally changing my prospective in music.
I kept a low profile with my music skills and frankly I was just happy to hear other people play. All I did was listen very carefully to this new digital music and it was great.

Returning to Greece I was grateful to discover the underground parties were also popping up around the country.Soon I found my self organizing and mixing again. (1993-2000)
I think it must been until I hear, for the first time, Richie Hawtin. It’s what made me want to write music. Minimal tech, it’s just intelligent!
So I start looking in to different music programs to gain the necessary knowledge required for this new task.

It was only until New Year 2008 that some how I had realized that I had not been hearing new tunes for the past few years.
So I sat down and created my first track, 120 STEPS, following with a different remix called DISCO PUNK. Determent to find a new combination of sound.

A few weeks later I produced the next track, NU BASE, with Sotiris Paulou (percussionist), a good friend from my music days; putting the first letters in our music context., finally a 3rd member is introduced and our band, Daphne Asimakopoulou (Percussionist, keyboardist, choreographer) ADZ music context, was created.

www.myspace.com/adzmuziccontext

The idea behind ‘ADZ music context’ is also to take a live DJ set in to different level using percussions and other live instruments to enrich the show.
While still in the studio, I find myself rediscover by a Greece music Magazine in April.
A few months later, after entering a remix contest; cached the attention of “Klick Records” that has shown great interest in my work.

www.myspace.com/masterbanner

Influence,
Anything that has to do with minimal Tech, it gives you the freedom to mix and create amazing things. Thanks to its light structure in sounds I am able to “fit” and have many tracks running at the same time, creating a unique sound, not so minimal.
Tech, gives you the freedom to take the mood of the listener in to any desired direction.