At an age when most of us were worrying about our acne, Australia-born singer-songwriter Ben Lee was in a band called Noise Addict, touring the world, and making records that garnered the praise of no less than Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and the Lemonhead's Evan Dando. At 16 he made his first solo record, Grandpaw Would, followed by 1997's Something to Remember Me By, and his most commercially successful record to date, 1998's Breathing Tornadoes. Numerous setbacks, following the release of Tornadoes, forced Lee into a semi-exile from which he has only just now returned - with two new records. One is an EP from the Bens, consisting of Lee, Ben Folds, and Ben Kweller, and the other is an excellent new solo disc, Hey You. Yes You.:
Keith Daniels: Ben! Where you at now?
Ben Lee: I'm here in L.A. I'm visiting my friend Jason Schwartzman on the set of his movie. I'm just sitting outside of Borders, somewhere in L.A.
KD: You co-wrote a song with him on your new album, right?
BL: Exactly, yeah. We co-wrote the song "Chills", and we've been writing a bit together. It's a good partnership, because he loves starting ideas, and I love finishing them.
KD: How does that work for you, writing a song with somebody else?
BL: Well, it all works differently, but that particular way... Jason is full of ideas. Little musical ideas that go for five seconds, and for me the whole thing is starting. It has to be a burst of inspiration. I never write just out of boredom, or anything, so sometimes I hear a few of his ideas and I'm just like "Yes! I know what to do." and I just pretty much write the rest of the song. Other times, with some people, you write music, and you just fully go through everything together. It's always different.
KD: It's been a while now since your last album came out. What happened?
BL: Yeah, it's been like four or five years or something. All kinds of stuff, really. It felt like, from when I was 14 to when I was 20, or 21, I didn't stop. Every school holiday I'd make an album, or go out on tour. It almost felt like the universe was forcing me to slow down, the way it does, y'know, and just reassess. There were all kinds of obstacles. People died around me, and the label collapsed, and September 11, and all these things just kept popping up and causing me to... just saying "You're not ready. You're not ready to record. Wait, wait, wait." Then, finally, I did it, and I just feel like I'm in a much better place. I guess I have better perspective, y'know?
KD: How old are you now?
BL: 25.
KD: Do you still look back and enjoy the work that you did in your mid-teens?
BL: I kindof feel like... What I have come to terms with is the fact that my process, and my experimentation, and my coming into being as an adult are public record. I think a lot of artists come out of the box fully formed. Y'know what I mean? Like the Strokes, or [some other] band that has obviously spent hours and hours thinking about how they're going to be perceived, and what their music will be like. It's much more like... you get a package deal. I feel like, with me, my whole thing was much sloppier than that, but, in a way, much more human. I've changed styles. I've made mistakes. When I look back at my work I think I was always very honest, and my intentions were always very pure. So that's kindof how I rationalize the different things I've gone through.
KD: That's also something you have in common with Ben Kweller, whom you worked with in the Bens. Was that something that you guys bonded over?
BL: Definitely. I find myself more and more surrounded by people who started work really young. My girlfriend [Claire Danes], Jason Schwartzman, Ben Kweller, these are all people who started doing what they're doing when they were probably not emotionally equipped [laughs] to handle all the rejection and success... all the stuff that comes with being an artist in the public eye. So, that's definitely something you really do bond over, and informs a personality in an interesting way, y'know?
KD: How long have you been coming to the States on a regular basis?
BL: Probably since I was 15, when I made Grandpaw Would in Chicago. From then I was coming pretty much all the time. I pretty much moved [here] when I was 18, so that was seven years ago.
KD: What was your impression when you first got here?
BL: I just remember my first day off the plane, I went to a Chinese restaurant in L.A., and I got a fortune cookie that said "America is a place where people can invent themselves." That was, to me, the most apt description of this country, and it's really stuck with me still, y'know? There's just something about... I think the intentions are very good of what this country needs to represent. It doesn't always get full realized, but it's about having the freedom to create an identity and a lifestyle that's good for you. I still feel like... I love America. It's just where it's at. It's where all the problems happen. It's where all the good stuff comes from. Well, not all the good stuff, but y'know. I feel pretty connected to this country.
KD: You worked with Dan the Automator on this new album. Did you seek him out because you felt like you needed to change styles? You use a lot of electronic beats on this album, for example.
BL: Well, I've known him for probably six or seven years, so it was just one of those things where I was looking for a producer, and suddenly I bumped into him one night and put two-and-two together. It just seemed logical that... there was an element of, I liked his work. There's a kind of dirtiness to it, and he likes to leave edges on things - which I was interested in. I don't really believe that relationships like that are choice, y'know? You come to certain forks in the road where you're held to go somewhere. When I make records, I don't make the record I wanna make. I make the record I need to make. I just try and be open to what I have to do, and it was good to work with Dan.
KD: Your songs seem to come from the power-pop tradition, like the Beatles and Big Star...
