Peter Banks
| Peter Banks | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Peter William Brockbanks |
| Born |
15 July 1947 Chipping Barnet, North London, United Kingdom |
| Died | 7 March 2013 (aged 65) Chipping Barnet, North London, United Kingdom |
| Genres | Progressive rock, rock |
| Occupation(s) | Guitarist, songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1966–2013 |
| Associated acts | The Nighthawks, The Syn, Mabel Greer's Toyshop, Yes, Flash, Empirə |
| Website | www |
Peter William Brockbanks (15 July 1947 – 7 March 2013), known as Peter Banks, was a British guitarist. He was the original guitarist of the progressive rock bands The Syn, Yes, Flash, and Empire. Former Sniffin' Glue and NME journalist Danny Baker and Big George are widely reported as having called Banks "The architect of progressive music".
Banks' father was an optical mechanic and his mother a cleaner and he grew up in Barnet, North London where he attended Barnet Secondary School and Barnet College of Further Education. When he was a young boy, his father bought him an acoustic guitar. As a teenager, he also learned how to play the banjo.
Banks started with The Nighthawks in 1963, and played his first concert at the New Barnet Pop Festival before leaving that band to join The Devil's Disciples in 1964. The band consisted of Banks on guitar, John Tite on vocals, Ray Alford on bass and Malcolm "Pinnie" Raye on drums. They recorded two songs on an acetate, Arthur Alexander's "You Better Move On" and Graham Gouldman's "For Your Love" which would be a hit record for The Yardbirds one year later. These two songs can be found on Banks' archival album Can I Play You Something. According to Chris Welch's book "Close to the edge - The story of Yes", The Devil's Disciples used to play The Rolling Stones' first album in its entirety, just for the sake of it. About a year later, Banks joined The Syndicats, replacing their guitarist Ray Fenwick, who himself had replaced Steve Howe, who would later replace Banks in Yes.
Banks then formed a new band with ex-The Selfs bassist, Chris Squire, this band being The Syn. They were joined by keyboardist Andrew Pryce Jackman, Steve Nardelli on vocals as well as Gunnar Jökull Hákonarson on drums. They recorded two singles , "Created By Clive" / "Grounded" and "Flowerman" / "14 Hour Technicolour Dream" both in 1967 before calling it a day a year later. Andrew Jackman would become an arranger and play piano on Squire's first solo album Fish Out of Water in 1975 and on his single "Run with the Fox" in 1980, and played on Steve Howe's Beginnings in 1975 and The Steve Howe Album in 1979, he was also credited for his work on Yes's Tormato album in 1978.
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