Asha Banks on carving her own world in music and film

Asha Banks is finding her stride. It’s 9am when the sprightly musician and actress pops up on screen in a red and white raglan shirt. Hectic schedules are nothing new for her: she recounts a vivid anecdote from back in summer when she was filming midnight shoots for her lead role in Amazon’s hit romance Your Fault: London, and then rehearsing the next morning for her debut festival performance at London’s iconic BST Hyde Park. “We were filming at midnight for the last scene of the movie, where I’m sobbing kerbside with Matthew, who plays Nick. I was crying so hard that my eyes literally blew up – it looked like I’d been stung by a wasp!” she recalls, laughing. “I wrapped around 4am. The next day, I had to wake up at 10am to do all-day rehearsals for BST and then film that night and shoot again. It was my first festival – it was nuts. I had to wear sunglasses for the whole of BST.” 

Banks’ mornings aren’t always so hectic. Often, she likes to pad around the house, have a cup of tea and, controversially, have a bite of Marmite on toast – she’s a self-proclaimed “miter” – and prep for the day. Living at home in St Albans, there’s a lot to help Banks find her “grounding points” – family routines and her dog, Violet (“a little Jack Russell Chihuahua. She’s a little adorable rat-looking thing”). 

Lately, Banks has been pulling together Pinterest boards, envisioning the roll-out of ‘Anything But’, which will have been released by the time you read this. A soft-pop track with moody, emotive lyrics, it is reminiscent of early eras of Gracie Abrams and Griff. 

Acknowledging the two different creative worlds she inhabits, Banks says, “I had the second My Fault movie come out a couple of months ago, so I was doing lots of press for that,” she says. “Now, I’m in the music-releasing world. I’ve got a new single coming out in a couple of weeks, and then a project in October, so I’m very much finishing tracks and writing new stuff. I’ve got my Asha hat on for the moment.”  

When we speak, it’s not been long since the release of last summer’s single ‘Biggest Fan’, a track she beams about. “It feels like a continuation and expansion of sonics that I’ve pulled from before, but in a new way. I remember writing it, thinking, ‘I cannot wait to play this one live!’ It screamed at me: ‘Festivals, festivals!’” she says. It’s a song made for fans hurling the lamenting live lyrics back at you, right down to its stinging lyrics: “You’re digging a hole, but you get away with it/You know what to do, I’m a sucker for you.”  

Banks is building her ambition, something aside from adding her name to BBC TV credits (the second series of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder came out earlier this year) or theatre productions. The 22-year-old started out at a young age on stage, snagging reputable roles in Les Mis, rock musical Spring Awakening and Annie. With a childhood steeped in music, she quickly fell in love with acting, something she had “a burning desire” to pursue. 

But music remained a simultaneous passion. At 14, Banks ended up working in a production with prolific producer Guy Chambers, co-writer of The Boy in the Dress, who adapted the book as a musical with Robbie Williams. “I watched Guy Chambers in the workshop room rewriting some of the music with the musical director at the piano,” she says. “I remember watching that process and going home writing a song because I’ve just been with Guy Chambers, and that really kickstarted me writing more and learning instruments. I was writing lots and finding my music taste a bit more.”  

Banks’ methods and motivations, today, remain relatively unchanged – to capture the stage audience. “I needed to perform and to audition all the time and to be around other people that love doing it,” she recalls fondly. She used to find her catharsis in character roles, following the creative directions of a director and team, but now she’s eager to create her own mythic beginnings. 

With her open-nerve, diaristic new music, she’s taking lessons from Bon Iver, a favourite musician of hers, leading with soulful song arrangements and lyrical flow. “It’s lovely to be able to talk unashamedly about music and not be embarrassed because I’m not technical at all. I don’t have any technical music knowledge or training,” she says. “I grew up doing musical theatre and being in musical spaces, but never anything technical.” 

She’s also focusing on how music makes her feel. “I’ve been figuring out the sounds that I like and things that make me feel like I was being hit in the chest and make me want to cry. I’m still sort of there, but in a more of an expanded way,” she says. She’s currently tuned into the new Phoebe Bridgers album, as well as Saya Gray’s new self-titled record, both albums she holds in high esteem.  

“I’m always searching for that quietly visceral reaction and that Phoebe Bridgers-esque gut punch,” she laughs. The unfurling of her deep-cut songwriting process is a sensory tangle of curated playlists and Pinterest boards, where she niftily pulls together visuals like mosaic patterns, curiously trying to find the harmony. It’s a considered, zoomed-out perspective for the musician. Visuals, she credits, fall in line with her early acting career.  

In many ways, Banks’ on-screen profession made the life of an emerging artist that bit easier. “Most of the time, it does not go your way, and that is really hard. As a kid, you bounce back. Rejection as an adult probably is almost harder because as a kid, you’re so invested in something, and then it doesn’t go your way, and you’re so devastated,” she admits. “It probably bettered me as a creative and as an actor. I think that resilience has made me who I am. If I do a show and it doesn’t go well or something goes wrong, I’m able to think that there’ll be another show and I’ll bounce back.” 

Other names that have continued to resonate with her include Holly Humberstone, whom Banks has also worked with. “I remember finding Holly Humberstone; she was an important part of my musical journey. She’s a similar age to me and makes this music that I feel so connected to and it doesn’t feel a million miles away from the stuff that I’m sitting writing in my bedroom,” she says. “She was definitely an inspiration and a moment where I thought, ‘Maybe I could actually do this’ and release music and give it 100 per cent.” 

Apart from Humberstone, other modern-day indie pop stars, such as Conan Gray and Girl In Red, have a knack for making unique, ever-relatable songs. Through Banks’ upcoming EP, she finds a way to express those niggling feelings we don’t always know how to speak about. “This project is more frustrated than anything I’ve ever written before, and there’s more anger in it. I’m such a non-confrontational person, but this EP being called Bottled Up says it all,” she laughs.  

“It’s all my inner emotions that I usually wouldn’t express all in this musical form, which is how I kind of get by and express my emotions. It feels more energised, more blunt and honest. I can’t wait to play live. I think that’s one of the massive things about it. I’m writing so much.”  

It’s been almost two years since Banks’ fresh debut single ‘So Green’ first came out, and the singer feels the new EP is a concise “continuation” of what she first started doing. “We’re on the same journey, and I think that as long as I keep being honest, then each project is a moment in time that is a reflection of that,” she says. 

She’s looking forward to touring the US this autumn, which is “so exciting, and I’ll be able to play these songs. The [EP] comes out just as I’m starting the tour, so the introduction to this project is playing them live, which I’m so excited about and haven’t really done.” 

As for what’s next, well, she has a few small ambitions. “I don’t know if next is too ambitious, but definitely Glastonbury 2027!” she immediately offers up. “Get me there, whether I’m performing or whether I’m just going, I’d love to be there. I’m manifesting, so I need to be precise.”  

Taking a second to muse, she mulls over her latter suggestions, before adding, “Let’s say Bon Iver. I would just love to work with Bon Iver in any way, whether I’m just singing on something with him, or whether I just even say hello. I think Bon Iver 2027. I also really want to play [Colorado’s] Red Rocks [music venue].” 

With all of the success Banks has had so far, there’s every chance that her time spent manifesting will pay off and then some.