The year kicked off in style.  Having just thrown the best party we've ever been involved with at New Slang's New Year, we then went down to The Fighting Cocks for a sold out headline show from The Steal.  We brought a lot of great bands to Kingston in January, The Rakes and Ugly Duckling each headlined New Slang, but in January it was all about the instores.  Kris Roe of The Ataris played a sit down acoustic set, The Rifles were welcomed back again, Frank Turner played what was almost  a residency of shows at Banquet in support of the re-release of "Love Ire And Song", but in retrospect the biggest instore of the month was from White Lies.  80 people crammed into the store on the day of release for the record which was soon to become one of the albums of the year.

Albums of the month

February was also a great month for shows for Banquet.  The first of the year from Broadway Calls at The Peel, Polar Bear Club played their first ever UK headline show for us and promptly sold out The Fighting Cocks, and The King Blues played an instore and New Slang.  However two of the biggest New Slang shows of the year for us also happened this month, with Friendly Fires and Maccabees being great and very memorable shows from very New Slang bands.  February also saw the launch of our drum'n'bass / dubstep night Repeater, with Dillinja and Hazard making a Tuesday evening feel like a Saturday night.  February also saw the release of the first Passion Pit EP.  A band we were to fall in love with.  We also had our 4th birthday party in this month, with Tommy Cooper providing the entertainment.  Surrey was officially the snowiest place in the country in February which led to much hilarity, staff being stranded in other cities and the near postponement of some clubs and shows.  We got through it tho,  fun times!
 

Albums of the month

The show of the month for March came from Jamie T at The Peel, which sold out in 20 minutes. A much anticipated New Slang instore and New Slang show from Mumford And Sons was cancelled due to ill health.  We still hope to rearrange this, but that gig introduced us to the wonderful Cherbourg.  D&B pioneer Andy C headlined Repeater and probably the highlight of New Slang was the Zoo Slang themed night with fancy dress a plenty and a good wad of cash to Oxjam.. Some of our favourite releases that came out in March were from Whitest Boy Alive, The Decemberists and Propagandhi.  Google Streetview was launched but strangely didnt feature our part of Eden St.  Massive fail Google.

Albums of the month

Probably the highlight of the month in April was when Skream and Benga played The Works and 900 people were testament to how big dubstep was to get in 2009.  Some other great shows as we finally got a Jack Penate show at New Slang and we also got to see Golden Silvers, Art Brut and 1990s there.  Shook Ones was a real highlight from the punk side of things and April also saw the release of some of the end of year faves by The Xcerts and Dananananaykroyd.

Albums of the month

Some massive shows in May for us.  Pendulum and Chase & Status played The Works which counts as the biggest show of the year we've put on.  We also had friends You Me At Six back to the shop to push single 'Finders Keepers', and we put on a 14+ Anti Flag / King Blues show on a Saturday afternoon.  Its always been an ambition of the shop to be able to put on bigger bands in a 14+ venue so we're happy to have been involved in that.  Other highlights for May include hooking up with Man Like Me for the first time and an insane show at The Fighting Cocks from Joan Of Arc where bands such as Hot Club De Paris and Johnny Foreigner asked to support.  The Banquet-sponsored Kingstonian FC won their league in May and Banquet backed an initiative to get as many people down to the last home game of the season.  Pitch invasions and celebrations later ensued!

Albums of the month

One of the highlights in June was from Frank Turner as he made one of the stops on his 24 gigs in 24 hours, which in a roundabout way saw Banquet Records on CNN in America!  Tubelord, Cherbourg and Rumble Strips all played for us at New Slang, and Hockey wowed us at their instore at the beginning of the month.  The planned Peter Doherty show was pulled at the last minute so we had no band at New Slang but it emerged that would be the night when news filtered through of Michael Jackson's death.  Five MJ (not Mystery Jets) songs were played that night amidst a very surreal atmosphere

Albums of the month

Some amazing instores for us in July, Slow Club, and Kevin Devine were pretty special.  DJ Hype played for us at Repeater and Goldie Lookin Chain at New Slang gave us a night to remember.  In this month we also released a 7" from Kingston based The Momeraths on our New Slang Records label.   In July we shook hands on the renewal of the sponsorship of Kingstonian FC.  With JT riddled with swine flu, Sean Leery and Mike did the presentation on the pitch.
 

