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Anthony George "Tony" Banks (born March 27, 1950, in East Hoathly, Sussex, England) is a classically-trained English songwriter, pianist/keyboard player, and self-taught guitarist who is best known as one of the founding members of — and many say the driving musical force behind — Genesis, one of England's most famous and successful progressive rock/pop groups. He is one of only two members — the other being guitarist/bassist Mike Rutherford — to belong to Genesis throughout its thirty-two-year history.

Banks attended Charterhouse School in the mid-1960s, where he met fellow student Peter Gabriel in 1965. Together with drummer Chris Stewart they formed a band called The Garden Wall. This band merged with another called Anon, which included Rutherford and Anthony Phillips, and they recorded a set of demos which ultimately led to the formation of the band that became Genesis.

In its early progressive years, Banks' songwriting heavily influenced Genesis' musical direction, and his elaborate keyboard solos — such as the piano intro to "Firth of Fifth" and the instrumental section of "The Cinema Show" — were one of the hallmarks that established the band's larger-than-life sound. Notable Banks-penned songs from Genesis' repertoire include "Mad Man Moon," "One for the Vine," and the anthemic ballad "Afterglow," which remained a popular live song for years.

After Gabriel's and Steve Hackett's departures from Genesis, Banks was the first member of the group to release a solo album. But unlike bandmates Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins, who saw great solo success, Banks' solo efforts usually sold only to a core audience of Genesis' devotees. He seemed unable to break out into mainstream success, as if he needed the framework of Genesis to make the public receptive to his songs.

Despite this, he remains one of rock's most respected — by critics and peers — songwriters and instrumentalists.

Banks has also created some film scores. He wrote the soundtrack to Quicksilver, starring Kevin Bacon, but was fired from the film Odyssey Two by director Peter Hyams. After Genesis went into stasis in 1998 Banks wrote some elaborate classical pieces, which were finally released on the 2004 album Seven: A Suite for Orchestra.

In 1998, some fans pulled together a tribute band called Strictly Banks, and performed a set of Banks' solo songs, marking the first time most had been performed before a live audience.

Tony Banks solo discography

Equipment used by Tony Banks over the years

From Genesis to Revelation - 1969

  • Acoustic Piano

Trespass - 1970

Nursery Cryme - 1971

Foxtrot - 1972

Selling England By The Pound - 1973

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway - 1974

  • Acoustic Piano on album only - Steinway - used on intro to The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway amongst others
  • Hammond T-102 tonewheel organ
  • RMI Electra 368 Electric piano
  • Mellotron M400 - with the 3 violins, 8 voice choir and Brass tape sets
  • ARP Pro-Soloist analogue synthesiszer
  • ARP 2600 analogue synthesizer (modified)

A Trick of the Tail - 1976

Wind and Wuthering - 1976

And Then There Were Three - 1978

Duke - 1980

Abacab - 1981

Genesis - 1983

Invisible Touch - 1986

We Can't Dance - 1991

The Way We Walk (We Can't Dance Tour) - 1991 - 1993

Tony used these synths to also control his 2x 20HE rack units with the following stuff in it:

  • E-mu Emulator III digital 16 bit sampler in rack form
  • Kurzweil 1000PX digital piano module
  • E-mu Proteus/2 XR sample playback modules (four units with Tony's own samples, one with Proteus presets)
  • Voce DMI-64 MkII digital organ module (two units)
  • Yamaha TX7 synth module - DX7 in a rack

All of the above are mixed into 2 Roland M480 mixers and put through Yamaha SPX90 effects and a Roland SDE3000 reverb unit. All midi routings done by 2 MidiTemp MMP88 patchbays. Audio routings from the mixer through the effect units done with the Yamaha PLS1 line switcher which is also used to extract the JD800 audio and send it to the main PA desk.

Also used was a Midi Gate unit (brand unknown) which is used for the song Mama which they performed 5 times in the USA leg of the WCD tour.

Calling All Stations - 1997

Calling All Stations Tour - 1997 - 1998

These are then linked into 2 Opcode Studio 5 LX MIDI processor and 2 Custom-made MIDI mixers and used to control these rack units:

All of the above are mixed into a Mackie LM3204 line mixer then put through Yamaha SPX1000 effects processor (four units)and Roland SRV-2000 effects processor. A Yamaha PLS1 line selector sends this to a Chiddingford Mixer for his Shure SM600 transmitter to his ear monitor.

1950 births | Living people | British keyboardists | British pianists | English songwriters | Genesis members | Keyboardists | Old Carthusians | University of Essex alumni

Tony Banks (Musiker) | Tony Banks | トニー・バンクス (ミュージシャン) | Tony Banks | Tony Banks (musiker) | Tony Banks

 

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