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 Australian singer-songwriter Ben Lee was 13 years old when his band Noise Addict snuck up on the world. A year later, in 1993, Ben began his solo career. Ten years later, he's not in rehab or on "Where Are They Now?" Amazing. True story: the day of the big black out in New York City, I brought only one CD to work with me. It was Ben's new one, Hey You. Yes You. It was literally the only piece of music that I had to listen to for over 24 hours. Instead of wanting to smash it into a million pieces after the umpteenth listen, I just kept playing it. The fluid beats and off-kilter undertows of the songs were oddly reassuring. This came at a time when the only thing I was assured of was that I really, really love electricity and the ice cream sandwiches in my freezer were definitely going to have to be thrown out. While Hey You is a definite departure from the straight-up acoustic folk and pop rock of Ben's past, it's his most cogent and inquisitive work to date. NY Rock spoke with Ben shortly before the epic blackout about Hilary Duff's boobs, collaborating with Dan the Automator, his starring role in the Australian movie The Rage in Placid Lake, and being a lifer in the music business. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Hi, how are you doing, Ben? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Good, I'm just full of New York rock. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Great! Where are you calling from? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | I'm in New York. I leave tomorrow for Australia. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
So you were signed to Grand Royal record label. It's been shut down for a while. What was your initial reaction to hearing the label was shutting down? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Well, it was sort of a long time coming. We've been trying to make this album Hey You for a couple years, but I couldn't get any money. Things were pretty disorganized. I got off the label just before they shut down. It's really weird. I just actually spoke to Mike [Diamond, the Beastie Boy and Grand Royal co-founder] for the first time about it. We kind of had a laugh about it. I think at that time, in the early '90s, the alternative music scene was coming up into the mainstream and everyone thought sort of, nothing could stop any of us. So I think Mike and people like that had power and wanted to use it for good, but they didn't really know what they were taking on. Mike was saying to me, "I just don't even know who I thought I was that I could run a record label." [laughs] In some ways, I mean, I have a sense of humor and I'm glad that time's over, you know, but it was hard at the time at the end. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
I've read that you wanted this album to be a reflection of your maturation as both an artist and a person. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Yeah. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
I can't help but think that Britney Spears and LeAnn Rimes said the same thing with their last albums. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Well, you know, me and Britney and LeAnn sat down and talked about it when we were writing our bios. We just decided that it was time that certain people stand up and speak from a more mature place. That's kind of like, I saw Hilary Duff on "Access Hollywood" last night, and she was talking about how her message is that you don't have to show your boobs and your bum to be a pop star. I guess that's my message, too. Me and Hilary had a conference about that, too. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
No toplessness for Ben Lee? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Sometimes I'll flash a nipple. It's all in good taste. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
As long as it's in good taste. We wouldn't want anything otherwise. Well, the album seems like a big step for you. You can hear the progression on each song, but it also feels very organic. I think there are people – Ben Lee fans – out there who are going to be surprised by how it sounds at first. Where did these songs come from? What was driving them out of you? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Ah. Well, I listen to it now and there's kind of like a tension, you know? There was something in the world. It was right after 9/11 when I recorded it. There was tension in my life; my dad had just died a year before. I think I was really sick of the pressure I was putting on myself before to be perfect, and to kind of look at these things like there was a right and a wrong way. Now I'm thinking more and more about wanting my work to reflect more complexity and gray areas. That was the general vibe we went in with. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
You sing on "Running With Scissors," "life is unusual again." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Ah, "life as unusual." I usually don't tell people the correct lyrics. [laughs] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
But how so? How unusual? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: |
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NYROCK: |
I also read that you were extremely pleased with the way you and Dan the Automator clicked. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Yeah, I just think we have a similar vision at this point for music. We're both interested in working within pop music and within pop structures. I wouldn't call us mainstream in the sense of LeAnn Rimes but we're both interested in being part of the fabric, you know. It's hard to find people who want to bring in their influences no matter how obscure or subversive they are and use them in a context that's quite accessible. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
