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Listen to Band of Horses' new album Cease To Begin on MySpace and/or Rhapsody...
By: Kayceman
"I started [Band of Horses] because the band I was in [Carissa's Wierd] broke up and there was really nothing for me to do. I don't have any skills to go into the work force and actually make a living for myself, which I've proven by being totally down and out many times. So, if anything, there is the drive I guess to just, to fucking succeed," says 29-year-old high school dropout and rising indie stud Ben Bridwell. "It's a drive to do this and to pull everything I have within myself to try to share some emotion. To express joy and sadness or whatever but also to, I don't know, just try to stab people and make them feel emotion."
If there's one thing Bridwell is doing right, it's tapping emotions. He's not the most talented guitarist, he's self-conscious on stage and hides behind a warm mountain of reverb when he sings, but when all the pieces line up, it's magic. Bridwell broke on the scene with Band of Horses' 2006 masterpiece Everything All The Time, which shocked the music world by selling over 80,000 units. This was his first foray into songwriting and frontman duties. Prior to Everything, Bridwell bounced around the country, slept in doorways, started a record label to put out albums by his friend's group Carissa's Wierd and eventually joined the band to play drums. No one, not even Bridwell himself, had any idea what he was capable of. In fact, Bridwell still has no clue how good he is. "I tend to self-doubt," he says. "I constantly think I'm a douchey shit-bag."
He's a reluctant, self-deprecating star, but a star nonetheless. For many, this writer included, it was "The Funeral" off Everything that cemented their love of this band with a special, new voice. And again, it all comes down to the emotion. I was in Africa when "The Funeral" took over my life. I had just found out my mother passed away and I was heading from the Serengeti to Nairobi, where I would embark on a 36 hour journey against the sun to plan the funeral. I sat on a dirty, hot, dilapidated bus and listened with wet, closed eyes to Bridwell. His tarnished voice easing me in some strange way, reminding me that pain is part of life – a really big part. With my wife next to me, and Band of Horses in my head, I made it home.
When music speaks to your soul, when it creeps into your being, attaching itself and flowing through your veins, you know you've found that "X Factor" that takes art to a different level. When a song is capable of giving us strength and reminding us we are not alone but part of something larger, all floating together on this rock around the sun, it becomes more than notes and words. It is a foothold to the higher power that resides in us all. Coming off a debut of this magnitude, one that seemed to drop out of nowhere from the heavens to captivate the nation, I was sure the follow-up would be a letdown. It wasn't only the sophomore slump or the fact that I just didn't believe a rookie like Bridwell had another one in him, but Band of Horses co-founder and the far more musically experienced half of the duo, Mat Brooke, departed after the debut, leaving the whole bag in Bridwell's lap. How could Bridwell ever record an album anywhere near the same league as Everything All The Time? Cease to Begin (released October 9 on Sub Pop) would be lucky to just stay afloat. Talk about selling a fella short. Sorry Ben. I just didn't realize you were one of "them." It appears that Ben Bridwell has got "It" because Cease To Begin is another incredible piece of work which debuted by moving more than 20K the first week, landing them right around the Top 40.
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It's a drive to do this and to pull everything I have within myself to try to share some emotion. To express joy and sadness or whatever but also to, I don't know, just try to stab people and make them feel emotion. -Ben Bridwell
Photo of Ben Bridwell at Echo Mountain Studios in North Carolina
By Andy Tennille |
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If I'm Lost, It's Only For a Little While
Cease To Begin has a different vibe than Everything All The Time. The massive amount of press that's been packing magazine pages and filling space online is quick to jump on the idea that this shift from bigger, indie guitars to a more laidback, countrified approach was inspired by a move from Seattle back home to South Carolina. While this may be partially true, Bridwell says, "There's that whole connotation, and I just don't know. At the same time, a lot of those songs [on Cease To Begin] were written while I was still living in Seattle and hadn't quite decided on moving. So, it's weird to think that it was so influenced by being in the South [and] that's why it's more country. That's just kind of what I was gearing towards writing these new songs. I had messed around with it in the past, and really just wanted to explore writing some American roots kind of jammers."
