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Exposed to music at a young age by his father Howard Kweller, Ben Kweller learned to play the drums at a mere seven years of age. When Kweller’s father returned from being the town’s first doctor in the evening, he would sing and play guitar, and young Kweller would play drums along to The Beatles, The Hollies and Jimi Hendrix. Having been taught how to play the highly-covered song “Heart and Soul” by neighbour Nils Lofgren, Kweller subsequently used the chord to create his own compositions.
In 1993 Kweller formed the group Radish with local drummer John Kent and bassist Ryan Green. Together Radish independently released two albums “Hello” in 1994 and “Dizzy” in 1995, the latter of which earned an unexpected bidding war from labels, and Radish eventually signed to Mercury Records. After releasing the full-length “Restraining Bolt” and making appearances on “The Weird Al Show”, “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and “Late Show with David Letterman”, the band developed a cult following in the UK, aided by the Top 40 hit “Little Pink Stars”. As a result of a label merger, the band’s subsequent album was never released and the Kweller decided pursued a solo career.
After moving to New York, U.S. aged 19, Kweller self-released four EPs including the unreleased Radish album “Discount Fireworks”. Another EP “Freak Out, It’s Ben Kweller” caught the ear of Evan Dando of The Lemonheads, and Kweller subsequently signed with ATO Records, releasing the five-track EP “Phone Home” in 2001. The singer-songwriter’s full-length “Sha Sha” arrived a year later earning a grassroots following for the largely word out mouth method of advertising it adopted.
In 2003, Kweller, alongside Ben Folds and Ben Lee, toured Australia as The Bens and crafted a self-titled four-track EP, followed a year later with his sophomore album “On My Way”. Noted for its live recording with little overdubs and no use of headphones, Kweller supported the album with his most extensive tour to date, co-headlining with Death Cab for Cutie.
Playing all the instruments himself on the record, Kweller’s eponymously-titled third studio-album, released in 2006, was followed by another supporting tour in which the musician expanded his band to a five-piece. In 2009 his fourth full-length album “Changing Horses” was issued, after it had been leaked on to the internet, featuring more country arrangements than its predecessors. Kweller subsequently released “Go Fly a Kite” on his own label, The Noise Company, in 2014.
Given the lo-fi and intimate nature characterizing the music of Bright Eyes one might wonder how they can deliver an hour and half set without tiring the audience. This is truly a naive misconception. Their live performances are delivered with such potent emotional resonance and directness that the audience is left begging for more. At the Atlanta Tabernacle show during "The People's Key Tour" some fans were so ecstatic after the performance they nearly did a flip over the railing to grab a setlist.
The music of Bright Eyes also goes so much further than the lo-fi folk stigma attached to them. They have proven themselves to be dextrous and eclectic musicians crossing in to several disparate genres. "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" saw them channeling the synth-pop and dark wave sound championed by their contemporaries and fellow label mates The Faint. After all Conor Oberst was in the band Commander Venus with the group's lead singer Todd Fink well before the existence of either one of their current bands. Their 2007 album Casadaga takes a completely different approach stylistically to "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" and a turn production wise comparative to their early recordings. It is a lush Country album filled with well defined instrumentation, but juxtaposed by Oberst's signature cutting lyrics. The setlist of a Bright Eyes show is sure to have the stripped down folk ballads written on the hearts of every diehard fan, but it is not lacking in the "more fun" nevertheless sardonic pop hits like "Four Winds" and "Lover I Don't Have to Love".
Though the genre of emo has been triumphed, abused and often rejected by the very people to whom it was first applied, it seems without a doubt appropriately attributed to the music of Bright Eyes. These "emo" shows are particularly enjoyable to go to because the entire audience seems to mutually offer their souls as a sacrifice to the performing band. Practically the whole venue knew all the lyrics at the Bright Eyes show I was attending and some of the fans were so emotionally invested in the performance they started to tear their hair out during the song "Road to Joy".
Despite presiding stigmas attached to bands such as Bright Eyes it is safe to say there are no dull moments at their shows. Judging from their lyrics they may seem like a band who take themselves too serious, but these preconceived notions vanish upon seeing them. Oberst is constantly cracking jokes and engages the audience in witty banter. Band members Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott have their performance down to a science playing with amazing precision and feeling, making for an unforgettable show.
I saw Ben Kweller a while ago in Detroit when he was on tour with Pete Yorn. He was the opening act so we were excited to get to see our lover first – we got to the front row and loved every second of it. It was a very small venue and Ben played all his songs acoustically with no band up there with him. We kept yelling for him to play our favorite song – Thirteen. He finally said “Okay.” And played it, just for us!! Just him on his piano and us singing along like crazy. At the time he had a new album out, but he didn’t overplay his new songs – he had a good mix of new and old. The show was so intimate and he was so sweet the whole entire time. After the show he stayed at the merch table and met everyone in the semi long line. We got a picture, talked to him for a while and got our shirts signed. It was a great experience and we were so excited to be there.
Ben Kweller is an indie artist with similarities to Death Cab for Cutie and Bon Iver. His memorable lyrics and acoustic sound is definitely his main draw.