Benyaro Stack Session

by Benyaro

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1.
01:17
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03:04
3.
00:39
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03:33
5.
15:03
lyrics
6.
06:19

about

Video of the session is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfy9Ve-Gzjg
Our interview with Benyaro is transcribed here: kwur.bandcamp.com/track/interview-8

credits

released 25 June 2009
Recorded live at KWUR on 6-25-2009
Performed by Benyaro
Recorded by Kenny Hofmeister

tags

tags: benyaro kwur rock stack sessions experimental garage indie local St Louis

license

all rights reserved

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discography

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Track Name: Interview
KWUR: Nice to meet both of you. So you’re on tour, and tonight you happen to be playing with the Avett Brothers, but this is kind of a one-off deal. You must be excited, though?

Ben Musser: We are thrilled, we’re very excited. I came across the Avett Brothers in 2004 in a stack of CDs that I was sent when I was working for this guy named Malcolm Holcombe, who’s an artist out of North Carolina. Anyway, got a stack of CDs from this group out of Nashville, some marketers, and Minionette, one of the Avett Brothers’ CDs, was in that stack. And I put it in, and I’d never heard of them – I don’t think most people had – and my first instinct was fear, because it was like, “Oh my gosh, someone else is doing with acoustic music what I would like to do with it, and that is making passionate acoustic music.” But then, that quickly subsided and I wanted to play the drums – I’m a drummer – and I wanted to play brushes, with them. Yeah, so, I love what they do. I’ve been a fan for awhile, so we’re psyched we nabbed this gig.

K: You say you’re a drummer, though, how did you get started – the drums don’t come through as much on the album, you know – how did you move away from the drums, toward the acoustic guitar?

Ben: I guess I started playing the acoustic guitar when I was 12 or 13. I still pretty much considered myself a drummer up until I went to college, and then I did some classical guitar. I actually did a major, a second major, in classical guitar stuff, so that’s when I kind of stepped up that. And then, honestly, I moved to New York and I still tried to be a drummer, first and foremost, but having a drum kit in New York City is near impossible unless you’re going to pay to have a studio space or if you pay to play on someone else’s kit. So, I was in my apartment with my guitar, and that’s kind of how that focus changed, and I also kind of went from being the drummer from this band in Austin, Texas, to deciding to do this Benyaro thing, and deciding to be the lead vocalist and guitarist. And I met this guy [gestures to bassist Bobby McCullough].

K: You didn’t play the bass on the album, correct?

Bobby McCullough: No, I didn’t. I actually had the pleasure of owning this album for maybe a year and a half before I ever thought I’d be playing bass with Ben.

K: Interesting. So how did you guys get hooked up together?

Bobby: I saw him perform. I was playing with a band, we met in Charlotte, NC, a place that neither of us lived, we were both out on the road. He played a solo set and I loved it. I got a CD and we stayed in touch. I had just moved to New York so I was trying to meet new people, and the time came [when] he was looking for a bass player and I definitely was up for it.

K: Did you start out with classical bass?

Bobby: I started out classicaly, right, as a kid, on bass. But it wasn’t but two years later that I got an electric bass and started playing Green Day and Op Ivy and stuff like that.

K: Nice. Let’s talk about album for a second – did you choose to self release?

Ben: Yes, I did. I really didn’t think I had much of a choice, but I wanted to make the album that I wanted to make. I talked to a lot of people – some producers, I guess – and nobody really seemed to be on my wavelength, as far as the sound goes. Like you said, there’s not a lot of drums on the album. That’s a really key thing for me, right now – the use of cymbals. There’s not a single cymbal sound on that album, because I’m in a period right now where cymbals are not very good for me. I usually say stronger words, but, I’m gonna try to, you know…

K: Censor them for the radio?

Ben: I hate them, no, I hate them. I think it makes everything sound the same. So, what is on the album, it’s like brushes, and kick, and clapping and snapping and shakers, and stuff like that. Other people say things like, “Oh yeah, put some electric guitar… and blah blah,” and people didn’t get it. I felt alone in my vision for the sound early on. And I just wanted to try my hand at producing it, and so that’s pretty much how it went. Now, for the next album, I’m going to do it again – I’m going to produce it – but I am giong to go to some labels to at least hear what they have to say, this time. Hopefully some independent, small ones will be interested – hopefully some will have the right mindset to work with us, and to share and not to try to push us in any direction.

K: Leave you go.

Ben: Yeah, and I think we’ve proven with our first album that we have a sound that college radio is digging, and we’ve had an uphill battle, as self-released artists do, but we still are making some waves. [motions to Bobby] – I’m psyched for him to be on the next album.

K: You are going to perform on the next album?

Ben: Yeah, oh yeah, he’s the bass player.

K: Are you going to change the name of the band, then?

Ben: No.

K: Because the band’s name is Benyaro, which is the combination of two names, correct?

Ben: It is, it is, but no, we’re not going to. We’re just going to keep it the same.

