New Indie Rock Supergroup Is the ‘Poor Man’s Traveling Wilburys’

February 25, 2017 5:00 am
BNQT Will Be Your New Favorite Band
BNQT's trunk shot (Rob Gungor)
BNQT Will Be Your New Favorite Band
BNQT’s trunk shot (Rob Gungor)

 

For the consummate rock fan, supergroups hit a high note. The idea is simple: get a bunch of really talented musicians from several different bands in the same room, let them mess around with a bunch of instruments, and if everybody’s lucky, they’ll produce something close to pop perfection.

Following in the footsteps of contemporary supergroups like Minor AlpsThe Both, and She & Him is a new version of the same tried-and-true concept: BNQT (pronounced “banquet”).

Led by Midlake‘s Eric Pulido, the band features a quartet of other lead singers/songwriters: Band of Horses’ Ben Bridwell, Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, Travis’ Fran Healy, and Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle (who also produced Band of Horses’ latest album). Each of the members wrote and sung two songs on an upcoming album, simply entitled Volume 1, which has a street date of April 28. (The band i rounded out by three other members of Midlake.)

BNQT Will Be Your New Favorite Band
The cover of ‘Volume 1’ (Dualtone)

 

Pulido describes the outfit, “Like a poor man’s version of the Traveling Wilburys!” That’s heady praise considering the Wilburys were one of the greatest supergroups in recent history, featuring Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and Jeff Lynne (of ELO, part of this year’s Hall of Fame induction class).

Listen to the debut single from BNQT, “Restart,” here:

If the players in the bands that make up BNQT don’t ring a bell, don’t worry: RealClearLife has included a playlist below, featuring each member’s band’s best song (obviously, that’s our opinion).

Eric Pulido – Midlake – “Roscoe”

Ben Bridwell – Band of Horses – “The Great Salt Lake”

Alex Kapranos – Franz Ferdinand – “Take Me Out”

Fran Healy – Travis – “Why Does It Always Rain on Me?”

Jason Lytle – Grandaddy – “Now It’s On”

—Will Levith for RealClearLife

 

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