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Ben Cooper (musician)

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Ben Cooper
Cooper in 2011
Cooper in 2011
Background information
Born (1982-02-24) February 24, 1982 (age 42)[1]
Jacksonville, Florida, United States[2]
Genres
OccupationSinger-songwriter
Instrument(s)guitar, accordion, banjo, drums, piano
Websitewww.radicalface.com

Ben Cooper (born February 24, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, and painter from Jacksonville, Florida.[3][4] He currently releases music under the name Radical Face. Cooper is best known for the 2007 track "Welcome Home” from his debut album as Radical Face. He has also been a part of Electric President (with Alex Kane),[5] Iron Orchestra (alongside his brother), The Clone Project (with Rick Colado),[6] and Unkle Stiltskin.[7]

Early life

Ben Cooper was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and grew up in a family of nine siblings. He states his family as his biggest influence. His creative streak originated from a passion for drawing and painting early on, and by middle school he had begun making short movies with friends and playing music.

When Cooper was 14, he came out as gay to his parents. His stepfather then kicked him out of his home.[3] Speaking of the experience, he said he "actually learned a lot about taking care of myself [...] I wouldn't recommend it, but it definitely had its benefits. There were a lot of things that I think I was pretty well-equipped to deal with, especially being a freelance musician."[8]

At the age of 19, Cooper decided he wanted to become a writer and wrote two books. However, he did not backup his files and the computer crashed, so he took it outside and smashed it with a hammer. He decided to write music instead and worked it into a career, performing locally.[9] Most of Cooper's tracks from his early recording period were recorded in a tool shed outside his house.[10]

Career

Early career and Unkle Stiltskin (2000–2003)

Cooper, along with Corey Loop and later bass player/guitarist Alex Kane formed Unkle Stiltskin in 2002. They recorded songs together but never played any shows, or did any physical releases.[7]

Electric President (2003–2010)

Main article: Electric President

Cooper met Alex Kane in 2000 and the two later formed the band Radical Face vs Phalex Sledgehammer, later renamed Electric President.[11][12] Cooper notes Electric President as what brought him his earliest professional success but with it experienced difficulty working with record companies to release music. After releasing a third album, The Violent Blue in 2010, Kane and Cooper began to focus on other projects, with Cooper pursuing work on his "Family Tree" albums under the name Radical Face.

Radical Face (2003–present)

Main article: Radical Face

Ghost (2007)

Main article: Ghost (Radical Face album)

Ghost was the first official studio album released by Radical Face in March 2007. The song "Welcome Home" became Cooper's biggest hit after being featured on an advertisement for Nikon cameras,[13] and has been used in several commercials, films, and TV shows.[14]

The Family Tree Albums (2011–2016)

Cooper launched a project called The Family Tree in 2011, a trilogy of concept albums that tell the story of a fictional family through several generations. Several songs from The Family Tree Albums have been featured in films and television.[15]

Although Cooper intended for his "Family Tree" trilogy to be fictional when he began the project, the final album of the trilogy references actual events in his life. The songs "Everything Costs" and "Bad Blood" are written from Cooper's own point of view.[3]

Missing Film (2018)

After creating music for a project that fell through, Cooper released Missing Film as an album of instrumental tracks that may be used by indie filmmakers for free.[16][17]

A Light in the Woods

A Radical Face album called A Light in the Woods will release October 20, 2023. It involves "very elaborate world-building, both visual and written."[18]

Musical projects and contributions

Unreleased music

Cooper's first project as Radical Face, The Junkyard Chandelier, was never formally released. This album and many unreleased songs from his music career, including the album "Patients," are only available for download online.[19]

The Blacklist

The American crime thriller television series The Blacklist has featured several songs by Radical Face: "Welcome Home", "Baptisms", "Always Gold", "The Road to Nowhere", "Summer Skeletons", and "Letters Home." In 2021, Jon Bokenkamp and John Bissell contacted Cooper to compose a song for the season 8 finale of The Blacklist. Cooper and musician Josh Lee released the song as the Radical Face single "One Last Dream" on June 23, 2021, the day the episode aired.[20]

