Banter was Dan Sheehan’s first professionally gigging band, performing primarily in the Northeast United States. Banter’s origins begin in 1995 when Dan moved to Boston to join the thriving local music scene and formed the band Rogues Gallery with fellow guitarist Lance Vallis and drummer Joe Smith. Rogues Gallery performed throughout 1996 at clubs in the Boston/Cambridge/Somerville area as well as in the Northeast MA beach town of Salisbury Beach for some Summer shows before releasing their EP, Side One, under the new band name of Banter later that year. Side One brought the group airplay on local college radio and ongoing press coverage from local fanzines The Noise and Metronome.
In the late ’90s Banter continued to perform throughout venues in Boston and Massachusetts, as well as in New York and Providence, RI. Their 1997 single “Springtime in February” b/w “Go Outside” (which would eventually be re-recorded for Dan’s album The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy) was named “song of the month” in The Noise magazine and subsequently placed in the Top 20 songs of the year. The review named “Springtime in February,” written about the flavorful characters found in Cambridge’s Central Square where Dan lived at the time, “the theme song of Central Square, de facto capital of the Boston music scene,” as well as calling it “one of the finer songs to come our way in quite a spell.” Both “Springtime” and “Go Outside” were used on New England Cable News’ Mike Adams Sports World.
The band’s next releases were two songs included on the Best of Boston Mondrian compilation released by Digital Bear Enterainment. “Lowered” and “Farewell” would both be re-recorded for Banter’s debut album, Urban Pastures, but the Mondrian version of “Farewell” earned Banter its second “song of the month” honors in The Noise in 1999, placing at number 6 for the year.
From 1999 to 2001, Dan attended Emerson College in Boston to study music production, causing the band to perform more sporadically and delaying release of their first full-length album, Urban Pastures, which finally came out in the Spring of 2002. Pastures received airplay on commercial and college radio throughout Massachusetts, and by the end of the year Dan moved to New York and the group began performing more in New York City and New Jersey, returning to Boston for two “farewell” shows in 2004. These would be the last performances of the band for five years, as Dan began focusing on his new project, The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy. In 2009, drummer Joe Smith and late era Banter bassist Elizabeth Walsh performed as Dan Sheehan & the Banter All-Stars (in acknowledgement of all members’ ex-Banter status) in promotion of the first Dan Sheehan Conspiracy album at the Red Gorilla Music festival in Austin, TX, playing both Banter and Dan Sheehan Conspiracy songs, and in 2010 the “classic” Banter lineup featuring Sheehan, Smith, Doogie Mac and Jeff G, who all first played together in 1997, played one final show at TT the Bear’s in Cambridge, MA, where the band had frequently played in their early days. This show also marked the long-awaited return of original Rogues Gallery/Banter guitarist Lance Vallis joining the band onstage for “Claireville Countryside.” Another partial reunion occurred again in Austin in 2011, when Joe Smith joined The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy for a set of DSC and Banter tunes at the Heart of Texas Rockfest. To date this is the last time Sheehan has performed with any members of Banter, although Joe Smith, Jeff G and Doogie Mac continue to perform in Massachusetts with the cover band MacSmitty.
Many songs performed by Banter ended up on Dan Sheehan Conspiracy albums. These include Eleventh Hour, I’ll Come Along, Go Outside, Melting Snowman, and Have a Nice Summer from the original Boston era, and If I Had the Time, Comatose and See Kay from the New York era of the band.
Some bands from the Boston area that Banter shared the stage with include Boy Wonder, Jump Rope, Woody, Glutton, the Ape Hangers, Star Ghost Dog, January, House of Gusto, Tidal Wave, Sona Nyl, The Pills, Pistola, the Confessors and many, many more… not to mention the NY and NJ bands and various touring bands coming through those towns. Venues played by the band include New York clubs CBGB, Brownie’s, the Continental, Le Bar Bat, the Elbow Room, Boston area venues The Middle East, TT the Bear’s, O’Brien’s, the Linwood, Sky Bar, The Living Room in Providence, Touche and Blue Moon in Austin, and various others.