Life’s exciting for the members of Sydney rock outfit mrben. They’ve just finished work on their album Night & Day, and they’re preparing to unleash it at a massive show at the Annandale Hotel next month. Lead singer-songwriter Ben Wever took time out of his busy schedule to tell me more about the band, their live shows, and why we’ll fall in love with their album.
I’ve read that you have a unique style of music and songwriting. How would you describe it?
mrben’s sound is very modern, all original and would be classed as commercial, melodic rock. A little aggressive, dark at times yet full of colour throughout. Strong lyrics, powerful melodies and interesting timing signatures is our forte.
You’ve played in different bands for the last ten years. What have you found in mrben that was missing in those other outfits?
What was always missing in the other bands that we have all played in is structure, control, focus and leadership. We have all played in bands before just to play music for our selves, or to an audience of some description, but over time we realised that we were not “all” on the same page. Too many chefs can spoil the broth also, with no one really driving the ship we were kind of left to make it up as we went. Now, we have much more drive, passion for the industry and strive to be very successful. With much stronger lyrics, a real genre specific focus that has modern approaches to the songwriting fuelled by old school influences. We are very proud of what has been produced on this album
I hear mrben has been doing some gigs around Sydney lately. What do you think of the local scene?
The Sydney scene as we know it, and have known it for many years has gone through the major shrinking phases to now more of an independent scene and has put us in the right place right now. We very much understand how hard it is to stand out and be noticed, we all can sometimes predict the outcome of a gig weeks before it happens due to knowing the venue, accepting that the booking agent and or promoter is not doing much for us and if you don’t bring your own crowd “every time” then your chances of getting another gig with these people, venues etc is very slim. Without having airplay behind you and or some serious marketing dollars, it’s very hard to have great gigs time after time. In summary, the scene is still strong, the support is getting weaker.
What’s your favorite venue to play and why?
Let’s face it: bad restaurant, no customers, bad location, same result, middle of winter on a School night, even worse, so, we love the Annandale Hotel, The Bridge Hotel for example. Why? Because they are established venues that attract people to it due their reputation and location, not too mention the fact that if it’s a known venue than people assume straight away that you must be a good band to get a gig there. Having said that, if the room is full of the right people and if the band is performing well with a decent P.A system, then the smaller venues can be just as effective or even sometimes a much better intimate vibe for all.
How have the local crowds been responding to your music?
Without a doubt, if we get the chance to play in front of the right crowd on a good night, we find that the response in general is very, very positive. It can take a lot for a person to approach a band and tell them that they think that they “ROCK” but when it happens at the right times, it feels bloody good.
What is in your stereo at the moment?
I can’t speak for the whole band but I’ve got a bit of System of a Down and some Foo Fighters in my stereo. The funny thing is with mrben is, we all have such a mixed cocktail of influences that we sometimes don’t even talk about what we are listening to on a regular basis.
You’re releasing your album Night & Day soon. Why will we fall in love with it?
The industry feedback we have received so far ensures us that the album appeals to a wide range of listeners, so we feel that you may very fall in love with it because of it’s powerful dynamic journey that will captivate you after the first … or after a few listens. We don’t claim to set the world on fire with this release yet, the lyrics, the depth and the relationship between the songs and the listener has proven to drive you into your own space of thoughts, emotion, aggression and appreciation for similar moments in life where the body and mind has forgotten what drives us … poetry and expression is the word best to describe it I think. The other angle on this is, the songs just get you moving, at times it can get the heart rate up enough to feel more alive then you thought you were.
Night & Day will be released through Ordio Production. What made you decide to go with an indie label?
I wanted to maintain control, not of the members of the band but the right to own your music. So, I started Ordio Productions and have been driving the label full steam ahead from day one in order to ensure that although it’s an indie label owned, managed and funded by me, it had to think and act like a major label yet remove all of the not so nice aspects of a major label that was needed to operate as an indie. Sure, it’s a lot of hard work and it can take away from being creative at times but in the long run, we will be in control of our own careers and put the hard work back into the label to benefit all of us for years to come also take care of the many other artists in the future that we plan on signing.
And finally, do you have a message for your fans out there?
Yes, for those of you that take the time to listen to our music and enjoy what we create, we love you all. We are just straight up every day people that do all of the every day things and feel the same about life as you do. So, please don’t be shy to make contact and tell us your thoughts. Come to our shows and chat to us and make suggestions towards our next journey. Without you guys, we would all be sitting around in our bedrooms only “talking” about writing songs.
Image used with permission from mrben