Ben Kweller

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Ben Kweller

Background information
Birth name Benjamin Lev Kweller
Also known as Ben Kweller
BK
Born June 16, 1981 (1981-06-16) (age 28)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Origin Greenville, Texas, US
Genre(s) Rock, folk, country, punk rock, indie
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, Recording Artist, Record Producer
Instrument(s) Vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica, drums
Years active 1993 - present
Label(s) ATO, RCA, Practice Amp, Noise Company, 679
Associated acts Radish, The Bens
Website www.benkweller.com

Ben Kweller (born June 16, 1981, San Francisco, California) is an American singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Ben Kweller was born in San Francisco, CA in 1981. In 1982 his family relocated to Emory, TX where his father Howard Kweller became the town's first doctor. In 1986, The Kwellers moved to a much larger city, Greenville, TX,[1]. Ben was exposed to music at a very early age. Howard taught Ben how to play the drums when he was 7 years old. For the next year, the father and son would jam together almost every night after Howard got home from work. With Howard singing and playing guitar and Ben keeping the beat, the duo would play songs by The Beatles, The Hollies, Jimi Hendrix, and other artists of the 1960s. Howard is also a long-time friend of Nils Lofgren, who he went to high school with and who lived up the road from the Kwellers [2]. Ben has mentioned in interviews that this acquaintance greatly helped his exposure to music at that early age. When Ben turned 8, someone showed him how to play "Heart And Soul" on the piano. The youngster immediately began to create his own songs using the same chords. He still uses the same techniques to write his songs today. By the time he was 9 he had a dozen original compositions under his belt and entered a songwriting contest sponsored by Billboard magazine. Kweller won honorable mention. [3]

[edit] Adult Years

Ben married his girlfriend Liz (ala song "Lizzy") and they had a son named Dorian Zev Kweller. At the time of his birth they lived in New York, New York, but then they moved back to Ben's home state of Texas and are currently residing in Austin.

[edit] Radish (1993-1999)

In 1993 Kweller became friends with another young local musician, drummer John Kent, and the two formed the band Radish with bassist Ryan Green. The trio played locally in and around Greenville and recorded two independent releases, Hello (1994) and Dizzy (1995), with Martin Baird at Verge Music Works recording studio in Dallas, Texas. Around the time of Dizzy's release, Ryan Green decided to leave the band and focus his attention on school. Lorin Hamilton filled in for a few months until Bryan Bradford AKA Bryan Blur joined on for most of the band's career. Ben sent a copy of Dizzy to Guitarist Nils Lofgren who grew up with Ben's dad in Maryland. Nils was impressed with Radish and recommended them to Roger Greenawalt who was producing Lofgren's album at the time, Damaged Goods. Greenawalt took Radish into a studio where they recorded a demo tape which was subsequently shopped around to record labels nationwide, After an unexpected bidding war, Radish eventually signed to Mercury Records to release the album Restraining Bolt. Radish made appearances on The Weird Al Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Late Show with David Letterman, but despite the much-hyped signing, the band failed to strike big success. Radish earned a large cult following in the United Kingdom with their top 40 hit "Little Pink Stars". The band toured several times in Europe including opening slots for Faith No More and Main Stage at Reading Festival '97. Radish released two singles. In 1998 Radish became a quartet featuring Joe Butcher (Polyphonic Spree, UFOFU) on lead guitar and Debbie Williams on bass. Radish went to Muscle Shoals Studio in Alabama to record the follow-up to Restraining Bolt, provisionally titled Discount Fireworks. The band recorded with producer Bryce Goggin (Pavement, The Lemonheads). While mixing Discount Fireworks in NYC Kweller and Kent met bassist Josh Lattanzi who would become Radish's 5th and final bass player. As a result of Polygram's merger with Universal Music Group, the 18-song album was never released and Radish soon secured a release from their contract with Mercury Records.

[edit] Solo career

At age 19, Ben Kweller moved to New York with his girlfriend Liz Smith, where he began his solo career. He played acoustic shows and self-released four EPs, comprising some of the unreleased Radish Discount Fireworks recordings and other songs recorded in his apartment on a laptop computer. It was one of these EPs, Freak Out, It's Ben Kweller, that caught the attention of Evan Dando of The Lemonheads, and Dando invited Kweller out on tour with him, playing across America and Europe. Jeff Tweedy, Juliana Hatfield and Guster also began to notice Kweller and took him on tour with them.

