Up Close and Personal with Ben Kweller

We were lucky enough to grab a few minutes to catch up with our friend and indie rock song writing genius Ben Kweller last week after his show here in Boulder, CO, at the Fox Theater. His new self titled album is in stores and on iTunes now. Ben was soft spoken, introspective and completely rocked the stage. You asked the questions, we got the answers. We spoke about fatherhood, show-ending bloody noses, Bob Dylan’s Genius, composing music, and all things Kweller. We think you’ll enjoy our interview with him below! Make sure to click ‘Read More’ to see the whole interview.

Josh Spear: A little birdie told us you had a child, first congratulations on becoming a father! What’s it like? And, in what way do you want the world to be different as he grows up and is say, 10? If you could make that change happen, what would it be?

Ben Kweller: You know really, that’s a hard thing– I just hope when he’s 10 that wherever we’re living, we’ll be in a neighborhood where he can ride his bike and be out all day and come home when it gets dark and I don’t have to worry about him, and go and climb trees and play Rambo or whatever or GI Joe like out in the woods you know with his buddies without me worrying about his safety because that’s what I used to do all the time in the summer time. I mean I used to go out and wouldn’t come back until it got dark, I knew to come back but my parents didn’t have to worry about me and I feel like more and more now parents are so worried about their kids it’s just kind of sad that you can’t let your kids go out. So I hope he’ll be able to do that…

JS: What’s your song writing process like? Music first? Lyrics first? Music in your head and lyrics on paper? Tell us a little bit about how, when and where you do your song writing…

BK: I basically sit down with my guitar or at the piano [JS interrupts, last time I saw you you mentioned you wrote your new song On My Way on a plane] Yep, what happened there was I was in Japan on tour [JS jokes Hey Flight Attendant, I need my guitar, pronto] Well [Ben laughs], I didn’t need my guitar because I always write the music first, okay, so like, when i was in Japan I was in my hotel room with the guitar and I had this chord progression [Ben sings] G, D, E, F#, G [Ben hums the melody], so I had that melody and it repeated over and over again, so when I was on the airplane that’s when I wrote the lyrics and I filled in the blanks, and I wrote down on my sketch pad, I wrote murderer, thief, listener, friend, lover, so like the two darks, the two lights, and the listener, the gray zone, where you start the change– that song is actually atypical for me because I wrote the lyrics by myself without the instrument because I heard the music in my head. Usually what I do is I sit down with the instrument and I come up with a chord progression of some sort and a melody will come to my head and I usually, once I have a chord progression, like whatever G, F, Am, G or whatever, I repeat it I start singing, I just freestyle words and melodies, and I don’t think about what I’m trying to say I just see what comes out and I record on a little tape recorder, and if something good happens I’ll rewind and I’ll listen to it and I’ll write down that line and I’ll work from there. That’s usually how I write 90% of my songs, music first, lyrics second– it’s really rare for me to write a lyric and then put music to it. Because for me the music dictates the words, and the feeling– you know the music dictates the feeling, so whatever mood I’m in I’ll make that kind of music and then the words will happen.

JS: Lot of blood at this years Austin City Limits festival–[Ben Interrupts yelling: Bloodbath!] Beyond that gnarly bloody nose episode, did you get to see anyone’s performances, and if so who was your favorite?

BK: You know, I’m so pissed off about that because I only saw one person perform and it was at 11:30AM and it was Pierre Germard, this French singer that I produce and I saw him because that was way before the bloody nose. I was so looking forward to seeing the raconteurs because I know Jack White and Brendan and I never saw them yet, and I missed them because I was in the hospital, and then I missed Kings of Leon because I was in the hospital, and the next day I didn’t go see Tom Petty or The Flaming Lips but I heard that Wayne Coyne did like a ten minute tribute to my bloody nose or something– I saw him the next day backstage before their gig and he was like dude, you stole my show [laughs all around] but I was like Wayne, I used real blood man. He started laughing, but I love that festival so much that was the first to see any bands that I liked but I got to hang out with a bunch of them that night at the hotel.

JS: Next year you’ll come back with a vengeance…

BK: Yeah buddy, I think next year I wanna do a special Austin City Limits Ben Kweller t-shirt with like blood stains on it.

JS: You should, the pictures are like legendary now, blood all over the guitar, blood all over the keys…

BK: Totally!

JS: And our readers want to know: If you could only listen to one cd for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

BK: [Ben takes deep breath and sighs]… One CD, I was thinking about this the other day because I knew a question like this would come up. If I could take one CD with me.. you know.. it would be Another Side of Bob Dylan, just him and a guitar, it’s got one of my favorite songs. Or it would be Blonde on Blonde, or the first Violent Femmes album, or it would be Rubber Soul, or it would be Loaded by the Velvet Underground, or it would be Born In The USA– I love that album, that’s what I’ve been listening to lately, Born In The USA. Nobody likes that album but me, I love that album dude, it’s got Gray Days, it’s got I’m On Fire, it’s got Dancing In The Dark, it’s got No Surrender, it’s got fucking, Cover Me– which is a cool Springsteen song.

JS: You’re touring like crazy, do you get to write music while you’re on the road?

BK: I used to write a ton on the road, when I used to stay in hotels but now when I’m on a bus so much I don’t really spend the night in hotels very much, I sleep overnight [on the bus]. I don’t write much on the road, I do it mainly at home, I write a shit-load at my parents house, whenever I visit there I always write a bunch of songs, something about going home you know… I wrote most of my new album there, at my parents lake house.

JS: Wasn’t your dad your first music teacher?

BK: He was my music teacher when I was a little boy, he taught me drums and guitar– at least like E chord and A chord.

JS: Well the show was great and we love the new CD, thanks for your time!

BK: Thank you buddy…