The man who rocked Spring Jam
Ben Kweller, the adorable and hip Texas folk-rocker talks new album, the state of pop music.
By Jay Boller
spring Jam '08 was a busy one for Ben Kweller. While students (namely those living on a certain block or "row," if you will) started their boozin' in the morning and dizzily pissed away the day in the name of Spring - and umm - jamming, Mr. Kweller swooped into Minneapolis and just as quickly darted out.

In the middle of all his swooping and darting, though, Kweller did play an absolutely packed free show at Coffman's Great Hall. His set was tight as always and the University student body lapped up his effortlessly catchy hooks. Kweller was set to chat with A&E after the show, but his frantic schedule didn't allow it.

A professional and a gentlemen, he did manage a shake of hands and signed an autograph as he was hurried into a car behind Coffman Union. He was also good enough to call bright and early Sunday morning from the airport to discuss - among other topics - wolves, Sheryl Crow, the superiority of analog recording and why folks from all walks of life seem to love Ben Kweller. Freak out, It's (an interview with) Ben Kweller.

Where you flying off to?

Austin, Texas, heading home.

You recently moved from NYC back to Texas?

Yeah! Austin is my favorite city in the world. NYC is great, I love it. It was the perfect place for starting my career. But, I'm a father now and I want my kid to be able to grow up in a smaller town. I want him to be able to grow up like I did, where you can bike on the street, play in trees. I love the outdoors.

Speaking of the outdoors, I've always wondered whose awesome dogs those were on the cover of "On My Way" (Kweller's 2004 LP)?

Those were actually wolves! That's why I look so nervous in the picture. But yeah, I'm a big fan of wolves and we rented those from some animal training company in California. Their trainer kept feeding them beef jerky from a pouch so they wouldn't start gnawing on me.

I hear you're a pretty avid fisherman?

Definitely. I'm not a hunter, but I am an angler.

I'm a big fan of fishing myself.

Oh yeah? What do you fish for?

Mostly catfish at this little place on the bank of the Mississippi. It's fun. Have you heard that noise catfish make after you catch them?

Yeah, they make that *mimics high-pitch catfish snort*

*Laughs* Exactly. How are you feeling about the new record (The yet to be released "Changing Horses")?

Really excited. It's different from all my other albums, but they're all different from each other, so that doesn't say much.
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Photo Courtesy ATO Records
The shirt backs up the talk: Kweller does, in fact, like wolves.
On my old albums, they'd be peppered with a rootsy song or two and so I thought, "Why not make a whole record in that style?" It's really just getting back to my country roots. The whole process feels really authentic. We recorded it straight to tape, with no computers and with really good mics.

Will the new record be released on ATO (Dave Matthews' label, which has released all Kweller's previous solo albums)?

Well, my deal is up with ATO. We've been feeling around with other labels. I actually was ATO's first signing in '01, but I do feel changing directions in life is important. At the end of the day, that side is business and has nothing to do with the art.

In the times we live in, artists are forced to deal with the business aspect. They have to learn how to protect their art and not be taken advantage of. The goal of any creator is to find themselves in a business situation with other people who love what's being created. After the online music revolution in the early 2000s, a lot of labels changed the way they do business.

I have been courted pretty hard by Rounder Records (Allison Krauss, Ween). They're out of Massachusetts and have a lot of great folk artists.

Will the album for sure come out on an indie label?

Probably. Either an indie or my own new label (Noise Company).

You produce records as well?

Yeah, I love producing, guess that's the Jack White in me. I've been doing the solo thing for over 10 years and I'm still just 26 years old. It's crazy to see young musicians starting out who grew up on my music. I've produced records for this French artist named Pierre Guimard and that's been great. Producing records is a really fulfilling thing, to be able to help document what's going on in the studio.

What's Guimard's sound like?

He's folky with a rock edge. Like me, he loves all different types of music.

mañana subo la otra parte.
Marian




On May 22 2008 14 Views

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