Song Premiere: Mike Bankhead (feat. Tino), "Anecdote"

Dayton, Ohio-based songrwriter Mike Bankhead is a bassist, singer, and a songwriter, which as a combination, offers unique perspective. The bass is typically a supportive instrument, which could limit his approach if he relied solely on it for composition. Instead, Bankhead has branched out and studied music theory, and he has taken piano lessons. This enriched vantage point has opened many possibilities. His songs feature unique chord sequences, non-stock chord voicings, well-developed melodies, and a powerful sense of dynamics. This sophistication is tucked away in hook-laden pop-rock with a dash of artiness. Bankhead’s music is mostly guitar heavy, but he does employ piano for stately indie-rock balladry.

To date, Bankhead has released a handful of singles, his debut album in 2017 and a split album in 2019. Bankhead’s music captures the exhilarating era of the 1990s when big hooks, sharp-witted lyrics, and inventive musicianship ruled the airwaves, and left of the dial were genius indie songsmiths a little too clever for prime time, but just as catchy as their mainstream counterparts.

Today, Ghettoblaster has the pleasure of premiering his forthcoming single, “Anecdote,” which offers a bang up collaboration with Ohio-based hip hop troubadour, Tino. The track offers a look at their personal experiences as black men living in America. Although the song wasn’t written in response to current events, their first person experiences are as poignant and timely today as ever.

Bankhead says about the song, “It might seem like this song is about current events, but that’s not the case. This is about a specific experience of mine from a few years ago – an experience that I suppose I should be grateful to have survived – and the recording of this song was done in 2019. I heard TINO talk about something similar on a podcast, and having seen him perform with Sidekick Complex and MOIRA, really wanted to collaborate with an artist as talented as he is.”

“If you remove recent events from the equation this song is just as relevant when we recorded it last year, or in 2013 when I wrote the initial verse before reworking it for Mike, or 2004 during the police stop that inspired the verse,” Tino added. “What’s happening now is very important because the world is paying attention to our narrative. A narrative which has remained pretty much unchanged for some time.”