| | | |  | Turn to Webster's Dictionary and you'll find that "ripe" has a number of definitions, most of which revolve around the concept of being ready for use: "brought to perfection or the best state; completely matured." No surprise, then, that Ben Lee has...
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| Interview | Access All Areas.net.au: Firstly, Happy Birthday for two days ago. How was your day?
Ben Lee:Oh it was great. In India, there is this tradition that on your birthday, you give out gifts and things. Like school children will hand out little chocolates and stuff. So we decided to do the same thing. Me and my girlfriend baked a tuna casserole and took it down to a local food shelter. We then went and got a massage afterwards. It was just a great, easy way to spend the day.
Access All Areas.net.au: Your new album, Ripe, is about to be released out into the world. Are you looking forward to having it out there in the public?
Ben Lee:It’s different these days man. Like when it got closer to the release date, it actually meant something. It was excitement. But these days, albums are just downloaded straight off the Internet. It takes some of the potency out of making records.
Access All Areas.net.au: For the album, you worked with a lot of different people, including Mandy Moore and Benji from Good Charlotte. What brought this on?
Ben Lee:I’ve always kind of worked with people who have just been around, if you know what I mean. Like there was Liz Phair on a previous record. I think it’s just a thing of sound. The sound should be an extension of time on the record. Mandy Moore worked was someone who my producer John had worked with before. I had just finished touring with Nickel Creek and so Sara came in to help out and I had known Benji for years and he just happened to be in LA at the time. It all just kind of worked out.
Access All Areas.net.au: You were meant to be in Australia at the moment, to play the Up! Festival. What happened?
Ben Lee:I have no idea! It’s not my festival…like it was Michael Franti’s project. I was excited about it. Hopefully it will happen again. I will be coming back to play some shows though.
Access All Areas.net.au: I was just going to ask you that. When can we expect those headlining shows from you?
Ben Lee:I should be back in Australia around October. I find for the first tour for a new album is the concert for the hardcore fans. Those people who believe in my music and have a passion for it. Those shows are some of the best shows.
Access All Areas.net.au: Recently, you covered the whole Against Me! album, New Wave, citing that it was essentially a great pop album. Is there any other album from recent times that you would love to cover?
Ben Lee:I actually thought about doing The Grates album, Gravity Won’t Get You High. Other than that, not really. I actually bought Kanye West’s album yesterday. That would be cool to do. It is less poppy, but his craft is a whole lot better. Obviously, I don’t want to make a career out of covering other people’s albums (laughs), but it was fun to do.
Access All Areas.net.au: One thing that I love about your music is that it promotes that pop music can change the world. How important do you think positive music is, in today’s society?
Ben Lee:In a way, I think all music is positive. It’s all an art. I’ve written some really sad songs and people have come up to me and told me that they thought that those songs were still positive. I do think that my music and genre is structured to be positive about things. It’s like a coat I’m wearing. It’s the essence of who an artist is. I think that radio is a homogenous version of humans. We are all different people and I think that need to be realised.
Access All Areas.net.au: Speaking to Ben Kweller earlier this year, he said that The Bens could possibly be reforming. Can you tell us anymore?
Ben Lee:Well, we all want to do it. It’s hard though, you know? Like Kweller has a baby now. The first experience was so pure and spontaneous. I’d want it to come together if it worked like that.
Access All Areas.net.au: Now I’ve also heard rumours floating around that you might be playing at the Big Day Out next year. Is there any truth to this?
Ben Lee:I love festivals. I think they are brilliant. You get a change to see so many different artists at one time. I haven’t heard that rumour. I’m open to playing festivals and stuff like that. I haven’t seen an offer yet though, but you’ll be the first to know if I get one (laughs).
Access All Areas.net.au: After meeting them and hearing some demos, you signed band Pony Up! to your record label, Ten Fingers Records. How important do you think supporting independent music is?
Ben Lee:To me it’s natural. A band helped me, and so I think it’s only fair that I help out a band. It’s just a natural order of things. Sometimes just wearing a band t-shirt can help them out. It’s actually not correct if I don’t help out other artists. And what is wrong with wanting a lot of good music out there? I think that it’s just a natural way. It shouldn’t be there is only a small space for good music. The more people get out there, the better.
