Ahead of his Bear in a Birdcage tour, I caught up with Tassie’s Ben Wells of Ben Wells and the Middle Names to chat about the new single, time on the road, and his band’s ever evolving sound.
Your new single “Bear in a Birdcage” has a different sound than the songs I’ve heard from you before. What inspired it?
Something we pride ourselves on is our onstage energy, so I suppose we wanted to write music that we could really let loose to and get the crowd involved in a little more. Also, with the change in the line up of the band recently we wanted to start making a different sound that suited having two lead guitars rather than a violin.
You’re about to kick off a tour of the East Coast. Are you looking forward to it?
Ah I’m so excited about going on tour. Playing live is my favourite thing and because we’re from Tassie we don’t get the opportunity to play to different crowds as often as we’d like, so we take full advantage of going on tour!
You must have the touring bug as you’ve clocked up more than 10, 000 kays in the last year alone. What is your favorite part about being on stage?
I love feeding off the crowd’s energy and the other guys in the band. It’s the only time you can really let loose. Plus you know the people who are there are there to see you play, so we don’t hold back at all.
How do you keep things fresh when you spend so much time on the road?
That’s probably the hardest part about going on tour. Making sure you eat healthy and spend lots of time doing your own thing when we aren’t playing. Going on tour is a good time to check out the rest of the country too!
Probably part of the reason you travel so much is that you live in Tasmania. When so many bands move to the mainland, what is it about the state that keeps you there?
We’ve talked about moving to the mainland before but living in Tassie has its conveniences as well. We recorded “Bear in a Birdcage” at the studio in my house, where we rehearse and write. I think it would be hard to be able to do that in a major city and be able to afford it on a musician’s wage. Plus the music scene down here is really starting to fire. There is so much good music coming out of Tassie it’s all time!
The video for “Bear in a Birdcage” is so much fun. How much input do you have in that creative process?
Thanks! I picked out the direcor (Simon Treweek) for the clip because he’s a prolific surf cinematographer and I knew he’d know what I was getting at with the song. We put a few ideas toward the clip but he knew what he was doing and he nailed it!
The song isn’t on the EP that’s out now. Can we look forward to a new EP or an album soon?
Yes! I’m super excited to get back in the studio. We’ve been doing a lot of pre-production for the next release. The plan is to record early next year. I really want to work with a producer on this release. We’ve never done it before so it would be interesting to see someone eles’s take on the songs.
You were selected by Triple J’s Unearthed initiative to perform at Falls last year, and by the festival itself to open the year before. What’s it like to play there?
Falls is such an amazing festival; the best I’ve been to and the best we’ve played at. It’s funny because I’ve always gone to Falls from a young age, and I remember saying to Nicko (guitar) when the band started out we’ll play there one day. So when we did it was something special. When you have all your friends there too, it makes it even better.
How important has Triple J’s support been for you?
It’s been really good for us, especially coming from Tassie. It helps get your music across to the rest of the country. In saying that, we’re super thankful to any radio station that plays our music!
Once this tour wraps up, what comes next?
I’ve just spent the last month travelling up the East Coast surfing and writing so once the tour is finished we’re going to work on all these new songs. We want to have about 20 or 30 songs to whittle down for the next release so we’re going to work hard on making them the best they can be.
Make sure you catch Ben Wells and the Middle Names at one of the following venues before they hole up in their studio!
7 November 2012 –Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane
8 November 2012 – Beach Hotel, Byron Bay
10 November 2012 – AmplifiedHobart
24 November 2012 –Tasmanian International Beer Fest, Hobart
30 November 2012 – The Grand Poobah, Hobart
1 December 2012 – Royal Oak, Launceston
5 December 2012 – The Workers Club, Melbourne
6 December 2012 – Beav’s Bar, Geelong
7 December 2012 – The Front, Canberra
8 December 2012 – Kittens @ Spectrum, Sydney