Biography:

BANTER is a rock band from Boston, Massachusetts which originally performed throughout the Northeast United States in the late 1990s and 2000s, releasing the EP Side One in 1996 and the album Urban Pastures in 2002 amid releases of various singles. The core recording duo of Dan Sheehan (guitar, bass, vocals) and Joe Smith (drums, vocals) was supplemented live and on record by various guitarists and bassists including Jeff G, Doogie Mac, Lance Vallis, Andrew Warden and Jeff Nealon. Sheehan currently performs with his projects Tales from Earth Incorporated and the Dan Sheehan Conspiracy, while Joe Smith and Doogie Mac perform in the cover band Thom MacSmitty.

After gaining attention in the Boston music press and college radio based on shows throughout the region and the release of the Side One EP, Banter's 1997 single “Springtime in February” was named “song of the month” in the December 1997 “Audiodoodah” column in Boston fanzine The Noise, and subsequently placed in the column’s Top 20 songs of the year. The review named “Springtime in February,” written about the flavorful characters found in Cambridge’s Central Square where Sheehan 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 its B-side “Go Outside” were featured on New England Cable News.

The band’s next releases were two songs included on a compilation of Boston bands which served as the first release by Digital Bear Entertainment. “Lowered” and “Farewell” would both be re-recorded for Banter’s debut album, Urban Pastures, but the DBE version of “Farewell,” written and sung by both Sheehan and Smith, 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, Sheehan attended Emerson College to study music production, delaying release of the full-length album, Urban Pastures, until the Spring of 2002. Pastures received airplay on Boston area FM stations WBCN, WAAF, WXRV and WERS. The band continued performing until a “final” show in 2004 as Sheehan focused on his new project The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy and Smith pursued a career writing children's books. In 2009, Sheehan and Smith reunited on stage at the Red Gorilla Music festival in Austin, TX with bassist Elizabeth Walsh as Dan Sheehan & the Banter All-Stars in promotion of the first Dan Sheehan Conspiracy album, playing both Banter and Dan Sheehan Conspiracy songs. In 2010 the “classic” Banter lineup featuring Sheehan, Smith, Doogie Mac and Jeff G reunited onstage at TT the Bear’s in Cambridge, MA, where the band had frequently played in their early days. This show also marked the return of guitarist Lance Vallis joining the band onstage for the Side One era favorite, “Claireville Countryside.” Another reunion of Sheehan and Smith occurred in Austin in 2011, with Smith joining The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy for a set of DSC and Banter tunes at the Heart of Texas Rockfest.

Although the band has not performed in any form since 2011, rumors abound of another reunion of the Sheehan/Smith/Doogie Mac/Jeff G "classic" live lineup.

Venues, past and present played by Banter over the years:

- Mama Kin, the Causeway, the Linwood, O'Brien's, the Midway Cafe, the Green Dragon - Boston, MA
- T.T. the Bear's, The Middle East, the Kendall Cafe - Cambridge, MA
- The Sky Bar, Club 3, Good Times Emporium - Somerville, MA
- Sledew's - Lowell, MA
- O'Shaffee's - Salisbury, MA
- CBGB, Brownie's, the Continental, the Elbow Room, Le Bar Bat - New York, NY
- The Living Room - Providence, RI
- The Court Tavern - New Brunswick, NJ
- Uncle Joe's - Jersey City, NJ
- Touche, Blue Moon - Austin, TX