K: That’s cool. I’m curious, also, you spoke about your sound there for a minute, and I’ve read some interviews with you guys, some of the stuff you posted up on your blog, and it says that people are surprised that this could come out of Brooklyn. Because this is very different – I’m sure you’ve spoken about this before. I’m curious how you think that atmosphere has shaped, or not shaped, your sound – reacting to it in some way.

Ben: That’s a great question. I guess that was the New York Press article?

K: Yes.

Ben: Cool, yeah, we just did that. Part of the reason – I mean, okay, it has shaped our sound, in that, it just has to be special in New York. I don’t think it’s made me make any decisions as far as instrumentation or anything like that, but it’s like an attitude. And a lot of acoustic music attitude is a soft attitude, or it’s not a gritty, tough attitude, and that’s why I think the Avett Brothers… like, I wouldn’t mess with those guys. They get up on stage and I feel like they could sing a hole through me. It’s just like, it’s about their attitude – about just being proud, confident, strong acoustic musicians. I didn’t get that – I lived in Austin for two years, and… I don’t want to rag on anyone or anything, but there’s not a lot of… it’s a laid back attitude, which is cool. It’s like “oh, we’re going to play some music and stuff,” and I wanted city grit to meet the folky soul, because I want it to be a soul thing. So maybe it comes in there, and there’s more soul up in New York. I haven’t thought about it but I’ll think about it some more and email you.

K: I just think it’s interesting because when you think acoustic music you don’t necessarily think skyscrapers and subways – although people play acoustic music on subways. But you know what I’m saying? It’s a big city, it’s loud, cymbal clashes make more sense, maybe to the untrained ear.

Ben: Right.

K: But it also makes sense to think of it as embodying acoustic music with some kind of grit. That’s an interesting perspective.

Ben: And of course, we stick out in New York as a result. And so, I feel that’s part of the reason, that there’s some business behind it. You know, we take our sound up to New York and people are like, “Whoa, where di d you guy come from? Are you from, you know, Tennessee?” It’s like, no, we’re from Williamsburg, and it kind of gives us a stamp of approval that we’re a Brooklyn band but we are different. So it’s like two good things.

K: I’ve only been to New York once, so I don’t really know a whole lot about it, but it seems to me that if you are doing something that you really enjoy, and you’re doing it because you want to do it, and not to meet someone else’s standards, that’s going to earn you respect in New York. I dunno.

Ben: Yeah, I think so. I think they’re wise – there are very critical people in New York, and usually they know how to break people down and can tell a phony.

K: What is The Commonwealth? There are a bunch of musicians listed on your Myspace, and it’s not really clear. What is that, exactly?

Ben: Yes, I just wanted to pay respects to the many people who are kind of contributing to this act and group, that don’t really get their due in the name of Benyaro. But there are a lot of people, like songwriters – there are a lot of musicians across the company that play with us. When we go to DC, there’s a fiddle player who jumps on stage with us. She’s part of Benyaro so to speak, but The Commonwealth, you know, is the slide-player in New York who sits in with us, Doug Finnegan, and the fiddle player, and the shaker player. Just all the people – yeah, it’s a commonwealth of people contributing to our band. If we were by ourselves, we wouldn’t be who we are, and where we are. There are a lot of people who help out, and give advice and, you know, consult. I show them pictures, and I’m like, “which picture, you know, is good?” and they’re like, “oh that’s not good, your hair’s messed up.”

[laughter]

K: So this is an Elephant Six thing, like a music collective?

Ben: I guess so – it is, I want it to be bigger than me, that’s why it’s a band name. I’ve had a lot people say, “it should be your name and blah blah blah,” and I don’t want that, and it shouldn’t be. And so The Commonwealth takes that even one step further. These people are always welcome to come on stage and play with us – we’re the ones out on the road, we’re the band – but these people are part of it and welcome.

K: Right. Okay, we’re just about done here, but I have one last question… it’s not really a question, it’s a request. I do this all the time, you know, I’ve been asking you questions the entire time, but now you guys get to ask me a question.

Ben: What percentage of albums that are sent to you do you listen to the whole way through?

K: Everything I listen to, I listen to all the way through. I don’t listen to an album, a couple of songs, and decide whether its good or not. I will give it one time all the way through, and then if its good, I’ll listen to it again, and if I don’t particularly care for it, I’ll just write a review, whatever. But we get probably about 100 albums every week, and what I have time to listen to – maybe like 10, at most, a week. We have 100 DJs that work here during the school year, so people review stuff – so, a lot of stuff gets listened to, probably… not as much as I’d like or anyone would like. But, we get a lot of music and we do the best we can.

Bobby: Ben, that was a really good question, actually, I liked that. Mine is a simple one: why have you chosen to do this interview without pants on?

[laughter]

K: Uhh… I thought it would, you know, loosen up everybody. It is hot outside...

Bobby: It’s not, and…

K: I’m really sorry.