Ben Kweller
Words: MacKenzie Pause
Photos: Rey Lego

Appearing:
August 8, 2007
The Social, Orlando

August 9, 2007
Jack Rabbits, Jacksonville

August 10, 2007
Crowbar, Ybor City

August 11, 2007
Culture Room, Ft. Lauderdale

Flash flooding in Texas recently affected many in the Lone Star State, even singer/songwriter Ben Kweller. Our interview began with Kweller wading through water, hoping he and his family would not have to evacuate his parent’s Texas lake house.

“It’s been raining for weeks down here, like abnormal, global warming style rain,” Kweller began. “It’s flooding people’s homes and luckily our house is up on this hill, but the water is over our dock. I’m out standing at the end of the dock right now, like walking in five feet of water. No, no, not five feet. I’m not even that, well, (laughs) I’m a little taller than that.”

In the 90s, Kweller’s career started off like a flash flood. At 15, his band Radish signed to Mercury Records and the whirlwind of the music industry took over. He toured the world, met music legends like Brian Wilson and experienced major label pressures to be a marketing package. By the time Radish came up for a breath, their success did not meet expectations and they were subsequently dropped.

As the water subsided, Kweller dove head first into a solo career with a move from Texas to the skyscraper landscape of New York. At this time, he became a regular fixture in NYC, opening for various artists from Jeff Tweedy to Juliana Hatfield. The brand of guitar and piano music he created blended the pop sensibilities of The Beatles, the folk of Bob Dylan and Neil Young, the indie rock of Pavement and the punk anti-folk of the Violent Femmes.

After Evan Dando got a hold of the self-released Freak Out, It’s Ben Kweller, he had Kweller join him on the road. This chain of events led to Kweller signing with Dave Matthew’s label, ATO Records. Their focus on originality and integrity allowed Kweller to jump on board, releasing Sha Sha (2002), On My Way (2004) and Ben Kweller (2006), as well as two self produced releases planned for 2008.

“I’m actually going to start recording my next album in September,” Kweller said. “And then another album just after. I want to record two albums really close together, but it’s important to me, when I put out a record, that people can really savor it as opposed to putting out records as frequently as possible.”

Kweller doesn’t hesitate to pay tribute to artists that helped him paddle along the way. He collaborated with America for Here & Now, and recorded a version of The Beatles’ “Wait” for This Bird Has Flown – A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles’ Rubber Soul. Most recently, Kweller contributed a cover of Smashing Pumpkins “Today” for a tribute album. “Today” was his first choice because his first band used to cover it.

“That opening riff was really recognizable,” Kweller said. “If you don’t play anything, you know how to play that one riff. It’s sort of like if you were a drummer in the 60s, you had to know how to play ‘Wipeout.’”

Kweller’s collaborations also led him to The Bens. Ben Lee, Ben Kweller and Ben Folds collaborated for a tour and self titled EP. Many fans have waited to hear more from the super group of Bens.           

Kweller said, “Ben Lee emailed me and Ben Folds a few days ago and said ‘Hey, I was just thinking we should get together and write some songs.’  So we might try to revisit that sooner than later.”

These waves along the way have only made it easier for Kweller to mature as a songwriter. He’s kept an optimistic theme throughout the years and made it clear musically and lyrically that he’s aged like a fine wine. With experience comes wisdom and growth.

He and his wife, Liz, added another crew member last year with the birth of their son, Dorian. Although we might expect to hear some songs about parenthood in the future, Kweller thinks it may be a little early for serious lyrics.

“The direct reaction I would feel like I have artistically being a father is that I’ve been writing all these children’s songs for him,” Kweller began. “Just like really cute (breaks into song) ‘We are on the bouncy ball, we are on the bouncy ball.’ Just shit like that. A lot of these country songs that I’ve been writing are less autobiographical. Some of them obviously will make you say, ‘wow, that is definitely something that is going on in his life,’ but then there’s other songs that are just for the sake of writing a well crafted song. Like not everything has to be about me and what I’m going through. Sometimes it’s fun to just make up a story and be a fiction writer.”

The birth of Kweller’s son has also made touring a new experience. The family tries to tour together as often as possible.

“It adds a different element,” Kweller stated. “It’s really cool and I got to say Chris Morrissey (bass) and Mark Stepro (drums) are full time members of this organization and they’re just like brothers to me and uncles to Dorian. It makes me so proud when we are on the road to see them playing with the boy. Mark gives him drum sticks backstage and they play on the practice pad together.”

Like father, like son, Dorian loves The Beatles. Kweller shares his love of music with him, just like his father did for him by teaching him to play drums at the age of seven, specifically Beatles songs.

“When Dorian was first born, we played Rubber Soul for him all the time to go to sleep, and we got so sick of that. It was the only thing he would listen to for sleep. So then we switched to “One,” the big greatest hits thing that came out a few years ago, and so he loved that forever. Now he’s on to Bob Marley, which is cool. He gets hooked on these certain albums that he can only go to sleep with. It’s really funny.”

Despite some rough waters early in the voyage, the wind is at his back with smooth sailing ahead. With the tides steadily rising and placid waters before him, Kweller may just be able to find the time to drop anchor and catch a few bass, one of his favorite hobbies.
 
www.benkweller.com
www.myspace.com/benkweller