This Saturday, Banx & Ranx performs at ÎleSoniq after four years without a show. During this period, the two Montrealers worked with Cirque du Soleil, Dua Lipa, Sean Paul and La Zarra. They also founded their own label, 31 East, with Universal Music Canada. In short, they have not been idle. We met them on Zoom.
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It’s success Answerphone, with singer Ella Eyre and rapper Yxng Bane, who changed everything for Banx & Ranx. In 2018, the two songwriters merge afrobeat, EDM and pop. The track reached number five on the UK Singles Chart a few weeks later.
At that time, Banx & Ranx had already produced Mad Love, for Sean Paul, David Guetta and Becky G, which today has more than 350 million plays on Spotify. The same year, the duo signed the song Kiss and Make Up by Dua Lipa and South Korean group BLACKPINK. However, it is Answerphone that captures the attention of artists and other composers.
“Even to this day, it’s a relatively unique track,” Banx & Ranx member KNY Factory thinks. When we had just done it, we said it was afrobeat, but looking back nowit’s not exactly afrobeat…”
Banx & Ranx is therefore able to create sounds that stand out. The duo also knows how to surround themselves well. “We often delegate, admits KNY Factory. We don’t always necessarily have the musical languages, but we manage to express ourselves enough to tell the musicians what we want to hear. »
There has been a lot of trial and error over the past few years. We continued and it gave something in the end!
KNY Factory
Now they even help propel artists. Originally from Longueuil, La Zarra enjoyed great success in France with the song you will go away produced by Banx & Ranx. The Montreal singer Rêve, on the other hand, is on the radio and accumulates millions of plays online. Last February, his song CTRL+ALT+DEL, produced by the duo, achieved gold certification in Canada. A rarity for an English speaker here.
“Instead of chasing big stars like we’ve been doing for years, we’re like, ‘Why not develop our own artists?’ asks KNY Factory. Whether they fart or not [explosent en popularité], we are happy because we really enjoy seeing these artists grow up. It almost becomes family. »
The beginning of everything
“If we could send hits to Martians, we would,” Yannick Rastogi, aka KNY Factory, jokes when highlighting Banx & Ranx’s successes around the world.
For about 10 years, Zacharie Raymond, alias Soké, the other member of Banx & Ranx, and he have contributed to creating works in practically all the languages that work in music: English, French, Spanish and Korean.
“We can add Jamaican patois and Nigerian pidgin too,” says Soké. A former Quebec rapper, the latter collaborated with Samian and Koriass long before the creation of the duo in 2014.
Banx & Ranx form to revisit reggae-dancehall classics on SoundCloud, where KNY Factory and Soké met. The duo quickly stands out on the platform by mixing electro and Caribbean music.
About 50,000 subscribers later, the musicians find a manager by chance on the internet and place a sound with the English star Taio Cruz. kiss meas it is titled, was released in 2015. It was the start of everything for Banx & Ranx.
That’s what allowed us to travel to London for a while. We were there every six weeks. We were there all the time, actually.
Soke
They come out with a first record contract. The Parlophone team, associated with Warner Music, came to meet them in Montreal for the signing. “We partied with them for 48 hours,” they say. It was amazing! KNY Factory reassures us: they took the time to sleep during this celebration.
It reminds them of good memories today, even if the Parlophone era is behind them.
Banx & Ranx will be at ÎleSoniq on Saturday, August 6 at 3 p.m. on the Oasis Bell stage. For the occasion, KNY Factory and Soké will be accompanied by rapper Karma and a few surprise guests.