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 For an anti-folk superhero, Ben Kweller is shockingly earnest and down-to-earth. At 21 years old, he is already a veteran of the music business. In 1993, he formed the punk rock trio Radish, went on to receive critical acclaim, toured all over, had lunch with Madonna, and so forth. But on his recent full-length solo debut, Sha Sha, Kweller put the punk aside and revealed himself as a songwriter, following the path of one of his favorite bands, the Violent Femmes. From alt-country to rock 'n' roll to piano medleys, Kweller has a gift for this songwriting stuff. Sha Sha is a sanguine gem. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
You must be sick of doing interviews. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Oh, it's fine. It's cool, man. I like talking. I get sick of talking about myself, but I do love to talk. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
So what have you been up to the past few months? I know you went to the Reading Festival and to Leeds. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Yeah, well, first we did our first headlining tour of the States. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
How was that? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | That was so good. I was so psyched. Almost every show was sold out. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
That's wonderful. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | I know, it's so cool. Kids would line up before the show. At, like, five o'clock they'd start lining up the street. That's just one of the coolest feelings, you know? Because when you go to shows growing up you always get in line if you get there early. To have that happen for you, it's just the coolest thing. And so then we flew to England and did Reading and Leeds [festivals], Scotland, Germany, Japan, and Australia. And that was sick! We'd never been to Japan or Australia. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
How were the kids in Japan? What was their reaction to your music? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Man, I was so nervous. I only did one little show; it was an in-store at a Tower Records, but I was so nervous. There were so many kids and I didn't think they understood a word of what I was saying, but there were so many fans there. They'd bob their head and sing along, but they don't show any emotion. Then, at the very end, they clap – really loud – and it's like, "Whoa." I was so intimidated. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Let's go back a couple of years. What made you go from Radish's punk rock to this more whimsical, anti-folk kind of music? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | I still totally love punk rock. I guess when I moved to New York and I didn't have a band, I was all by myself with an acoustic guitar and I met these kids – The Moldy Peaches – and other people in the anti-folk scene, those were my first friends here in New York. They were all playing acoustic music but with this punk rock ethic and attitude and I just latched on to it because I could really relate with it. It's the perfect mixture. The Violent Femmes are one of my favorite bands because it's acoustic punk.... I love Bob Dylan, but I love Nirvana. I just realized that when I play shows I'm going to be alone up there onstage, but I still wanted to make it like a rock show. Back in Radish, since we were such a guitar band, we never would have had, like, piano ballads. I was just ready to get out the stuff I'd been working on, feature the piano more, and get more diversity into it. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
You're a veteran of the music industry, and you're only ... are you 20? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Twenty-one. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Well, there's a lot of criticism lately about the music industry. What's your biggest criticism of the music industry? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | My biggest criticism is that the business people who work at big record companies are scared to believe in their own instincts, and they're too busy looking over their shoulder at what everybody else is signing. They can't make any progression forward. They have over 150 employees most of the time and that's a lot of upkeep financially. There aren't enough people in the business that are taking chances on artists that are completely self-efficient – that do their own thing, write their own songs and want to have careers and albums. I hate the fact that... you put out one record... when you get back into the studio, [the label] starts second-guessing everything. They're like, "Let's hook you up with this songwriter; let's hook you up with this producer and redo the whole album." They're scared. They don't make any decisions on their own. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
I read somewhere that Evan Dando is one of your musical idols. Who else fostered your love of music? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Well, it started with the Beatles, when I heard "All You Need Is Love." Um, then, the Violent Femmes – one of my favorites. Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Pavement, Nirvana ... so much ... oh, the Velvet Underground. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Who are you listening to now? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Um, have you ever heard of the Shaggs? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
