PHOTOS BY JACOB CASTANEDA AND MARY KIM
Indie dream pop band Bane’s World has solidified their sound in the SoCal scene. The band formed in Long Beach consists of lead singer and guitarist Shane Blanchard, accompanied by drummer Antonio Aiello, bassist Vincent Reyes, and guitarist Matt Saunders.
Bane’s World is no stranger to the Observatory in Santa Ana, CA, playing at a mini-festival headlined by Tyler, The Creator, Brockhampton, and more back in December of 2017, as well as on their Dog Days tour in late June, alongside Inner Wave and Michael Seyer.
Bane’s World has dropped one 9 track project called Drowsy in 2016 as well as appearing as a feature on band Inner Wave’s single Woah. Their sound has stayed consistent both in their projects and features as well as their live performance. Inspired by Steve Ray Vaughn and King Krule, Bane’s World has created a platform for synth-heavy indie pop to strive in our day and age. Their lyrics are soulful and reaches out to an audience who have a soft heart for breakups and feeling lonely.
There are plenty of interviews that explore the creation and inspiration behind Bane’s world, so we decided to ask the band more personal questions to shine a light on who these people are that are making the music. The audience can take away how close this band is from the history they’ve shared to the inside jokes they interchange. Aside from all the accomplishments they’ve made and the venues they’ve played at, we can realize that Bane’s world is just like the rest of us.
MK: If you could eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Vince: Oh I’ve got mine ready…potatoes
Matt: Pasta
Antonio: Corn
Shane: Brisket with spicy sauce
MK: What is a fear that you have as an adult, that you didn’t have before?
Shane: Going to jail for tax evasion
Vincent: I guess dying
Matt: I didn’t think about that before but now I do
Antonio: Memory loss
MK: What’s your favorite film?
Shane: Happy Gilmore
MK: What do you like about Happy Gilmore?
Shane: When I was in Middle school, I wasn’t doing good in school and he had all this bad shit happening to him, so I’d watch it every night because it would make me feel a little less bad about my life
Vincent: I know it’s a really hipster answer, but Fight Club
Matt: Fight Club gets real; My favorite is Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
MK: Is there anything you do to prep for a show?
Shane: Drink a bunch of whiskey.
Vincent: I have to give Shane a massage all the time
MK: What is your favorite thing about playing with the band specifically, are there any special traditions you have? Do you guys watch Gossip Girl?
Matt: We always roast marshmallows by a fire after the show it’s kind of our thing
Shane: like smores and stuff
Vincent: We get our snuggies and watch the Saw Series
Shane: And drink wine
MK: Do you guys rewatch it?
Shane: Yeah, we’re probably going to watch it tonight
Vincent: I think we’re on Saw 3 right now
Matt: You know I actually change my favorite movie, it’s sex and the city 2. It’s so fucking bad. It’s literally like abhorrent like they go to the middle east and they’re teaching middle eastern women how to have fun. It came out in 2011 how did you think this was okay?
Antonio: We made a lot of progress
Vincent: I heard the movie “Paddington” was really good I heard it was one of the best movies of 2018
Shane: A movie I really hate is 50 shades darker
MK: Do you have a project that you’re currently working on or someday want to create?
Shane: Besides music? I want to be a professional gamer
MK: Really?
Shane: No, I don’t really want to. But I like to play video games. But I don’t know…OH! I want to be a chef. I like to cook.
MK: Who’s your favorite chef?
Antonio: Mario Batali
Vincent: Alton Brown
Shane: I don’t have a favorite chef
Vincent: I want to finish school
Antonio: I paint stuff, I’m an artist bro.
MK: Do you guys have a favorite tiktok video?
Shane: My girlfriend’s mom is all into it right now
Antonio: The best one that I’ve seen is where this guy in an all green suit, gets into a storage bin that’s like blue and you don’t know what’s going on, there’s no context and a song is playing a really bass boosted song but it hasn’t dropped yet. And once it drops, he put a plant that has the same composition and colors in the same spot. So he basically turns it into a plant.