[edit] EP Phone Home and Sha Sha (2002)

In 2001 Ben Kweller became ATO Records's first worldwide signing and released a 5-track EP entitled EP Phone Home. In March 2002, Sha Sha, Kweller's first solo studio LP was released. Sha Sha included the very radio-friendly and popular single "Wasted & Ready" which reached #29 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. The album featured John Kent on drums, Josh Lattanzi on bass, and showcased a wide variety of sound from Quirky Pop, to Folk, to Punk[4]. The album grew in popularity with a grassroots effort based on his website and a promotion group called teamBK, which promoted via word-of-mouth advertising. To support the release of the album and EP, he put together a live band, initially comprising Lattanzi on bass, Fred Eltringham on drums, and Mike Stroud on guitar and keyboards. Towards the end of the Sha Sha album cycle, the four-piece performed on PBS's Austin City Limits

Kweller performing at The Fillmore
Kweller performing at The Ohio State University

[edit] The Bens (2003)

In 2003, Kweller toured Australia with Ben Folds and Ben Lee as The Bens. [5] The trio produced an eponymous four-song EP, with each member taking lead vocals on one song, and a final song in which they all contributed vocals. In an interview on October 14, 2006 Ben hinted that The Bens may do another album.

[edit] Guster collaboration (2003)

Late in 2003, Kweller provided lead vocals on the song "I Hope Tomorrow is Like Today" from Guster's album Keep It Together. Kweller and Guster co-wrote the song after a late night jam at Gusters' Brooklyn studio. The song is prominently featured in the movie Wedding Crashers.

[edit] On My Way (2004)

On My Way, Kweller's second LP, went in a new direction. The album, produced by Ethan Johns, was recorded 'live' - there were limited overdubs and no use of headphones. [6] After the release of On My Way, Kweller embarked on more touring, playing to his largest audiences ever, including a US tour co-headlining with Death Cab for Cutie [7]. By this point, the lineup of his live band had changed to include John Kent on drums and Jason Roberts on guitar and keyboards, after Mike Stroud left to concentrate on his own band Ratatat and Fred Eltringham left to play drums in The Wallflowers.

[edit] Ben Kweller (2006)

In 2006 he recorded his third LP, Ben Kweller with producer Gil Norton [8]. Unlike the previous studio albums, Kweller played all the instruments on this record himself.[9] Kweller continued to tour to support his self-titled album, and expanded his band into a five piece, which grew to include Dan Horne on bass, Mark Stepro on drums, Jay Barclay on guitar and organ, and Jason Roberts on lead guitar. Kweller continued to play guitar and piano on this tour, but it also gave him the opportunity to just sing on certain songs. The Canadian group, the Sam Roberts Band, and New York based Hymns, opened for Kweller.

His tie-in "Trio on the Train Track Tour" included a new live band comprising Chris Morrissey on bass, vocals & keyboard and Mark Stepro on drums, vocals, glockenspiel, percussion & "whatever else he feels like" during appearances in the United States. During the Australian leg of the tour, the band was composed of Jay Barclay on guitar, keyboard & vocals, Dan Horne on bass & vocals, and Mark Stepro continuing his previous roles.

[edit] Changing Horses (2009)

Changing Horses is Ben Kweller's fourth studio album, which was expected for release in September 2008 but was eventually released on February 2, 2009 in Europe and February 3 2009 in the United States through ATO Records. Kweller has described the new album as being more Country in style than his previous releases. The album features his rhythm section Chris Morrissey (bass) and Mark Stepro (drums). It also debuts the talents of Kitt Kitterman who plays pedal steel guitar and Dobro. On November 23, 2008, the full album leaked onto the Internet. In a statement, ATO Records said the leak was not the final version of the album. The song "Hurtin' You" was debuted on Stereogum. The whole album was made available to stream exclusively on Last.fm.

