Banshee Tree Treating Treefort Music Hall to Another Glorious Gig Tonight in Boise
Hot off the recent release of their latest album, Bad Luck, Banshee Tree are returning to Boise this evening to showcase their new material and reconnect with the many friends they’ve made here. Based in Denver, the band is starting to tour in support of Bad Luck with six shows – including one at Treefort Music Hall in Boise.
We touched base with saxophone and keyboard player Jesse Shantor yesterday to get the skinny on what Banshee Tree have in store for their show, to try to understand his ability to play those two instruments simultaneously – and much more.
Here’s how our conversation went:
Hey, Jesse. Nice speaking with you today. Will this be Banshee Tree’s second time playing Boise, the first being a gig you performed at Neurolux about a year and a half ago?
I believe they’ve played other spots as well. I’ve only been with the band for two years, and they’ve been touring for about seven, maybe eight.
What was it like when you joined Banshee Tree and what’s it like being in the band now?
I first joined because they needed a saxophone player, and that’s what I’ve been doing for 24 years. Thom [LaFond, Banshee Tree’s guitarist, lead vocalist, producer and founding member) asked me if I could play both sax and keyboards. I said, “Well, I don’t play keyboards.” He said, “Eh, it’ll be fine.” I didn’t think much of it at the time. But then he called me during the first week of April 2024, and I got on a flight to meet up with him to practice playing and see if it’d work [for each of us].
I wasn’t nervous at first – I consider myself a strong sax soloist – but it was nerve-racking to teach myself how to play keyboards. Now, I can play both at the same time, which helps cover the bases when we play songs from our records in concert.
Wait, you’re able to play both instruments simultaneously? With those instruments in particular, even Bob Dylan has nothing on you. How is what you’re doing even logistically possible?
I play the synth with my right hand, so I hold down chords with my right hand; and then I play the line or as much of the truncated saxophone line with my left hand.
Dude, you’re killing me here.
Haha. I’m so exhausted after shows. On this tour, we’re doing two songs from [Bad Luck] that we haven’t really performed yet. Now that the album’s out, we’re like, “Alright, we gotta get this down.” So we’ve been practicing the hell out of those. One of them, which is the title track, requires me to jump between both keyboards and sax.
Why did you guys decide to play this stretch of six shows in the cities you selected? Are they places where you feel most comfortable?
We’ve developed a good fan base in the Mountain West and the Pacific Northwest and into Northern California. So we wanted to showcase the new material there as soon as we could, for the super-fans who live in those places. We’ve got a great crew in Boise, a bunch of friends in McCall and Stanley … and the whole Sawtooth community [treats us like family].
What aspect(s) of Bad Luck are you most pleased with?
Michelle [Pietrafitta], our drummer, came from more of a funk, jam, rock, blues [background], so [our] sound kind of evolved from swing dancers drinking a lot of water to a lot of freaky people with glow sticks that were really really psyched about the more psychedelic elements.
As for the concert dates, this is essentially the first tour where we’re really highlighting what we’ve figured out how to make. There’s kind of a call-and-response thing happening between the two instruments I play. But now I’m just playing saxophone and can focus on it a bit more, rather than having to jump around as much as I do on the other tracks. It’s giving me a bit of a breather at our shows. I’m particularly psyched for the Boise show.
For more on Banshee Tree, visit their website.
Tickets for tonight’s concert featuring headliners MarchFourth and Banshee Tree cost about $33 apiece and are available for purchase here. Doors are at 7 p.m., with the show starting an hour later.
The Bad Penny (beta) 
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