BL: For me it was more like the Pet Shop Boys, and Roxy Music. Records my sisters had like Fleetwood Mac; stuff on the radio. It was always pop music. I mean, I love jazz, I love classical, but it doesn't speak to me in the same way. There's something about a song that's so blue-collar, it's so utilitarian. It's like we use songs. They have a very functional purpose. They have a point. I love that about pop music.
KD: When you heard your songs done in this more experimental style, was there part of you that resisted that?
BL: Well, there's only a couple of songs that were really... like I felt like "Still on the Line", the last song on the album, a really dissident, droney song, that's definitely brand new territory, but I feel like Dan actually... He's very conservative in the way he works. I think he comes from a pretty similar... like; we'd both watch MTV all the time and talk about No Doubt. We are both pretty much pop-culture junkies. Even like Can, and the more weird shit that we like, we always like the more conservative pop elements of those artists. So, I feel like in some ways there wasn't as much experimentalism on this record as what people traditionally might expect.
KD: How did the Bens come together? Where did that idea come from, other than the names obviously?
BL: Basically, I think we were all going to tour Australia separately, and Folds was in the shower one day and he was like "Man, we should do it together." and we were all in the shower with him, so we all just nodded in agreement. Yeah, basically, just did it. It just came out of a place of making music, like real pleasure. We went in and recorded four songs in four days, and tried to work from a place that was very spontaneous.
KD: Was it interesting to see the different roles that each of you would take? Each of you is a front man.
BL: Definitely, and Folds had a great analogy. "Every band needs a heart, a brain, and balls." When you have a three-piece people alternate those roles. In some songs one of us would vibe more for a certain cerebral element, or a gut element, or just a groove. Yeah, you really get to get inside the head of each other's songs, and each other's process.
KD: So what are you looking forward to in the near future?
BL: Well, I did a video for "No Room to Bleed", and basically just touring. I'm about to go to Australia, and touring with my friends Waikiki and Longwave. I kindof feel like I've been out of the loop. Five years ago I knew all the bands on the road that you'd bump into, and now it's like a different generation of musicians. I don't know where my music is going to fit into the fabric of American pop-culture now. That's pretty much in the hands of fate, whether people will be interested or not, but I'll just go out and do the best shows I can do - and keep growing and changing, and see what happens.
KD: That's funny. You're 25, and now you're the Old Man on the road.
BL: Yes! I don't know all these White Stripes and the Vines. I haven't met any of these people. It's funny. There was a changing of the guard, and that's always cool, and it's always good for pop music. You go to a Dashboard Confessional show and it's all 13 year-olds. They certainly never heard my record five years ago - they were 8! It's just a really different scene.
Ben Lee's new CD, Hey You. Yes You., hits stores today. More information at Ben Lee.com.
Keith Daniels: Ben! Where you at now?
Ben Lee: I'm here in L.A. I'm visiting my friend Jason Schwartzman on the set of his movie. I'm just sitting outside of Borders, somewhere in L.A.
KD: You co-wrote a song with him on your new album, right?
BL: Exactly, yeah. We co-wrote the song "Chills", and we've been writing a bit together. It's a good partnership, because he loves starting ideas, and I love finishing them.
KD: How does that work for you, writing a song with somebody else?
BL: Well, it all works differently, but that particular way... Jason is full of ideas. Little musical ideas that go for five seconds, and for me the whole thing is starting. It has to be a burst of inspiration. I never write just out of boredom, or anything, so sometimes I hear a few of his ideas and I'm just like "Yes! I know what to do." and I just pretty much write the rest of the song. Other times, with some people, you write music, and you just fully go through everything together. It's always different.
KD: It's been a while now since your last album came out. What happened?
BL: Yeah, it's been like four or five years or something. All kinds of stuff, really. It felt like, from when I was 14 to when I was 20, or 21, I didn't stop. Every school holiday I'd make an album, or go out on tour. It almost felt like the universe was forcing me to slow down, the way it does, y'know, and just reassess. There were all kinds of obstacles. People died around me, and the label collapsed, and September 11, and all these things just kept popping up and causing me to... just saying "You're not ready. You're not ready to record. Wait, wait, wait." Then, finally, I did it, and I just feel like I'm in a much better place. I guess I have better perspective, y'know?
KD: How old are you now?
BL: 25.
KD: Do you still look back and enjoy the work that you did in your mid-teens?
BL: I kindof feel like... What I have come to terms with is the fact that my process, and my experimentation, and my coming into being as an adult are public record. I think a lot of artists come out of the box fully formed. Y'know what I mean? Like the Strokes, or [some other] band that has obviously spent hours and hours thinking about how they're going to be perceived, and what their music will be like. It's much more like... you get a package deal. I feel like, with me, my whole thing was much sloppier than that, but, in a way, much more human. I've changed styles. I've made mistakes. When I look back at my work I think I was always very honest, and my intentions were always very pure. So that's kindof how I rationalize the different things I've gone through.