While there are clear differences between the albums, two constants remain: Phil Ek's (Built To Spill, Modest Mouse) masterful production and Bridwell's voice. Inside his unique, slight drawl you can feel his vulnerability but also his strength, like he knows what it means to hurt but is able to carry on, to shoulder the weight and take whatever the world might throw his way. This dichotomy is critical to Band of Horses, both in how Bridwell sings and what he sings about. "There's two sides to every story, at least. I think it's important to show the silver lining with the dark cloud and if anything, the songs are usually about little lessons I've learned," says Bridwell. "I try to at least show both sides of the emotion there. There's always something, like with 'Monsters' [from Everything], the [line], 'If I'm lost it's only for a little while.'"
 Ben Bridwell by Yang |
Bridwell has carried his simple yet deep songwriting from the debut into Cease. His songs are never crystal clear. They're shaded in reverb and left open to interpretation, capable of meaning all things to all men. Take "Ode to LRC," the second track on the album. "LRC" stands for "Little Red Caboose," a lodge of sorts that Bridwell stayed at by the beach in the middle of nowhere with no light, no cell reception and not much of anything. "I found these journal books that had documented people staying in there for maybe 20, 25 years or something like that of people coming to this caboose and going through personal hardships and why they came to the caboose. It's almost like a pilgrimage that some people took with this place. [Some] would come multiple times to just get out in nature or some of them had been going through hard times in their life, whether it was people with diseases who were dying or families breaking up and shit like that," says Bridwell. "I got a personal glimpse into what these people were going through while they stayed at this Little Red Caboose." What's so interesting is the refrain that Bridwell came up with for the song. Instead of dark sadness he sings, "The world is such a wonderful place," and the beauty is we believe him. And it's not in some hippie-dippie rainbow way. It's with the understanding that even with the pains and struggles and death we live with, they're all beautiful and it's all part of our shared experience as people right here, right now.
When pushed to describe inspiration for other songs Bridwell points to the anthemic rocker that kicks off the album, "Is There A Ghost," which repeats the title throughout. "I live in this big house by myself and my girlfriend was in Minneapolis. Creighton [Barrett - drums] and Rob [Hampton - bass], the two band members that had moved from Seattle with me, were living in a different house a couple miles away that we could practice in. So, I really just wanted to have this house to myself. I hadn't lived alone in so long that I just wanted to be able to write this record basically and be able to sing loud and know that no one's listening. Sometimes that was great, other times I would totally go into maybe like, I don't want to say drug-fueled paranoia bouts, but somewhere along those lines of being maybe way too paranoia-stoned and hearing like the icemaker drop a new tray of ice and being a scaredy cat," laughs Bridwell.
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I think now we've become even more of a band than Band of Horses ever has been... I almost think Band of Horses is becoming more than just me, finally. -Ben Bridwell
Photo of Band of Horses from MySpace/Christopher Wilson |
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CH-CH-CH-CHANGES
"I feel like I'm learning new things all the time," remarks Bridwell. "There's still a lot of room to grow." Which makes sense considering he's only been writing, singing and playing guitar for a couple of years. However, more than developing his voice, learning how to breath and quitting smoking (something producer Phil Ek insisted on), Bridwell had to deal with the realities of BoH co-founder and longtime musical partner Mat Brooke leaving the band. He's been hesitant to address the issue head-on, but also realizes this is part of his story now. "It affected me, and we don't talk about this too much, just in respect to each other's personal lives, but it was definitely a loss," reflects Bridwell. "It was definitely inspirational for a lot of the songs [on Cease], just me and Mat loosing touch."
