Ben Kweller
(born June 16, 1981, San Francisco, California) is an American singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
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BEN KWELLER TICKETS
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Biography
Early life
Ben Kweller was born in
San Francisco, Calif. in 1981. In 1982, his family relocated to
Emory, Texas where his father, Howard Kweller, became the town's first doctor. In 1986, The Kwellers moved to a much larger city,
Greenville, TX,
[1]. Kweller 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-son would play 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 longtime friend of
Nils Lofgren, a neighbor with whom he went to high school.
[2]. Kweller has mentioned in interviews that his meeting Lofgren greatly helped his exposure to music. When Kweller turned eight, 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 nine he had a dozen original compositions under his belt and entered a songwriting contest sponsored by
Billboard Magazine. Kweller won an honorable mention.
[3]
Adult Years
Kweller married his girlfriend Liz (aka song "Lizzy") and they had a son named Dorian Zev Kweller. At the time of Dorian's birth they lived in New York City, but then they moved back to Kweller's home state of Texas and currently reside in Austin.
Radish (1993-1999)
In 1993 Kweller became friends with a local musician, drummer John Kent, and 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 the release of
Dizzy
', Green left Radish to focus his attention on school. Lorin Hamilton stood in for Green for a few months until Bryan Bradford, also known as Bryan Blur, joined on for most of the band's career.
Kweller sent a copy of
Dizzy
to guitarist
Nils Lofgren who grew up with Kweller's father in Maryland. Lofgren was impressed with Radish and recommended them to
Roger Greenawalt who was producing Lofgren's album
Damaged Goods
at the time. Greenawalt took Radish to a studio to record a demo tape which was subsequently sent to record labels nationwide. After an unexpected bidding war for "Dizzy," Radish signed to
Mercury Records to release the full-length "Restraining Bolt."
Radish made appearances on
The Weird Al Show
,
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
and
Late Show with David Letterman
, but despite a much-hyped signing, the band failed to strike success.
Radish earned a cult following in the United Kingdom with its top-40 hit "Little Pink Stars". The band went on multiple European tours, including opening slots for
Faith No More and Main Stage at
Reading Festival in 1997. Radish released two singles.
In 1998, Radish became a quartet; it featured Joe Butcher of the
Polyphonic Spree and 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 mastering
Discount Fireworks
in
NYC Kweller and Kent met bassist Josh Lattanzi who would become Radish's fifth and final bass player. As a result of
Polygram's merger with
Universal Music Group, the 18-song album was never released and Radish secured a release from their contract with Mercury Records.
Solo career
At age 19, 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. Dando invited Kweller on tour with him.
Jeff Tweedy,
Juliana Hatfield and
Guster also noticed Kweller and took him on tour with them.
EP Phone Home and Sha Sha (2002)
In 2001 Ben Kweller became
ATO Records' 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 radio-friendly and popular single "Wasted & Ready," which reached #29 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. The album featured John Kent on drums and 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
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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.
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 Guster's
Brooklyn studio. The song is prominently featured in the movie
Wedding Crashers.
On My Way (2004)
On My Way,
Kweller's second
LP, took 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. On these tours, Kweller played for 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.
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.
Changing Horses (2009)
Changing Horses
is Ben Kweller's fourth studio album, which was expected for release in September 2008 but was pushed to
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 played
pedal steel guitar and
Dobro. On
November 23 2008, the full album was leaked to the Internet. In a statement,
ATO Records said the leak was not the final version of the album. The song "Hurtin' You" debuted on
Stereogum, and 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.
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 a piano which he also covered in blood, Kweller was forced to end the set early.
[11] [12]
In 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.
Discography
Albums
- Sha Sha,
ver.1, 2000 (Homemade. Feat. Songs from the unreleased Radish album Discount Fireworx
. Scarce quantities known)
- Freak Out, It's Ben Kweller,
ver. 1, 2001 (Homemade. Black & white artwork. Scarce quantities known.)
- Freak Out, It's Ben Kweller,
ver. 2, 2001 (Professional packaging with shrink-wrap, color artwork. Roughly 1,500 known copies)
- Sha Sha,
ver. 2, 2002
- On My Way,
2004 #83 US
- Ben Kweller,
2006 #117 US
- Changing Horses,
2009 #92 US
EPs
- Melange
, 1999 (Homemade. Very scarce quantities in circulation)
- Bromeo
, 2000 (Homemade. Very scarce quantities in circulation)
- EP Phone Home
, 2001 (Limited Edition 2,000)
- BK
, 2001 (UK version of EP Phone Home. Different songs. Limited Edition 1,500)
- Sundress
, 2006 (Limited Edition 2,500)
- Live and Solo from the Artists Den
, 2007 (Exclusive iTunes digital release.)
- How Ya Lookin' Southbound? Come In..., 2008 (Limited Edition 2,500)
Singles
- "Wasted & Ready", 2002
- "Commerce, TX", 2003
- "Falling", 2003
- "The Rules", 2004
- "Sundress", 2006
- "Penny On The Train Track", 2006
- "Sawdust Man", 2009
Other releases
- This Is Next Year: A Brooklyn-Based Compilation
: Compilation track, 2001
- This Bird Has Flown - A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul
: Wait
- Stubbs the Zombie: The Soundtrack
: A cover compilation of hits from the 1950s : Lollipop
- The Bens
with Ben Folds and Ben Lee
- Bright Eyes - Four Winds
(2007 ยท Saddle Creek)
- Helio Presents: The Smashing Pumpkins Tribute CD
- The Saturday Sessions: The Dermot O'Leary Show
(2007) - "In Other Words"
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.
- 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 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."
References
- http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Ben-Kweller-Biography/17E2F30FD6B99A3A48256C3000031B2C
- This was mentioned during an interview with Marc Riley on BBC 6music on December 4, 2008.
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:jifyxqwhldke
- http://www.stanforddaily.com/article/2002/4/5/benKwellerFindsTheThingsHeLoves
- http://www.benkweller.com/isite/past3.html
- http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/ben-kweller/on-my-way.htm
- http://www.benkweller.com/isite/past4.html
- http://www.ziarecords.com/Item/8999930413
- http://www.atorecords.com/?title=artists&aid=2&what=bio
- Interview with Left Lion http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/id/1678
- Incident photo at Blogcritics.org http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/09/17/093929.php
- Rolling Stone review ACL performance http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/11717282/the_10_best_shows_at_austin_city_limits_2006/2