Albums of the month

One of the most memorable shows of the year was in August as The Get Up Kids played at The Peel as one of only 4 shows for the UK.  An amazing event with some long lasting memories.  We also welcomed back Frank Turner for a proper show (as opposed to another instore), introduced Fake Problems to Kingston and welcomed Man Like Me back to New Slang.  Some horrible person smashed our window overnight so it was a nice ironic touch that that week we finalised our lease renewal which sees us in the shop in Eden Street for the next three years.  At least...

Albums of the month

September saw the end of the summer lull in shows.  One of the best punk shows of the year came from Broadway Calls at a sold out Fighting Cocks, You Me At Six played for us TWICE in support of 'Kiss And Tell', Kid Harpoon, POS and Example all played instores for us, but we'll remember September for the bands who called it a day.  The Steal had their last show ever at The Peel at a show headlined by Paint It Black and that was a truly sad moment. A great way to go tho, but not for one poor kid who got knocked out in the first song of their set, and definitely not for the random K'd up locals who found their way to the venue! And then one week later Dartz! played their last ever show in our town which finished in a chaotic stage invasion at The Peel.  September saw the start of our new night DANCE at The Hippodrome on Saturdays.  With that venue re-opened we had a great time with our new night and we knew we were on to something good there.  September saw the release of our biggest album of the year.  After literally years of watching Frank Turner it was exciting to see this release get massive praise and to see him selling out shows the size of Shepherds Bush.  Nice one Frank.

Albums of the month

Some massive shows for us in October as we welcomed new students to town.  Caspa and Rusko filled Repeater on a Tuesday night, All Time Low filled McClusky's for us on a Saturday afternoon in promotion of their  'Nothing Personal' album but had to drop out of their planned DJ set at DANCE amidst curious hotel room shenanigans.  Other shows from The Holloways, Johnny Forienger, Slow Club and local guys Tubelord at New Slang were great nights and Tubelord's album is certainly a high-flyer in the Banquet Album Of The Year list.  In October it was also New Slang's third birthday.  Three years of blood, sweat and tears, plus great bands and big nights out with Youves bringing the house down, literally.  October saw us launch BanquetRecords.com v3.  After weeks of work, months of planning and thousands of pounds of, er, spending saw us launch what we think is the best record store website.  Period.
 

Albums of the month

18 shows for us in November!  Ou Est Le Swimming Pool played acoustic at the shop, to, er, not that many people but put on a great night at New Slang later on.  The Automatic, Ugly Duckling and Juliette Lewis all played for us, Kurran And The Wolfnotes massively impressed us and we're gonna keep a close eye on them in 2010, but November as far as shows go, was all about Babyshambles.  The postponed Peter Doherty show was honoured, he brought his band and the whole event was a real spectacle that we were happy to have been involved in.  For the record, all our dealings with Peter Doherty were great and he was a safe guy.
 

Albums of the month

In December we decided to call it a day for Repeater.  Falling attendances, and the fact that we'd put on most of the DJs we'd wanted to get to Kingston meant we had to.  Roni Size saw us out in style.  Repeater Sessions continued and 16Bit saw an intense mosh pit in room 2 of DANCE.  Madball played a sold out insane show at The Fighting Cocks and we had our last New Slang at McClusky's a couple of weeks earlier than expected as we moved back to our former home The Works, now renamed The Hippodrome.  Amidst some very strange goings on, we were massively encouraged to find that the indie/alt AND the wider music community is massively behind us. Thanks guys. December saw us launch our, what we intend to be, yearly advent calendar.  Free stuff every day including records, scarves, MP3s and cds. 

This year we've said goodbye to Adrian, Sean Haughton, Ska Steve and Lewis.  We wish them well.  In their place we've welcomed Tom Pennington, Mail Order Ollie, Matt Hesselworth, Luke Chandler, James Baldwin, Adam Sait, Harriet & Dasha, David Barrow and, of course, Harry!  Its a measure of how much this company and what we do has grown that at our staff xmas dinner there were more than 25 people there.  Some hadn't met each other before.  Thats pretty insane.  Massive thanks to Mike, Dave, Jane, Oscar, Milly, Aaron, Piers, Danny Salon, Sean Leery, Punk Steve, Del, Gary Ekins and Simon Murray for keeping the good ship Banquet a-sail...  But mostly, thanks to you lot.  Anyone who's bought a CD, bought a record or an MP3, come to one of our gigs, clubs or instores, helped flyer or just been involved in the Banquet and Kingston community.  We love doing what we do, but we can only do it with your help. 

Thanks a lot and here's to a good 2010.

jt