Q&A: BANNERS Keeps on Going in New EP ‘I Wish I was Flawless, I’m Not’
BY CAPTURING BEAUTY IN A TURBULENT TIME — UK-based artist BANNERS hopes to show that fervorous human spirit can prevail through hardship in his latest EP, I Wish I was Flawless, I’m Not, released on Jan. 13.
Hailing from Liverpool, BANNERS, also known as Michael Nelson, provides a relatable insight into his experience during the beginning of the pandemic, often reflecting on conflicting feelings of love, optimism, and self-doubt. Honesty is best embodied in the opening track, “Perfectly Broken,” which is driven by cinematic piano instrumentation and contains heartfelt lyrics such as “’Cause all of the scars and the bruises / they’re what make you human.”
On “Keeps Me Going,” Nelson is wholly self-aware and makes light of his faults with the opening line, “I’m a mess sometimes / who knows it better than I do?” — the type of declaration many of us can easily vibe with.
No stranger to the industry, Nelson’s father, Ken Nelson — who produced albums for the likes of Coldplay, Gomez, and Badly Drawn Boy — introduced his son to the world of music and instilled a creative work ethic in him. Nelson’s discipline and dedication has led to over six million listeners on Spotify, a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, 15 million engagements on TikTok with his song “Someone to You,” and song features on shows such as Grey’s Anatomy and movies such as Love, Simon.
Read below to discover how Nelson expresses his gratitude for life and how he stays artistically connected to himself and humanity despite the earthly noise.
LUNA: Hi! How has the new year been treating you so far?
BANNERS: Hello! It's been great. I nearly asked how your year has been … but to get the reply I'd have to create my own magazine and then interview you! Yeah, it's been really good. Releasing music and getting ready to go on tour. You can't really ask for more in life, can you?
LUNA: What was the creative process in making I Wish I Was Flawless, I’m Not in terms of concept, production, or otherwise?
BANNERS: Well, I started writing it in early 2020, so the creative process was the pandemic. I think any music you make is a little time capsule. Something you can revisit years later and relive where you were and how you were feeling, who you were with, and who you weren't with. This EP is my little pandemic time capsule. I'm not really sure we've culturally processed the great big trauma that happened to everybody yet. Things just opened up again and we were all just encouraged to just get on with life. Maybe that's a positive thing, and human beings are amazingly resilient, but I do think that the emotional and physical trauma has taken a far greater toll than we as a society appreciate, and I think we're going to be dealing with the effects of it for a really long time.
I suppose everybody is going to have to come to terms with their own experience on their own, personally and in their own time. I think maybe this EP will help me come to terms with mine. I don't know how I'll look back on it in the future but I think I'll be proud of the fact that we all kept going. I wrote “In Your Universe” with my friends on Zoom two or three days after everybody got locked down for the first time. I can't really speak for other industries but there was real uncertainty over how the music industry was going to survive. How could you work collaboratively with people when you're not allowed to see anyone? People figure it out, don't they? When “In Your Universe” happened, I sorta knew it was gonna be alright. I think that song is beautiful, so the fact that you can make something beautiful in those circumstances was just such a hopeful thing. Maybe this EP is my little reminder to myself to keep just going.
LUNA: Your father is Ken Nelson, who is a record producer for the likes of Coldplay, Gomez, and more. Did he have a big impact on your pursuit to make music?
BANNERS: Of course! In loads of ways. First of all, I was in recording studios all the time when I was little. In recording studios, you get to hear music far louder from much, much bigger speakers than anywhere else you've ever been when you're, like, 8 years old. Then, bands are in there and they're the funniest, funnest, coolest people when you're little, and there are all these flashing lights and people all working together to create something from nothing. I just wanted to be in recording studios all the time. How could you not?! So, I was really lucky because I got to fall in love with the space where music gets made and to fall in love with the creation of it, as opposed to the glamor of it, which is good because there isn't really any glamor anyway. It's just hard work, and that's the bit I like. A hugely important part of it all was learning that it was possible. That it could happen for me like it did with the bands my dad worked with. They were all really talented, but they weren't superheroes — just people. So then you go, “Well, I'm a person, so it could work for me too.”
LUNA: There is a raw, honest delivery of the lyrics in your songs, particularly in “Perfectly Broken” and “Happier.” When songwriting, do you draw from real feelings and real people, or does it come from another place?
BANNERS: I think it has to come from real experiences and feelings. Humans have an amazing ability to sense when you don't really mean it. I don't know how. I think the way we feel music is so instinctive. We're born with some understanding of it. I suppose the sounds inside the womb are the first things we're ever aware of: breathing, heartbeats, and the rhythm of it. So we're tiny little experts from day one. If you ever play a song to a little kid and they're into it, you know you're on to a good one because their reaction is all instinct. I don't think we ever really lose that. So when you write songs you have to encode real emotion into its DNA because humans can tell if it's in there or not. That's not an easy thing to do, though. Especially when you're starting out and you're working with record labels, managers, lawyers, publishers, accountants, songwriters, film, TV, etc. for the first time. It's so overwhelming that it's hard to extricate yourself enough from all those new pressures to figure out how you actually feel. Then as you settle into it and get more used to things, find your creative partnerships, and your own support structure, all that stimulus isn't so overwhelming. You start to figure out who you really are and who you want to be with your music, what you want to say, and how you really feel.
LUNA: Sonically, you have a passionate edge to your music, so it’s no surprise that it has been featured in shows like Grey’s Anatomy and a movie like Love, Simon. Is there another show you would love your music to be featured in, or a dream movie soundtrack?
BANNERS: I've got a new song we just finished recording called “Best View in Liverpool.” Or “The Best View in Liverpool.” I can't tell if it's better with or without the “the” yet. Anyways, the idea is that it doesn't matter where you are because the best view is anywhere this person that you really like is. I really love it, and what I'd really like is for Liverpool FC to win a big cup and for it to be used as the closing montage on Sky Sports or something. That would be ace! Mainly because then Liverpool would have won something, and that's really all that matters, isn't it?
LUNA: Who or what are some of your inspirations?
BANNERS: Obviously, there's loads of music inspirations, and I could just plonk a load of them here, but during the pandemic so many people sent me so many lovely messages every day. The idea that people were listening to my music, and that it was helping people get through helped me so much. My main inspiration is to try to make music that matters to people, to just help make people's days a tiny bit better, and to just enjoy it. Don't worry too much about the things I can't control. I have the best job in the world — my dream life, really. When I look back on everything many years into the future, I want to be able to say that I experienced it properly, that I loved doing it from moment to moment. Who knows how long I'll get to live my dream life? It could all stop tomorrow and I'd hate myself if I didn't ring every last bit of magic out of the experience.
I also love Jeff Buckley, Elbow, Regina Spektor, Nick Drake, Joanna Newsom, and Led Zeppelin. I also love football, my friends, and my family.
LUNA: What do you have planned for the rest of the year?
BANNERS: Sooo much new music and gigs. I'm looking forward to having a lovely time with my friends and family and enjoying it all, because who knows what's round the corner.
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