I love the Shaggs! [Note to readers: the Shaggs are a trio of sisters – Dot, Helen, and Betty Wiggins – from New Hampshire who had only the most basic musical training and yet recorded a terrific album, Philosophy of the World. Go get it.] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Dude, the Shaggs rule! I just got Philosophy of the World and I'm putting it on my computer and putting it on my iPod. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
It's so kooky and wonderful. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: |
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NYROCK: |
So tell me about your lyrics. You're a very clever guy. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Aw, geez. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Do you consider yourself a clever guy? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Not really. Um, you know, when you're writing a song, you want to catch the listener's attention, because there's nothing worse than a song that doesn't go anywhere. I'm attracted to bands like the Violent Femmes, where everything is like [singing] "Why can't I get just one screw, why can't I get just one screw" and they were so clever, but it's not fucking pretentious at all. And so I hope I don't come across as pretentious. I mean, because I am only 21, people are sort of taken aback. They're like, "Who does he think he is?" The weird thing is that I feel like I've lived so many different experiences because I got thrown into this thing when I was so young. This is the first album where I finally feel like I found myself as a songwriter and a singer. I'm really writing songs that are about me and life. I'm not practicing anymore. I feel like Radish and everything that I did before Sha Sha was me working at being a songwriter. Finally, I feel like an artist and I'm actually expressing myself without trying to sound a certain way. It feels really good. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Sha Sha has a lot of musical diversity. I like the alt-country of "Family Tree" and I like the rock 'n' roll. Is it hard for you to say you're a particular type of songwriter? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Yeah, it is. I mean, I guess just by saying "I am a songwriter" is the most simple way I can put it because I just write songs. I try to leave genre out of it. Right now, I definitely feel like I'm part of this New York scene that's happening. I'm on tour with the Strokes. I'm kind of like the solo kid of all of them, which is a cool role. And so, um, but, um, I don't know. What was your question again? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Is it hard to stay in one genre? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Oh yeah. Yeah, I've been writing songs for my next album and I've made a list. I have 11 songs so far. So if I don't write anymore, at least I'll have 11 [laughing]. It's always so hard because I have a lot of [songs that are] rockers, and then piano ballads, and then these quirky Sha Sha-type songs. I'm trying to make the album flow. But that's kind of the fun part. I feel like I don't have to use Pro-Tools or any crazy loops and effects like so many artists do to get this diversity. I just write different types of songs. You can still use your same instruments. If you go back to a Bob Dylan album or a Beatles album, like, the Beatles were a total pop band. They were the equivalent of the fucking Backstreet Boys, but the difference is, it wasn't made on a conveyor belt. Even though the songs were crafted just like fucking "Genie in a Bottle" [by Christina Aguilera] with your perfect chorus, perfect build-up, and verse and all that bullshit, it still had so much heart and so much emotion because it wasn't pitch corrected and the guitars were slightly out of tune because they didn't have electronic tuners. It wasn't perfect. But the songs were there and that's what it comes down to. I can't really ever see myself getting into the whole electronic evolution. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
You seem like a really nice, agreeable person. What pisses you off? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Dude, sooo much fucking pisses me off. I'm optimistic, and I think that there's a good side to everybody, but man I get pissed off. I'm fucking so pissed off at George W. fucking Bush right now. Ugh, he has no idea what happens outside of America. All he cares about is money and big business. God, um, what's something else that pisses me off? I just hate when people think that they're hot shit. I hate going to a club in New York or going to Williamsburg [Brooklyn] and feeling like you have to dress up in your coolest outfit, you know? Like when you just want to put on your sweatpants and jog around the block. So that kind of stuff just gets to me. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
What's your favorite "Behind the Music"? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Oooh, I haven't seen too many because I don't get cable, but I really liked Vanilla Ice "Behind the Music," when he got all pissed off or something. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Anything else you want to say? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | I guess that's about it. I'm so psyched I'm on tour with the Strokes. I'm going back to Japan and Australia and I'm probably going to be doing another headlining tour in the new year. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Well, best of luck to you. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Oh, thank you, you too. November 2002
More Ben Kweller
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