Interview by Simon Finck
Interview - 25th February 2006
Access All Areas.net.au: How do you best describe your style of music?
Ben Lee: I write Pop songs!
Access All Areas.net.au: Gamble Everything For Love' is the new single, what was it that you were relating to when writing this song?
Ben Lee: This song came out in about 4 minutes. I remember Angie Hart calling me mid-writing and I just couldn’t stop the flow to chat to her – “Gotta Go! Song coming in!” It’s all about risk isn’t it? Vulnerability. The strongest thing in the world is water, love and compassion - seem like real signs of strength to me.
Access All Areas.net.au: The idea behind the video clip for your new single 'Gamble Everything For Love', how did that come about?
Ben Lee: I was talking to Nash about wanting to make something full of spontaneity and tenderness. He had the idea of a relationshop over the course of a night. He knew Penny and we got together and connected pretty well. So we just spent the night wandering around Sydney pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend. There are worse ways to spend an evening.
Access All Areas.net.au: So, tell me about this new album you have got coming out 'Awake Is The New Sleep' and how the name for it came about?
Ben Lee: Waking Up seems to be an adequate metaphor for the week we’ve all gotta do now. If we’re gonna make any major change in the world it has to start with each of us changing our own consciousness. Hopefully this record can be some kind of catalyst for people who are ready to live a life of deeper joy and connection. I love this album!
Access All Areas.net.au: Some of your lyrics are a little nonsensical, how do your lyrics come together... how does song writing happen for Ben Lee?
Ben Lee: Sense never got me anywhere. Logic seems like a sham. The world of the heart is better than illogical – it’s translogical! Beyond reason is intuition and that’s where I write from. Without getting too freaky on you, I don’t fell like I even write the songs mostly. They are like gifts from my muse when I’ve been a good boy.
Access All Areas.net.au: You're about to go on tour again around Australia and you've recently toured the US, do you ever get tired of the touring aspect of your career as you seem to be on the road most of the time?
Ben Lee: I tour non-stop. It seems like the best way to communicate my musical message and playing live is very satisfying. I can imagine choosing to slow it down at some point bu I’m 26, full of drive and a sense of purpose. I’m not stopping yet.
Access All Areas.net.au: Cigarettes Will Kill You and Something Borrowed Something Blue are probably the best known Ben Lee songs here, What do you think is the appeal of these songs? What is the story behind them?
Ben Lee: Wow. I have no idea what makes a song popular. It might have something to do with a balance between detail and universality (is that the word?). It’s gotta feel uniquely yours and at the same time belong to the world all of my songs that have been “hits” or whatever you call them have been train of consciousness rants. More about a feeling than a story. A certain kind of strength.
Access All Areas.net.au: You seem to have a quirky sense of humour, what with song titles like Ship My Body Home, Cigarettes Will Kill You, Running With Scissors.
Ben Lee: Do you feel people understand your work? Is there in fact anything to understand?
Some people understand everything after hearing one song, others listen to my records inside out and still don’t seem to get it. There’s no rules. I hope in some way my music helps free people’s imaginations. If they feel better about life after they hear my songs, then I think they have understood something.
Access All Areas.net.au: Is there any one song that you're really proud of?
Ben Lee: I like ‘No Right Angles’. This song is a code that I don’t think can be cracked!
Access All Areas.net.au: You have been doing this for some time now, since around 14 years old, What have you noticed in the way of changes to the music industry in that time? What has changed in terms of the way you see your own career?
Ben Lee: I try and keep my eyes on my own game. The industry changes, trends come and go, but I keep writing my songs. You can’t chase the industry. I used to feel that always being different was hurting my career, now I realize it’s my greatest asset.
Access All Areas.net.au: You have given acting a go, with The Rage In Placid Lake, is that something you'd do again?
Ben Lee: I’m open to anything that feels right. I’m a professional adventurer. |
| Biography | Turn to Webster's Dictionary and you'll find that "ripe" has a number of definitions, most of which revolve around the concept of being ready for use: "brought to perfection or the best state; completely matured."
