Oh, he's on his way alright:

Mustang Daily arts editor Brooke Robertson caught up with musical prodigy Ben Kweller, 26, on Tuesday, Aug. 28 to talk about his newest self-titled album and his career as a solo artist, stemming from his talent in music as a child and his teenage years when he dropped out of high school to tour the world with then-band Radish and hang with the likes of Brian Wilson. Despite a sore voice due to a hectic touring schedule, Kweller managed to answer some questions regarding life, relationships and sound, and his rich musical history.
Mustang Daily: On your newest CD you play every instrument. Was that kind of a backlash to “On My Way,” which I believe you said that you made in part to showcase your backing band?

Ben Kweller: “On My Way” was that, you know, it was like I wanted to document the band that I was touring with, and I wanted to make a real spontaneous album; something really raw and just live-sounding. I planned on doing that with the new album as well, but while meeting with the producer Gil Norton, he found out that I can play different instruments and drums and everything and he said, “Well let’s just go in one-on-one and make a record like that.” And it was his idea. So I thought about it for a day or two and decided that it sounded like a lot of fun, and so we decided to do that. So it was kind of like a last minute change, really.

MD: How would you describe the difference between the sounds of your albums? You already said that your last one was more raw and live, how would you describe the sound of this one and the progression from “Sha Sha”?

BK: Well, I would say this one is more orchestrated and there’s more attention towards the detail. It’s a little more meticulous I think. It’s very big-sounding, and it’s still a fun album. It’s got a good sort of summery energy to it, but also there’s some serious songs on there. It’s really autobiographical. I feel like with this one you’re really inviting me into your living room when you press play, where “On My Way” is more like, a rock band in a dingy night club, you know. And “Sha Sha” is really cool because that one’s just a real mixture of different things. That was my debut, and so I put a little bit of folk in there and punk rock and a little bit of piano ballads; that one just runs the border of what I do. And it has more of a na’ve sound to it.

MD: Most of your EPs and albums have featured up-close pictures of yourself. What’s the thought behind doing that versus doing artwork or something else . or is there one?

BK: I’ve never really thought much about that. I’m into artwork; I’ve just never found anybody that could do good artwork, really. I’m on an indie label, ATO Records, and they don’t have an art department, so we’ve never really been able to have any cool artwork. I’d love to, though; that’s something I’d be into. Sometimes fans submit stuff, but usually it’s just, like, portraits of me. I guess the albums that I’ve had so far have conformed to the classic “solo artist” style, you know? But I don’t think my next album will have a picture of me on it because I’m kind of sick of that.

MD: OK. Will you mostly be playing your latest album when you’re touring, or will you throw in songs from “Sha Sha” and “On My Way”?

BK: I play songs from all three albums. I mix it up every night; I don’t do the same set twice. I take requests; if somebody throws out a song I try to play it. I’m all about variety. There’s some songs that I don’t play very much, but I try to play every song at least once a tour.

MD: Cool. So you started playing instruments at a very young age – what drew you to music?

BK: My dad really was the biggest influence growing up because he had a drum set and taught me how to play drums when I was 7. He would play Beatles records for me and Hendrix, and really taught me about music from the ’60s and rock ‘n’ roll, so that really got it in my head. I owe it all to my father, really; he even showed me how to play an E chord on the guitar.

MD: Awesome. Can you remember the first song or the first band that really touched you?

BK: It was the Beatles. I remember standing in front of my dad’s turntable listening to “All You Need Is Love” and I was about 8 years old and I remember it made me cry. I just kept putting the needle back at the beginning and listening to it; I listened to it like 10 times in a row and was just standing there crying because it was so beautiful. I had never heard anything so pretty. I didn’t really understand the lyrics much, but the melody is what really hit me and John Lennon’s voice. And that’s when I decided that I wanted to make music. That’s just what I wanted to do; I wanted to be a songwriter and I wanted to touch people the way the Beatles touched people.

MD: Wow. That’s a really awesome, powerful memory. So . you left high school to go and tour the world with Radish. Do you ever think that you missed out on something by kind of abandoning a “normal” lifestyle?

BK: I feel like the rest of the world missed out on what I got to do. I’ve thought about it, you know, I’ve thought “Oh yeah, it’d be cool to have gone to college, or to do this or that,” but the memories that I have and the experiences that I’ve had are just different from other people. I’ve always been very different from my peers, so it kind of makes sense that my life is essentially different from the norm. I wouldn’t change a thing. I feel so lucky that I got to do so much from an early age. I feel like I had a head start; I knew really early on what I wanted to do, and so I could really just focus all my energy into that instead of trying to figure it out through my high school years and college years. Most of my friends didn’t know what they wanted to do until they were in college and still switch majors.

MD: Very cool. You’ve done so much in the first 26 years of your life – what do you see happening in the future?

BK: There’s a lot I want to do artistically; there’s a lot of music I want to make; there’s a lot of countries I want to travel to and tour and bring my music to people all over the world. I’ve started to develop a fan base in a lot of different places like Japan and Australia and Europe. I want to go to South America and tour. I also want to build my family and get a house in the country somewhere one day, have the simple life of an artist and make the records that I want to make.
MD: How much of an average day do you spend thinking about music?

BK: Gol-ly. I think about music all the time, even when I don’t think I’m thinking about music. … It’s rare for me to go a day without touching an instrument. It’s such a part of who I am. Probably when I’m brushing my teeth I’m thinking about music.

MD: In your opinion, what’s the best song you’ve ever written?

BK: I feel like there’s three or four songs that I’ve written that are . if I never write another song, ever, I’m really proud to have written them. Those are “Thirteen,” “On My Way,” I’m proud of “Falling” and “In Other Words.” But yeah, “Thirteen” and “On My Way” are my favorites.

MD: When you write songs do you usually come up with lyrics first or do you focus more on the melody?

BK: The melodies come first and then I put the lyrics in their place, sort of like puzzle pieces. There’s been a few songs where I wrote the lyrics first and then had to come up with the music, but I don’t prefer that. I like the music because the music creates emotion for me to base the lyrics off. I’m less inspired to write words just on a sheet of paper without any kind of music to go with it. It’s harder to sit down in front of a piece of paper and just write something, just dry like that. When I have music in mind it’s easier for me to paint a picture of what I want the words to be about.

MD: It seems like love and relationships are a common theme in your songs. Would you say Liz (his wife) is an inspiration for a lot of your songwriting?

BK: Oh yes, definitely. Relationships are a huge part of my music, whether it’s siblings or lovers or parents or children, anything. your friends’ relationships, the ways of life, really. What’s the most important thing in life; that’s all anyone wants to find when they die. That tends to take up 80 percent of what I write about, but the other 20 percent is going to have really funny stories, like “Penny on the Train Track,” or other random parts of life and travel, fighting the powers at hand, and sometimes I touch on politics. But love and relationships . that’s all anyone wants in life.