KD: That's also something you have in common with Ben Kweller, whom you worked with in the Bens. Was that something that you guys bonded over?
BL: Definitely. I find myself more and more surrounded by people who started work really young. My girlfriend [Claire Danes], Jason Schwartzman, Ben Kweller, these are all people who started doing what they're doing when they were probably not emotionally equipped [laughs] to handle all the rejection and success... all the stuff that comes with being an artist in the public eye. So, that's definitely something you really do bond over, and informs a personality in an interesting way, y'know?
KD: How long have you been coming to the States on a regular basis?
BL: Probably since I was 15, when I made Grandpaw Would in Chicago. From then I was coming pretty much all the time. I pretty much moved [here] when I was 18, so that was seven years ago.
KD: What was your impression when you first got here?
BL: I just remember my first day off the plane, I went to a Chinese restaurant in L.A., and I got a fortune cookie that said "America is a place where people can invent themselves." That was, to me, the most apt description of this country, and it's really stuck with me still, y'know? There's just something about... I think the intentions are very good of what this country needs to represent. It doesn't always get full realized, but it's about having the freedom to create an identity and a lifestyle that's good for you. I still feel like... I love America. It's just where it's at. It's where all the problems happen. It's where all the good stuff comes from. Well, not all the good stuff, but y'know. I feel pretty connected to this country.
KD: You worked with Dan the Automator on this new album. Did you seek him out because you felt like you needed to change styles? You use a lot of electronic beats on this album, for example.
BL: Well, I've known him for probably six or seven years, so it was just one of those things where I was looking for a producer, and suddenly I bumped into him one night and put two-and-two together. It just seemed logical that... there was an element of, I liked his work. There's a kind of dirtiness to it, and he likes to leave edges on things - which I was interested in. I don't really believe that relationships like that are choice, y'know? You come to certain forks in the road where you're held to go somewhere. When I make records, I don't make the record I wanna make. I make the record I need to make. I just try and be open to what I have to do, and it was good to work with Dan.
KD: Your songs seem to come from the power-pop tradition, like the Beatles and Big Star...
BL: For me it was more like the Pet Shop Boys, and Roxy Music. Records my sisters had like Fleetwood Mac; stuff on the radio. It was always pop music. I mean, I love jazz, I love classical, but it doesn't speak to me in the same way. There's something about a song that's so blue-collar, it's so utilitarian. It's like we use songs. They have a very functional purpose. They have a point. I love that about pop music.
KD: When you heard your songs done in this more experimental style, was there part of you that resisted that?
BL: Well, there's only a couple of songs that were really... like I felt like "Still on the Line", the last song on the album, a really dissident, droney song, that's definitely brand new territory, but I feel like Dan actually... He's very conservative in the way he works. I think he comes from a pretty similar... like; we'd both watch MTV all the time and talk about No Doubt. We are both pretty much pop-culture junkies. Even like Can, and the more weird shit that we like, we always like the more conservative pop elements of those artists. So, I feel like in some ways there wasn't as much experimentalism on this record as what people traditionally might expect.
KD: How did the Bens come together? Where did that idea come from, other than the names obviously?
BL: Basically, I think we were all going to tour Australia separately, and Folds was in the shower one day and he was like "Man, we should do it together." and we were all in the shower with him, so we all just nodded in agreement. Yeah, basically, just did it. It just came out of a place of making music, like real pleasure. We went in and recorded four songs in four days, and tried to work from a place that was very spontaneous.
KD: Was it interesting to see the different roles that each of you would take? Each of you is a front man.
BL: Definitely, and Folds had a great analogy. "Every band needs a heart, a brain, and balls." When you have a three-piece people alternate those roles. In some songs one of us would vibe more for a certain cerebral element, or a gut element, or just a groove. Yeah, you really get to get inside the head of each other's songs, and each other's process.
KD: So what are you looking forward to in the near future?
BL: Well, I did a video for "No Room to Bleed", and basically just touring. I'm about to go to Australia, and touring with my friends Waikiki and Longwave. I kindof feel like I've been out of the loop. Five years ago I knew all the bands on the road that you'd bump into, and now it's like a different generation of musicians. I don't know where my music is going to fit into the fabric of American pop-culture now. That's pretty much in the hands of fate, whether people will be interested or not, but I'll just go out and do the best shows I can do - and keep growing and changing, and see what happens.
KD: That's funny. You're 25, and now you're the Old Man on the road.
BL: Yes! I don't know all these White Stripes and the Vines. I haven't met any of these people. It's funny. There was a changing of the guard, and that's always cool, and it's always good for pop music. You go to a Dashboard Confessional show and it's all 13 year-olds. They certainly never heard my record five years ago - they were 8! It's just a really different scene.
Ben Lee's new CD, Hey You. Yes You., hits stores today. More information at Ben Lee.com.
VIEW 10 of 10 COMMENTS
i'd be ben lee's pop queen in a heartbeat.