The Banter Brothers

The duo founded by Max Coultan with Felix Nicholls known as The Banter Brothers mainly do covers of songs such as Wonderwall by Oasis or Let Her Go by Passenger, and usually consists of the both of them on guitars and Nicholls singing the lead part and Coultan providing backup vocals. Starting in music class in 2014, they originally had Morgan Ashton on drums, however he left. Coultan and Nicholls both attended the same music school outside of school, called Wild Hearts School of Music. There, Felix and Max performed regularly at the Christmas concert, and in their final year together at the school, they shifted into original work, namely, song 26 from the musical they wrote together Exam Block – The Musical titled There’s Nothing Quite Like a Test. Premiering at the Sunshine Coast Grammar School, There’s Nothing Quite Like a Test consisted of the two of them on guitars, and essentially talking about what it’s like to do tests at school. The school enjoyed it, so they brought it to the Christmas concert, and they also performed a song called The Wild Hearts Mints, which followed a similar format to their previous song. Nicholls mainly sorts out the music and Coultan writes the lyrics, and that’s mainly how they have been working for their debut album entitled Backstabbing Fruit.

The album proposed had 15 songs that were titled the following

1 – Intro
2 – Backstabbing Fruit
3 – She a freak (the soccer mum anthem)
4 – Celebrity with an opinion
5 – Nice Guys
6 - There's nothing quite like a test (from the Exam Block – The Musical Soundtrack)
7 – Generic Pop Song
8 – Nambour Connection Road (the Sunshine Coast Song)
9 – I can do what I want (because I’m 12)
10 – Fairy Bread
11 – I wanna make you my ex
12 – Love, or something like that
13 – I'm offended (the Millennials song)
14 – How basic can you be?
15 – Bad Boys

Most of the songs had an element of social commentary and most contained non-family friendly material. The name Backstabbing Fruit was chosen because Mr Coultan believed everyone has the right to be confused. The album has a suspected 2018 release on it, with 2 music videos proposed, one for the song Backstabbing Fruit and Generic Pop Song, all directed by Coultan.

The two have performed at several open mic nights and plan to continue in the near future, as well as at their school. Their performances try to capture the audience’s attention by essentially talking to the audience. Their most recent performance was of the Axis of Awesome's compilation song 'The 4 Chords Song' where they added their own songs in, including both the USA's and New Zealand's national anthem. The performance received positive reviews all round.

Nicholls and Coultan have also made attempts at influencing their peers through music. In 2017, a part of the celebrations of the year 12 formal night, the students always host an after party afterwards. However, with one week until the formal and no after party planned, Nicholls directed and filmed a small song written and performed by Max Coultan on piano. It was half a teaser for their upcoming performance, and half a kick up the bum to get a party organised. It worked, the day after the video was posted, a party was sorted out.

Recently, the duo have planned a 2 hours comedy special to be performed on the Sunshine Coast which is currently called 'Out of Context'. The show is planned to be a variety show with music, games and stand up. The show is in early stages of planning, however it is expected to be done by the start of 2018.

Their signatures include some type of prop to put on their head like a hat or sunglasses, and banter either in a song or before/after.