No surprise, then, that Ben Lee has named his sixth album Ripe. Having spent fully half of his 28 years crafting some of the catchiest tunes to be heard at discriminating radio everywhere, Lee is now poised to reap the same kind of mass appeal that he's already established in his native Australia - where he's taken home four ARIA Awards (Australia's version of the Grammys®).
"I think this record will connect with anyone who has a genuine love of pop music," Lee says of his second effort for New West Records (US)/Inertia Records (Australia). "This isn't about using 'pop' as a means to a fast buck, or in a condescending way - it's about how things used to be, when quality pop records won out, and the best selling records were, simply, the best records."
Produced by John Alagia (John Mayer, Dave Matthews Band, Ben Folds), Ripe represents a new pinnacle for Lee, whether it's the on the album's first single, "Love Me Like The World Is Ending," the piano-led march against apathy that is "Numb," the joyously charming tribute to "American Television" (replete with exultant "woo-hoo-hoo"s on the chorus) or the catchy duet with Mandy Moore, "Birds and Bees," inspired by the Grease classic "Summer Lovin'."
"That fell together pretty easily," Lee says of the Moore connection. "I'd been thinking a lot about how innate the search for love is for people, and after I wrote it I went to a Mandy Moore show. Backstage she told me she was a fan, and it just came to me that she'd be the perfect voice on the track. I really had no Plan B - Mandy was just so perfect!
Ripe also benefits from guest appearances by members of pop band Rooney on "American Television," "Birds And Bees," and "Is This How Love's Supposed To Feel?" and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte on "Sex Without Love". Both bands have long been "good mates" of the melodious master.
"That's one of the joys of being in the music game for a long time," Lee enthuses. "You meet the occasional young band who are still learning how to change their guitar strings, and the next thing you know - bang! They've sold a gazillion records."
Even for an industry that sometimes cherishes youth above all else, Lee's career is something of a surprise: the singer/songwriter headed the well-regarded teen-pop act Noise Addict when he was 14, drawing the attention of such well-respected names as Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and the Beastie Boys' Mike D., who released Lee's first two solo albums on their Grand Royal label.
"It was a slow and steady, but ridiculously early start," Lee laughs. "But overall I'd say it gave me an advantage. I've learned what to do, and what not to do. Ben Folds said I have the best of both worlds: I'm a veteran and a late bloomer at the same time!"
Lee's first New West/Inertia release, 2005's Awake is the New Sleep, was the one to put him over the top: that was the album that won him the four ARIAs and contained the worldwide smash "Catch My Disease," as heard on everything from TV shows Grey's Anatomy and Hidden Palms to a massive Dell computer TV ad campaign.
"That song was like a fungal virus; it just kept growing and growing over two-and-a-half years," he says. "I wrote it at a time when I was looking very seriously at my music career and wondering if maybe I should try something else. It seemed like everyone had a cause - Bono with Africa, that sort of thing - and it became clear to me that what I could do was simply bring people joy through pop songs. I realized that people came to my shows for comfort and release, and I started to really believe that I had something to give them.
"It was," he concludes, "a classic instance of the right song at the right time."
Such an event has become a theme for Lee, not only on Ripe but also for his life in general. "It's all about timing," he says. "The longer I make music, the longer I exist, I see that everything is timing. I've ripened as a human being, and now I have a sense of readiness, that I can contribute something I don't see anyone else doing."
Lee is also readying himself for the completion of Ben Lee: Catch My Disease, a seven-years-in-the-making documentary by his friend Amiel Courtin-Wilson, "who's interviewed everyone I've ever known, played with, and slept with," he laughs. "It's quite jarring to let someone in like that, but the results should be pretty interesting."
Now based in Los Angeles, Lee still maintains an ever-widening group of friends and fans around the globe, a sure testament to the universal appeal of his music.
"I hope this album opens people's hearts," he says. "I don't push a particular thing to believe in or political point of view; I'm interested in helping people discover their own feelings. I hope that Ripe touches people and gives them hope and courage."
"Personally, of course, I hope it sells a truckload of copies and makes me the international pop superstar I was destined to be," he laughs. |
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