Revelry in the great hall, Banquet Rock forever.
It’s 5am in Nashville, the birds are just starting to sing, which makes it 11am in Brighton. Max and Spencer are firing up another Zoom session to write some songs. With no particular plan in mind, this is how ‘Banquet Rock’ began.
“We’ve played music together for a few years but hadn’t managed to write, until now”, Max explains. “It was Winter, we were texting about Steeleye Span (as usual) & started watching the 1974 BBC “Electric Folk” banquet concert.”
With a shared love for Clannad’s ‘Robin of Sherwood’ OST & children’s TV adventure shows from the early 1990s (Knightmare, Incredible Games), Max & Spencer continued to collect new songs and work towards recording an album.
In the words of Spencer Cullum:
“It's always amused us that a few melodies on our records seem to have wandered in from the soundtracks of the programs we grew up watching”.
At this time they invited Erin Rae to add her take to the project:
“The demos Max & Spencer produced for the songs were so well put together that it was just a lot of fun for all of us to realize them at Chale, in the room together. It was magical to be there in January, and I feel honored that I got to be part of the project with these amazing musicians & artists, who are also great friends.”
The trio then recruited Dom Billett, Rich Ruth & Harry Bohay to celebrate all things ‘Banquet’, and to record the new album at Chale Abbey on The Isle of Wight in the winter of 2026.
With no clock on the wall, and graced by the ghosts of all those who’ve drifted across its floors, Chale Studio was the perfect place for the group’s vision to be realised. Indeed, the album’s closing song sings beautifully to that vision, with ‘Red Paper Chains’ feeling indicative of the album’s inherent shared voice. A song that Max has held close, and privately, for more than a decade, it came together as one, the whole collective singing side-by-side in the great hall, conjuring magic from the dark corners.
