Ben Kasica
Ben Kasica | |
|---|---|
 Kasica in concert | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Benjamin Judah Kasica |
| Born | April 15, 1984 St. Louis, Missouri |
| Genres | Hard rock, Christian rock, alternative metal, nu metal, post-grunge |
| Occupation(s) | Guitarist, producer, graphic designer, audio engineer, designer |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar |
Benjamin Judah Kasica (born April 15, 1984) is a guitarist best known as a former lead guitarist for the Christian rock band Skillet. Since leaving the band he has engaged in producing and engineering recordings and graphic design.
Career
He began playing guitar at age eleven. He joined Skillet in 2001 at the age of sixteen, and recorded the albums Alien Youth, Collide, Comatose (which went Gold on November 18, 2009[1]) and Awake (which went Platinum) with them.
Kasica is known for his many tricks while playing the guitar live on stage. These range from his solos to playing his guitar behind the back of his head.[citation needed] John Cooper said in the YouTube interview that he enjoyed having Kasica in the band "for his integrity; [Ben's] someone who wants to be honest about things."[citation needed] Kasica announced he was leaving Skillet to pursue other interests on February 14, 2011.[2] He was asked to return on a temporary basis on April 11, when Jonathan Salas left.[citation needed] On April 14, he played his next final show, as Seth Morrison played the show the following day.[citation needed]
Other work
Kasica is one of the owners of the clothing brand "LifeLoveMusic," a Christian organization that encourages Christians to "be the light of the world" by "loving the unlovable and sacrificing our lives for others."[3]
Kasica is also the co-owner of Skies Fall Media Group, which offers artists many services; from their website: "Along with the record company, artist development/management and recording studio, Skies Fall Media Group also contains a full service graphic design and professional photography division, model and actor management, and live music production division with more to come."[4][failed verification]
Kasica was the director/producer of Cellofourte: A String Tribute to Skillet which is an album by Tate Olsen, the cellist for Skillet, doing four-part cello covers of popular Skillet songs.[5]
Kasica was the director of Skillet's latest music video, "Not Gonna Die".[citation needed]
Guitar equipment
Kasica played GMP Guitars exclusively when he first joined the band. However, he and his fellow Skillet guitarist Korey Cooper later switched to PRS Guitars, most notably the PRS SC 250, and the Mira. For "Awake" Kasica recorded with Gibson Guitars, mostly Gibson Les Pauls.
- PRS SC250
- Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner
- Boss DD-7 Digital Delay
- BOSS FS-5U
- Ibanez TS9X
- Tonebone JX-2 Switchbone
- Vox Wah
- Boss OS-2 Overdrive/Distortion
- Keeley C4 Compressor
- Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler
- Vox AC30HH
- Mesa Boogie Single Rectifier[6]
References
- ^ "Skillet's "Comatose" Goes Gold, "Awake" Passes 200K In Sales". Ardent Records. 2009-11-18. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
- ^ Publicada por Nuno Ribeiro (2011-02-14). "Skillet - "Ben Kasica" leaves the band". HeavyHardMetalmania. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
- ^ "LLM Clothing: Buy a shirt. Change the world". Lifelovemusic.com. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
- ^ "Skies Fall Media Group". Skiesfall.com. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
- ^ "Skies Fall Records". Retrieved 2012-07-06.
- ^ "Backstage with... Skillet (GuitarEdge.com)".