The beats and the percussion add a whole new dimension. Why did you want to take this direction? What was the attraction? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | I think there's a lot of things. I think the rhythmic element, that kind of dirtiness, that spontaneity that's very present in a lot of rap music that I love. And I like when the samples get the atmosphere in the room at the time when a piece of music was recorded and you put it in and it just becomes this big living collage, you know? I guess some of that stuff was pretty appealing. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
You also wrote two songs – "All My Life" and "Hard Drive" – for Evan Dando's solo album, Baby I'm Bored. Tell me about those two songs in relation to Evan from you, the songwriter's point of view. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Well, "All My Life" was almost like one of the first songs I wrote through someone else's eyes. I wrote that song about five years ago. And I always wrote that for Evan to sing. I didn't really realize he was going to do it, it was just sort of an exercise on my own. And "Hard Drive," I wrote I think a week later. It was just the kind of consciousness I was in, but I didn't necessarily link it with Evan. He heard them and just straightaway was married to them. I said to him, "I don't know if you want to do anything with these," and I started playing them and he was like, "Yep, they're gonna be on my album." He loved them. They were like more his than mine. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
How'd you get involved with the movie The Rage in Placid Lake? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Basically, I was on this show in Australia called "The Panel." It's like a late-night talk show like David Letterman and I was performing. I just got this urge to jump up on the desk. I jumped up and I pulled the chord out of my guitar and I was left looking like a complete idiot on live national TV making no sound out of my guitar. I was very embarrassed. Little did I know there was a guy at home who was gonna make a movie who saw this and was like, "That's the guy!" It goes to show you when you think you're like, bottoming out, you might have a new career. He got in touch and said he'd love me to be part of it. I read it and just connected with the story, and it felt like the right thing. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
What was it about the roll that drew you in? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Well, I play Placid Lake. It's about a guy who's just getting out of high school and he never really fit in, always a bit of a troublemaker. A bit of a cheeky guy. He gets out into the real world and everyone told him, "just be yourself," and goes to get a job at an insurance company and that's sort of what it's about, you know, how do you be yourself. Do you be yourself or do you have to adapt? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Did you get any acting tips from your girlfriend [actress Claire Danes]? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Yeah, don't trip over the wires. Good advice. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Is America going to get to see this movie? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | I think it's going to the Toronto Film Festival and stuff. It might get a release. It's hard with little movies from other countries. Rose Byrne was in it with me. She just got a part playing, like, Brad Pitt's whore in Troy, which is a pretty big movie. So sometimes little movies can come out on the coattails of that. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
They made you look awfully dorky in the movie poster. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Yeah, yeah, you know, that's acting, right? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Right. Artistically speaking, how do you get into a roll as an actor as opposed… | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | Well, I've only ever done this one thing, so I don't really have the authority to talk about the process. I can talk about this thing. Elements of it were very much like, there were points of my life that I could see had I responded slightly differently. I just kind of, I don't know, I guess I don't know enough about acting to say what really happened. I guess I just sort of imagined myself as that guy [laughs] and then just did what made sense. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
As opposed to being a songwriter, do you have to put yourself in a creative mindset? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | With songwriting it's different, but with singing it's quite similar. When you sing, you already have the structure like you do when you're acting and you have to bring it to life and interpret it, so that's kind of similar. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
You've gotten a lot of attention because you started your career so young. Coming through it, what have you learned so far? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEN: | I've learned that you just gotta keep going. I guess I've changed the model for success in my mind. So often when you start you just want to get it all handed to you. You look at everyone else and they've all got it made and you've got it the hard way, you know what I mean? And then you realize. I've been playing for 11 or 12 years. Once I hit 10 years I was like, "Man I'm a success to have made it this far." There's not many solo artists who've keep putting out records for 10 years let alone ones who started at my age. Now, I just sort of identify myself as like, "I'm a lifer." I'm going to be doing this forever. I don't need anyone's approval or permission, and that was a huge change of attitude to me, not to need anyone's approval. September 2003
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