Originally published in the November 21, 2002 issue of the Columbus Alive)
Ben Kweller signed his first major-label contract in 1996. He was 15 years old and the leader of a post-grunge band out of Greenville, Texas, called Radish. The band drew some attention, mostly because of the singer’s age, and was invited to play some Lollapalooza dates, open for Faith No More in Europe and appear on Late Night With David Letterman.
Radish broke up in 1999 and Kweller, then 18, packed his bags and moved to New York, where he spent time recording music and mixing it on his Apple computer. Influenced by the likes of Weezer, Jonathan Richman and Beck, that home-recorded material was self-released with the title Freak Out, It’s Ben Kweller. The CD was passed around and caught the attention of ATO Records (owned by Dave Matthews), who offered Kweller a contract and on which he released his first proper full-length, Sha Sha, earlier this year.
Kweller has been on the road for the past few weeks, alternating between his own headlining shows and opening for the Strokes (“The Strokes are the best band in the world,” he says). I caught up with him on his cell phone as he was hanging out in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on an off-day.
Your parents have been very supportive of your career. When you were younger, did they chaperone your tours?
They did, but of course, I tried to fight that as much as possible. We eventually got a tour manager and my parents would only fly out to certain shows. My parents are actually totally cool, and I’ve been really lucky to have such amazing parents. They are great friends of mine.
You moved to New York when you were just 18 years old. Did you find it a bit overwhelming when you first got there?
Definitely. It was completely intimidating and scary, but at the same time I was totally inspired by it, and it caused me to write a lot of songs about the change. The songs that were inspired were really optimistic. That’s really what Sha Sha is all about, I guess.
How did you acclimate to the New York scene and get involved with other musicians there?
I went out and made friends. My first few friends were part of the anti-folk scene—like the Moldy Peaches—and all these kids with acoustic guitars playing the open mic scene on the Lower East Side.
I found people who were like-minded and doing great things so it definitely boosted my morale and made me feel like I was doing something good.
Since then, your little black book has filled up. You’ve been associated with Juliana Hatfield, Evan Dando and Jeff Tweedy, among others. How did you come to meet people like that?
When I made Freak Out, It’s Ben Kweller, Juliana got a copy through my friend Josh and gave a copy to Evan. Evan got my number and called me and we became really good friends. He was the first person I went on tour with as a solo artist. We just literally threw two acoustic guitars in the trunk of my car and toured up and down the East Coast. Evan is one of my closest friends. Adam Green [of the Moldy Peaches] and even Julian of the Strokes—we’re pretty close. The one thing we have in common is that our jobs require traveling around everywhere. We’re always missing each other. That’s why going to play festivals is so great because you get to see all of your friends.
What’s the most rock ’n’ roll thing you’ve done on this tour?
I accidentally kicked over a table. I was putting my foot up—it was by accident, I swear. We were backstage and there was a big glass table with all these fresh vegetables and ranch dressing and stuff and I put my foot up on the table to tie my shoe and it all went flying. That’s not too rock ’n’ roll.
Last night, me, Julian, and Adam stayed up until 6 a.m. Julian came with us to Santa Fe on the bus and he’s going to meet back up with his band in Oklahoma. We stayed up all night on the bus, partying on the bus and talking music. That was nice. That was a special moment. Rock ’n’ roll, man.
Do you listen to a lot of music in your everyday, non-touring life?
Oh yeah, music is a soundtrack to life. There is nothing better than sitting in the back of a cab, going over the Brooklyn Bridge and listening to a song that just fits the moment. You feel like you’re in a movie. Or you’re just walking down the street and you see people’s mouths move to the music you’re listening to. It’s great. I’m way into my iPod. It’s amazing. I listen to a lot of different stuff, but I also listen to a lot of the same shit—it’s the Violent Femmes’ first album, Nirvana’s In Utero, Pavement’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, Bob Dylan’s Bringing It All Back Home, Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush and Carole King’s Tapestry. It’s all the same six or 10 albums.
Ben Kweller and Adam Green will perform at Little Brother’s on Saturday, November 23.
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