You have to see it. It’s tight as hell. And it opened a whole ‘nother door to Tik Tokers. Now people do funny shit on there. Tik Tok is lit.
Shane: There’s one where this girl does a lot of cooking by the river and she makes all this food outside. And when she’s done she puts on lipstick and eats it. It’s pretty weird, but yeah.
MK: I have some fan questions, would you fuck marry or kill Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, and Ashley Tisdale?
Shane: Selena Gomez? I’d marry her. So fast. I would kill Ashley Tisdale. And who was the other one? Vanessa Hudgens?
MK: Yeah Vanessa Hudgens
Shane: Yeah, you know her.
Vincent: I would respect all three of them
MK: When is the next album going to be released?
Shane: I don’t know, hopefully, next year, I’m shooting for that.
MK: What’s the most memorable venue you’ve been to?
Vincent: Me first, that one high school we played at.
Antonio: Or one of those sweaty long beach warehouses
Vincent: When we started playing at that one high school, that was memorable for me because a rapper was there and they cut him off because he was in high school and he was cussing too much. If the situation wasn’t what it was at its surface level, it would’ve been really cool because it was at the top of the parking structure and it had a projector going on in the next building. We didn’t get paid.
Shane: They told us they were going to pay us and they didn’t. That’s not why we do it, but when somebody says…
Antonio: FUCK THAT Nah I’m just kidding
Shane: *laughs* but when somebody says that they’re going to pay you and then they don’t it kind of sucks.
Antonio: It was a high school thing for me at the time. Empty promises, I think that was the most annoying thing because this kid couldn’t have learned this lesson with other people.
Vincent: But it was fun playing
Antonia: We always have fun playing, and those were the early days so we were fucking anxious just to play at some venue.
Shane: I like this venue, the observatory. Real nice. San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall. That place is really cool.
MK: Have you changed as a person from when you were just a regular high schooler to the artist that you are now?
Shane: Yeah, I wasn’t very nice. I don’t think I was very nice in high school.
MK: Did you used to bully kids?
Collectively: “Expose him!”
Antonio: This is going a whole ‘nother direction
Shane: Nononono, but I’ve grown up a lot. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in high school. I just grew up a little bit.
MK: And what about you guys?
Vincent: I think part of growing up is you change, it just so happened that. Especially with Shane that while we grew up a lot of other things occurred hand in hand with growing older so it’s kind of synonymous to him changing overall as an adult. And changing as a person.
Antonio: If you haven’t progressed since high school and it’s been a handful of years, like. You need to get on it.
Matt: I guess uh…more confident?
Shane: That’s good! I need to work on that…yeah.
MK: What is your favorite thing about playing and making music?
Shane: Making music, recording, you get kind of high off of it. And it’s really nice to sit there and listen to what you’ve made. Not to sit there and be like HAGHHH best thing ever! But it’s just this feeling that you don’t get from anything else and playing music live is just fun. You’re just on stage with a bunch of friends chillin.
Vincent: It’s fun playing live with Shane
Antonio: Music if FUN
Matt: I like playing live when you can really reach another person like you can see some of the audience are into it. And you’re on the same wavelength and you know that and why you’re doing what you’re doing. It’s like a connection is formed and that’s really interesting and rewarding. That’s the most rewarding part of it honestly. You can see that someone is queued into what you’re doing, that they care what you’re doing. And your whole band too, it’s like a whole network that starts to form. It’s awesome. I love it.
read “post show thoughts: bane’s world and sara king at the oberservatory” by jacob castaneda: here
watch bane’s world perform “still lovely” live at the observatory: here
watch sara king perform “88 days” live at the observatory: here
see the full photo gallery from bane’s world and sara king’s sold out show: here
Keep up with Bane’s World on Instagram and visit their website for information about their upcoming shows, albums, and merch.
