still stinks of teen spirit

so last night cindy had a bbq and the plastic kitchen set up a kit and the amps out on her drive and played to the punters. we sounded pretty good considering it was our fourth gig since our last practice.

then we took a break, two fifteen year olds (kids of a friend) took our guitars and had a play. and it was EXACTLY like i was in high school again. kids playing metallica, nirvana, and even Rage Against The Machine riffs (has no one written any riffs since 1993?). but not playing a whole song, no, these guys would play a riff and then stop and start a different riff. and no listening to each other, no, these guys woulds stop and start when they wanted regardless of what the other was playing. i felt like i was in 6th form mr. brown's music performance again (yep, i've got 6th form cert in Metallica riffs). it was stink then and still stink now, but i guess its good to see somethings never change.

happy new year. b

i like friends

so if you haven't checked out myspace yet you should (because soon it will be ruined by big companies). its this weird e-place which some people use to keep in e-touch with their e-friends, others use to get some e-action, but i use to discover new bands, see what bands i like are doing, and best of all get people all around the world hearing my songs. so if i find a band i like, i invite them to be my friend and if they accept the friend request then we're 'friends' (primary school was a bit like this too). so please sign up and visit me. we can be friends.

some of the cool bands and songwriters i've discovered are:
David Cronenberg's Wife
Flip Grater
Dan Bern
Ryan McPhun
Pleasant
Benjamin Shaw
Kid Icharus
and The Romanovas

but as well as that, i can invite big bands to be my friends. chance are they don't have time to listen to my songs, but it is fun to look online see these bands listed as my friends:
Neil Young
Spearhead
Gillian Welch
Jeffrey Lewis
Bonnie Prince Billy
Flaming Lips
Brian Jonestown Massacre
Arrested Development
Lucinda Williams

I even got a message from Rennie from The Handsome Family, it says:
"we all have jet packs over here in freedom village. xo Rennie"

good to know.

happy channukah everyone

a destiny defying tour

so the plastic kitchen and das ben went to dunedin this weekend. we went to play at a party in ocean view on saturday night, but since we were down there anyway, cindy arranged for us to play a gig at arc cafe too, and cilla made some totally cool plastic kitchen t-shirts (the front is a picture of Finn, with the slogan 'you're a dog, i'll treat you like one').

but the gods seemed to have other ideas about our tour. cilla and i flew down together on friday, due to arrive in dunedin about 8pm, which was always going to be cutting it a bit fine (luckily dunedin band The Dark Beaks who were playing with us had lent us their amps and drums, and even done the soundcheck for us). we're sitting on the plane in wellington waiting to take off and the pilot announces that we can't take off for a while because of fog. we had gale force winds all day and suddenly there's fog?!? not that we could actually see the fog, but pilot assured us that it was above us hiding somewhere. we take off about an hour later and head south. the person in the row in front of us getting sicker and sicker, until they actually have to ask if there's a doctor on the plane (insert doctor ben joke here). we began to worry that we'd have to do an emerency landing in christchurch for the sickie. but no, we keep on flying and get to dunedin, we get an amazing view of the coast as we're coming down, and as we go up again, because for some reason we weren't allowed to land - poor weather conditions apparently - turned out the runway had flooded in a sudden storm. we fly further south for another 20 minutes, worried about the prospect of having to go to invercargill, but eventually the pilot turns the plane around and we land in dunedin, then walk across a flooded runway. weird that they can make a plane fly, but can't blow away a little fog or dry a runway.

but we made it. we went straight to arc cafe, and 10 minutes after arriving at the pub i was onstage, charging my way through a short but powerful solo set, scaring the masses with a rip-roaring Far Q, and a drink inspiring Das Ben Drinking Song. An hour later and i was back on stage with the Plastic Kitchen. We played possibly the most fun gig we've ever done, we had punters dancing, and even managed to get a bit of Q&A in the middle (someone started asking us who our favourite bands were - for some reason i replied Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, Cilla answered Dolly Parton). and the masses were particularly happy when we pulled out Sweet Child O Mine at the end. We played the song as a memorial to Cindy's niece who was killed in a car accident a few years back (it was one of her favourite songs and her mum was at our gig).

the party on saturday night was also fun. we played in Ocean View Bowling Club Hall, which was so classic kiwi that the ladies had to bring a plate of lamingtons and sausage rolls.

MILLION MILES AWAY IS CLOSE

My debut CD 'MILLION MILES AWAY' is all finished. thanks to Jayne Joyce's fantastic cover art, the cd looks awesome, and the sound ain't too shabby either. The official CD release gig won't be until mid February because i want to have time to organise a quality party, but the cd will be in shops soon, and if you can't wait that long, drop me an email, and you can get one sooner.

Listen to songs from the CD on www.mp3.com.au/dasben