Relentless 7: Ben Harper's New Band

If it's anything like SuperJam at Bonnaroo '07, I'm in. He should get with the Zep boys and make some new music with them cats. That'd be awesome.

I dig! Does sound like that beautiful night at ROO! I was there under the tree rocking! Listening to the songs on the sight, I'm sitting at work rocking!

Serve Your Soul is f***in' seck. I've been lookin' for Ben to unleash his harder side, he always hinted at it with the Innocent Criminals. Like this other guitarist he's got workin' with them.

Nice to hear he is doing something else. I love all his projects he had in the past, Blind boys and all that good stuff. Innocent criminal is by far his best act tho, Juan Nelson probly top 5 of my favorite bass player of all time.

I didn't see him do the super jam ( Because of Cheese) But I heard unless you were really close you got fucked!

I've always been more of a fan of Ben's weisenborn-driven heavier shit. Fight For Your Mind era stuff. This sounds like it might be like that.

By the Way...Serve Your Soul was on one of his previous albums...Both Sides of the Gun if I'm not mistaken.

Tottaly agree, Roo 07 SuperJam was off the chain.(as was cheese) Why would they put them on the smallest stage for superjam. Ya had to get there at noon to get a good spot for the late nite. <--the downfall of Roo

Come to the east coast Ben!!

the real super jam that night at roo was mule late night

I have to agree with Recreational Chemist.

Yep, Recreational Chemist and FreeHawk! That was the second Mule show I ever saw.... I was blown away!

MULE AT ROO LATE NIGHT WAS THE BEST BY FAR!!!!!

was front row. loved every bit of it

Then The flaming lips UFO show, Then Superjam. IMO.

^hmm, somebody wasnt at sts9 or hotchip

I gots a nice recording of the Mule show , anybody who wants it hit me up with a message. I was diggin STS9's late night at All Good that same year more then 'roo. Maybe it was the fog that took you into another dimension. That shit was wicked

sts9 was definatley the place to be friday night at roo. I went to the superjam expecting something else I guess, I wasnt diggin it at all, seemed sloppy or something. Mule was sat nightand definatley left the biggest impression on me musically for the weekend. I agree with the fog comment freehawk, that shits nuts

Mule Roo 07 was THE SUPERJAM of Bonnaroo!

I believe Hot Chip was in the daytime sometime on the Friday of that Bonnaroo and definitely not part of the late night shows. As for the rest, Mule was definitely the heat and was great even if you arent that much into the band due to the mad special guests they had.

I did stop by STS9 for a bit, but, while good, was pretty much like every other standard late night sts9 show Ive seen over the last 8 years. Different strokes for different folks I guess, but Bonnaroo's all about checking out different music and things you wouldn't see anywhere else. . .

^^^^ Like seeing Haynes w/ John paul mother fucking jones doing Moby DIck!

Back on topic, this heavier Harper stuff rawks! He's such an excellent rhythm and groove man, all about the tone. Can't wait for a full dose of this out on the road.

now THIS is worth reporting on..ben harper is awesome...

The Real SuperJam that night was Tool with Tom Morello. But the Ben Harper SuperJam was very nice as well.

MoeString knows something I don't about being in two places at the same time... The Flaming Lips played during Gov't Mule at roo 07, and if he was in the front row of mule, he didn't see the Lips' UFO - what an unbelievable light show! Good thing Mule was still rockin it long after the Lips returned to outer space.

Mule had John Paul Jones, Bobby, and Lewis Black partake in that dope ass superjam if my foggy memory is accurate. Although i think Lewis Black gave some spoken word, got hit with a bottle and walked off with the quickness. Anyone remember that or was i hallucinating?

Fishbone I was able to catch both shows. I was waiting for mule to start when the lips came on, and watched until wayne was bouncing in the ball and only missed the first song or two from mule. Conjugal Burning, You werent hallucinating, or maybe you were, but Lewis Black came out and said some thing like doesnt this song have fucking lyrics?" or something along those lines

hotchip was thurs night i'm pretty sure. Mule is just boring imo haynes sounds the same in everything he does.

Sweet news. Can somebody tell me where to find that superjam with Ben, JPJ, and ?uestlove? I checked the archive and can't find it. I wanted to hear this right after it happened and then kinda forgot about it. And yes, "serve your soul" was on the album "both sides of the gun" as somebody mentioned.

BTW, "Serve Your Soul" is the last song on the 2nd disc of Ben's album "Both Sides of the Gun" released in March of 2006. So this is not really a new sound out of him. Still, I'm very curious to hear a full set from these guys. By the looks of the venues that they are playing it seems he just wants to rock out some small venues with a smaller band. Should be good.

OK, don't get me wrong, I love when Ben brings the harder rock edge BUT...that is the only trick in the bag here. I've been a huge Harper fan for about 9 years now and one of the things that keeps me coming back for more is his versatility...songs so beautiful as to bring you to tears, songs that rock your face off, and everything in between. I saw Ben w/Relentless 7 for the first time at the Rock the Vote show in Milwaukee 11/2. These guys just rocked hard the whole time. The drummer is awesome and really pounds, but that is all that he does...there were no dynamics. The bassest grooves hard but again, that's it. The guitarist is OK, with a nice standard rock sound, but nothing special...certainly not in Ben Harper's league. After seeing them I hoped that it was just a band that he put together for that short Rock the Vote tour...but it's the new band??? These guys don't hold a candle to The Innocent Criminals. I hope this is just a phase for Ben, a chance to get out and unleash the beast. I miss the Innocent Criminals and acoustic breaks already.

Well, I hate to say you're wrong but you are. There are people like myself who have never been Ben Harper fans for one reason or another. I don't doubt the man's talent, but it's always felt a little safe for me. I've always thrown Ben into the Jack Johnson type scene. Not my deal

Now that said, when I found out these 3 guys were going to be Ben's new backing band, I am immediately jazzed. I see the potential. Jordan and Jesse are an AMAZING rhythm section. Jordan is like a young John Bonham, he is a bad mofo. If you talk to players in Austin, they would tell you Jason is one of the best in a town full of great, even legendary, guitar players.

All that said, anyone who is a Ben Harper fan should be VERY excited for the upcoming new album and tours. This is going to dominate, like very few bands do these days.

Sounds pretty dang good to me.

Listen to "Purple Rain" on there myspace!!

I think this is GREAT news. I'm very excited for some hard rocking Ben Harper stuff. All of his prior stuff has been good, and the variety is always a nice mix of his incredible singing voice, soft ballad classics, and hard rocking favorites. However, sometimes you're just in the mood to rock out, and after his last "fancy, sit down" tour with the Innocent Criminals, I think that a little heavy Ben is just what is called for.