Discography

As Radical Face

Albums

  • The Junkyard Chandelier (2003) (unreleased)
  • Ghost (2007)
  • The Family Tree: The Roots (2011)
  • The Family Tree: The Branches (2013)
  • The Family Tree: The Leaves (2016)
  • Missing Film (2018)
  • Ghost (Anniversary Edition) (2019)
  • A Light in the Woods (2023) (six-volume collection)

Compilations

  • The Bastards (2016)

EPs

  • Touch the Sky (2010)
  • Always Gold (2012)
  • SunnMoonnEclippse (2017)
  • Covers, Vol 1: Lady Covers (2018)
  • Therapy (2019)
  • Therapy (Alternate Reality Version) (2019)
  • Hidden Hollow, Vol. One (2021)

Singles

  • Welcome Home (2011)
  • Reveries (2020)
  • Family (2021)
  • Dreamless Sleep (2021)
  • One Last Dream (2021)

With Electric President

Albums

EPs

  • You Have the Right to Remain Awesome (2004)

With The Clone Project

  • Clone (2014)

References

  1. ^ "Happy Birthday Ben! | Radical Face Forum". Oldradicalface.com. Archived from the original on December 4, 2013. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  2. ^ Ben Cooper is running for Electric President, archived from the original on October 22, 2009
  3. ^ a b c "When The Page Becomes A Mirror: A Chat With Radical Face". Morning Edition. NPR. April 4, 2016.
  4. ^ "Radical Face - The Missing Road". Radical Face - The Missing Road. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  5. ^ "Ben Cooper - Relationships - MusicBrainz". musicbrainz.org. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  6. ^ Cooper, B., Colado, R. (September 23, 2014). The Clone Project. Retrieved from http://projectclone.com/
  7. ^ a b Cooper, Ben. "Unkle Stiltskin". oldradicalface.com. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
  8. ^ "Radical Face Premieres "The Ship in Port" Video". Bandcamp Daily. July 19, 2016.
  9. ^ Secret Sessions. (December 20, 2013). Radical Face Interview – Secret Session. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KhWYvbUw00
  10. ^ Lovejoy, Heather. "Electric President of Jacksonville Beach has a new album, 'The Violent Blue'". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
  11. ^ "Radical Face vs. Phalex Sledgehammer biography". Last.fm. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  12. ^ "Electric President: Electric President". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
  13. ^ "Nikon Cameras – I Am". TV Ad Music. March 12, 2010. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  14. ^ "BEN COOPER / RADICAL FACE - Music Publishing - Concord". concord.com. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  15. ^ "Radical Face | Music Department, Composer, Soundtrack". IMDb. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  16. ^ j.a.heiser (November 21, 2018). "Album Review: Radical Face – Missing Film". The Indy Review. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  17. ^ @RadicalFace (November 16, 2018). "Today I am releasing a free album called “Missing Film’, a selection of instrumental music I've written. I thought I would make these tracks available to film makers and content creators to use, royalty-free, in any of their personal work. Download Free:" (Tweet)
  18. ^ "Radical Face - News". Radical Face. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  19. ^ Nocodeyv (February 7, 2021). "The Junkyard Chandelier & Patients". r/radicalface. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  20. ^ Radical Face - One Last Dream, retrieved October 19, 2023. "Last Friday I got contacted out of the blue by the creator of the show "The Blacklist." There was a very important final scene in the season finale, and there was suddenly an issue with the music that was slated to go along with it. I was asked if I could come up with something for the scene over the weekend, as it was due to air on Wednesday. But it was a long cue -- about 5 minutes. We had never spoken before that moment, but they've featured me on the show multiple times and it's been a really big reason that people have heard of me at all. So of course I was happy to at least try. I got a cut of the scene, some notes about the tone and the mood, and then the work started. Writing to cues is a bit different than writing songs, because the tempo and mood have to fit something that already exists. It's about amplifying a mood instead of generating it from scratch. So just sorting the structure can take a lot of time. I could also tell right from the start that I'd need strings on this, so I asked Josh, my partner, to help me come up with some cello parts. He's really great at playing emotively, so we got all that sorted in a couple hours. The rest was a blur. But it's fun to just move sometimes and go entirely with gut responses. There wasn't time to second guess anything. And luckily it was all moods and tones that are well within my wheelhouse. To jump to the end, the piece worked out well and was accepted. And since it will have already aired before I put out my next newsletter, I am uploading it early."
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