Robyn Banks

Robyn Banks

Robyn Banks and the Newcastle grassroots scene Robyn Banks is a Newcastle-based alternative and indie artist with a heavy lyrical focus, a sharp sense of humour and a live personality that refuses to...

September 10, 2026

Robyn Banks and the Newcastle grassroots scene

Robyn Banks is a Newcastle-based alternative and indie artist with a heavy lyrical focus, a sharp sense of humour and a live personality that refuses to disappear politely into the background. Her songs pull together guitar-led indie, pop instincts and more left-field influences, while the writing moves between politics, personal experience and deliberately tongue-in-cheek storytelling. It is a combination that makes the project feel characterful before you even get to the live show.

Banks has described her sound as a collision of early Katy Perry’s camp narratives, Fiona Apple’s poetry, Wilco-inspired guitar work and the swagger of Viagra Boys. That is a fairly chaotic list on paper, but it makes more sense in the music, where catchy ideas and heavier guitars sit alongside a vocal delivery designed to carry personality as much as melody.

Lyrics, attitude and Play Ball

One of the songs that has become central to Banks’ live set is Play Ball, an upbeat but emotionally charged guitar track built around satire and an argument with the kind of person who manages to turn privilege into a personality trait. That mixture of humour and frustration is important to the project. Banks is interested in making a point, but not in sanding away the messier, funnier parts of real conversations to do it.

Politics also runs through the wider material. Rather than separating those ideas from the rest of the performance, Banks treats them as part of the same world as relationships, awkwardness, ego and camp references. The result is alternative music that feels conversational rather than carefully posed. Even the stage banter is part of that identity, with questionable dancing and intentionally awkward moments sitting comfortably next to more serious songs.

Robyn Banks on the North East live circuit

Her official artist hub lists Newcastle as her base and shows a growing run of grassroots dates, including The Cumberland Arms, Head of Steam, The Grove and festival appearances at Twisterella and Euphony. In 2026, Banks opened Euphony Festival in Sunderland, marking her first show in the city and part of her first festival season as a solo artist.

SoundBite North East caught up with Banks ahead of that appearance, and the interview made clear how strongly she identifies with the region’s independent scene. She spoke about grassroots venues as places where communities form rather than simply rooms where bands pass through, and that outlook fits the way her own project is developing.

There is new music still to come, but the foundations are already clear: a Newcastle base, a recognisable voice, lyrics with something to say and a live set that values personality as much as polish. Robyn Banks feels like an artist who understands that being memorable matters, and she is building that identity through the North East’s grassroots circuit one show at a time.