If you listen, you can hear themes of loss, longing and distance on Cease To Begin. On "No One's Gonna Love You," Bridwell croons:
It's looking like a limb torn off
Or altogether just taken apart
We're reeling through an endless fall
We are the ever-living ghost of what once was
When things start splitting at the seams now
The whole thing's tumbling down
Bridwell could be singing about lost love, a friendship that withers, growing older or a number of other things but when his voice reaches the breaking point and cries out it's clear that there's pain and it resonates deep within the listener.
Loosing Brooke forced Bridwell to trust other folks around and himself more. "In every way it affected how I do business," says Bridwell. "Having to do all the writing, where usually I could come to Mat when I was stuck somewhere and say, 'Mat, I need a change. I just can't figure out what to do.' Now I had to trust my own instincts, or trust Rob and Creighton." Which brings us to the true core of Band of Horses. It started as Bridwell and Brooke but now three is the magic number with Bridwell, Hampton and Barrett. Bridwell has known Barrett since they were 18 hanging out back in Charleston, SC, and the two even played in a band way back when. By the time Everything All The Time was released, while other members came and went, the rhythm section of Barrett and Hampton were Bridwell's band, and it was the three of them that moved from Seattle to Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. It's also worth noting that only these three names appear on the band's MySpace page.
So, is Band of Horses these three guys and whomever else they get to fill the gaps? Is there a permanent lineup? Will there ever be?
"It's hard to say" says Bridwell. "We have such a great group of dudes, [but] you just never know what's going to come up, different opportunities or whatever. I'm reluctant to say, 'This is our band,' but I love every single person that's playing right now. I couldn't imagine losing somebody. And I think now we've become even more of a band than Band of Horses ever has been, really, because it's now to the point where I trust these guys' talent so much and value their talents. I almost think Band of Horses is becoming more than just me, finally, where I actually feel like I could use their songwriting input and try new things, utilize the tools that we have now." Interestingly enough, a few days after speaking with Bridwell, touring member Robin Perringer (one-time Carissa's Wierd drummer and Modest Mouse multi-instrumentalist) left the group and Ashville, NC's Tyler Ramsey (who has been touring with BoH as the opening act) joined. Like the man said, you never know what's gonna happen. However, this doesn't negate the fact that Barrett and Hampton appear in it for the long haul, and one wouldn't be surprised to see the creative burden start to spread even more amongst this triumvirate.
While Band of Horses has had incredible success in the studio, playing live hasn't come quiet as easily. There have been flat performances, moments where it's almost fallen apart on stage and even angry outbursts from Bridwell at himself or the crowd. The shifting nature of touring musicians, the fact that Bridwell's only been a frontman since 2006 and his natural self-consciousness all play a part but it's starting to gel. "Performing is becoming more of a joy for me, especially after doing a second record and having more songs that we can bring to people that they'll actually know and not get bored of quickly," says Bridwell. "It's becoming my favorite part of this whole job, getting to sing, and getting to put out a good vibe. I really want to make sure that, because I've had troubles in the past with getting upset at shows or whatever, I really just want to have a good time and know that the crowd is digging it."
LIVING THE DREAM
The rise from homeless transient to hard luck bartender to Band of Horses rock star has been a long and winding road for Bridwell. Yet in two short years he's managed to record two of the best albums of the past decade and shows no sign of slowing down. In fact, it's conceivable that Bridwell is just now finding his voice with his strongest work yet to come. Every major music magazine has praised the young bucks and Rolling Stone just named Band of Horses "the most promising young guitar group going." So what are Bridwell's dreams now?
"I guess I'm living 'em," he says with a surprised tone that makes you think he's not even sure how he got here. "I wouldn't know what more I'd really need. I love what we're doing. I love playing small places and I love playing big places. I think we're at a great time right now where we get to experience both and still keep a very laidback vibe sometimes, if need be. And not stress too much. I think right now I wouldn't change a thing. Of course it'd be nice to be the biggest band in the world or whatever, but there's always the more money, more problems [factor]. Right now I love my life and I love the people that are in the band and all the people that I'm surrounded by. I couldn't be happier."
Band of Horses "Is There A Ghost"
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