Kweller is married and has a son named Dorian Zev, born in May 2006. Ben's middle name, Lev, means "Heart" in Hebrew and his son's middle name, Zev, means "Wolf". Ben has said in interviews, "Together we're Heart of the Wolf..."[10]

In April 2009, Ben Kweller appeared at Australian festivals such as Chill City, East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival and West Coast Blues & Roots Festival.

[edit] Austin City Limits Performances

As part of his 2006 tour, Kweller played the Austin City Limits Music Festival, where he was plagued by a severe nosebleed for the entirety of his set. After covering his guitar in blood, he attempted to stop the flow by inserting a travel-size tampon thrown onto the stage by a fan, which expanded painfully during a performance of "This Is War." After attempting to play "Falling" at the piano, which also became covered in blood, Kweller was forced to end the set early. [11][12]

In the spring of 2007, Kweller co-headlined with his label-mates Gomez. He continued through the summer with his own string of headlining dates which eventually ended at ACL fest. This time no bloody nose, however, commemorative T-shirts were sold at the merch booth with fake blood stains that said "ACL 2007: The return of Ben Kweller".

Immediately following his performance at ACL, Kweller began recording his fourth full-length LP, Changing Horses in Austin, Texas on September 21, 2007.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] EPs

[edit] Singles

[edit] Other releases

[edit] Appearances in popular culture

  • New Jersey pop-punk band The Ergs! released Ben Kweller EP (2002). It includes a song called "Ben Kweller."
  • Rapper Talib Kweli sampled Kweller's "In Other Words," without permission, for his song "Ms. Hill". In part 7 of Kweller's video podcast series "One Minute Pop Song," Kweller said he found Kweli's use of the song "a little fucked up" due to the fact that it was sampled without permission. Link to episode
  • Rapper Asher Roth sampled Kweller's "Falling", for his song "Fallin'" off of his first album, Asleep in the Bread Aisle, in 2009.
  • The song "Sha Sha" appeared in A Guy Thing, starring Jason Lee, Selma Blair, and Julia Stiles.
  • The song "The Rules" appears in trailer for the movie Choke.
  • The song "Red Eye" is often used to close the Joystiq video-game podcast.
  • The song 'Make It Up' is used in a Ray Ban sunglasses commercial.
  • The songs "Penny on a Train Track" and "I Gotta Move" are used in the 2008 movie, "College".
  • The song "Wicked Little Town" from Hedwig and the Angry Inch tribute album, 2003
  • Ben Kweller's songs "Magic" and "Penny on a Train Track" are also songs featured on the GAP soundtrack in 2007 and 2008.
  • The song "Falling" appears in the 2002 movie, "Mr. Deeds."

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Ben-Kweller-Biography/17E2F30FD6B99A3A48256C3000031B2C
  2. ^ This was mentioned during an interview with Marc Riley on BBC 6music on December 4, 2008.
  3. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:jifyxqwhldke
  4. ^ http://www.stanforddaily.com/article/2002/4/5/benKwellerFindsTheThingsHeLoves
  5. ^ http://www.benkweller.com/isite/past3.html
  6. ^ http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/ben-kweller/on-my-way.htm
  7. ^ http://www.benkweller.com/isite/past4.html
  8. ^ http://www.ziarecords.com/Item/8999930413
  9. ^ http://www.atorecords.com/?title=artists&aid=2&what=bio
  10. ^ Interview with Left Lion http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/id/1678
  11. ^ Incident photo at Blogcritics.org http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/09/17/093929.php
  12. ^ Rolling Stone review ACL performance http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/11717282/the_10_best_shows_at_austin_city_limits_2006/2

15-year-old Kweller is profiled in the April 7, 1997 issue of The New Yorker. Kweller is profiled in chapter 4 of Nobrow, John Seabrook's 2000 study of pop culture, published by Vintage Books

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Ben Kweller
Self-released EPs
Melange  • Sha Sha  • Bromeo  • Freak Out, It's Ben Kweller
Albums
EPs
Singles
"Wasted & Ready"  • "Commerce, TX"  • "Falling"  • "The Rules"  • "Sundress"  • "Penny on the Train Track"  • "Sawdust Man"
Other contributions
Related articles
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