freaky teeth goats

so last year the mountain goats played in wellington, but i didn't go because the night they played was the night that Geraldine had her wisdom teeth out, so i looked after her instead. but yay they're coming back to play again next week - on the day that i'm having my wisdom teeth out!! how freaky is that - a band that's completely out of tune with dental needs. it'll be a great gig though, so go and then tell me how great it was and significantly increase my pain.

fricken' hell

have you noticed that Rolling Stones writer David Fricke has been on every rock documentary ever made - every classic albums, wilco, ramones, beatles, punk attitude - you name it he's there making some comment about post-modernist seminal recordings reflecting nuances and distorions (ok i'm not as good as him at running strings of meaningless words together). but the cool thing about fricke is hair and glasses. few people need to be queer-eyed so badly.

why am i raving about fricke? oh yeah, just as a quick lead in to my news that this week's salient (victoria university magazine) has a review of my cd and you can check it out on the 'million miles away' page of my website.

and don't forget next wed (march 29th) das ben at the acoustic lounge at the san francisco bath house (the artist formely known as indigo). 3 musicians starting at 6, i'm playing third, so i should be on shortly after 7. and best of all indigo (i mean sfbh) has reintroduced $3 pints so come and have some drinks with me.

Sweet man.

Check out the review of MILLION MILES AWAY that appeared in this week's Package

Das Ben
Million Miles Away

Das Ben (a.k.a Ben Sedley) has been doing his acoustic “anti-punk” (a.k.a folk-punk) thing for a few years now. Wellington audiences might have seen him doing the rounds - he writes some good energy songs; and comparisons to Billy Bragg are apt. Whereas Bragg’s sense of humour, irony and anti-Capitalism are always sharp and on point, Das Ben is still developing. Vocally - and song construction-wise - there are some traces of early Elvis Costello in his sound too. And of course he’s weaned himself of the mid-90s acoustic punk-folk offerings from the likes of The Mouldy Peaches, Hammell On Trial and the queen of them all, Ani DiFranco.

Lyrically, Das Ben’s work can be a little too self-conscious still (“some times I feel like a man in a life boat/No one for miles I’m lost at sea”) and references to real places in songs will always help to date the work; having said that the song about going out on the town around Wellington (which I recall from his earlier EP) is still a good upbeat pop-punk ditty. The song ‘NYC’ lapses in to the self-conscious name-dropping issue, however. This album is brief and to the point, but in terms of sound quality it’s a vast improvement from the earlier EP, and the songs are growing stronger. They’re helped by band arrangements too (Pet Johnson plucking the deep gut-strings, Ant Davies hitting the skins) and Sedley is not just growing as a writer, clearly time treading the boards for Das Ben is serving his act well.

Simon Sweetman

one of these things is not like the other...

so last night i went out to the upper hutt folk music club, because my boss is on their committee. and she assured me it would be a great idea and they would like what i did. i think they liked what i did about as much as i liked what they did. nothing inherently wrong with it, but certainly not what i want to travel 45 minutes and pay $10 to hear. i can now confidently say i'm antifolk cause i sure as hell don't fit in at a folk club

first guy played a paul simon cover and a sting cover and an irish singalong accompanied by a pennywhistle, then i made lots of noise (blood on my shoe and the das ben drinking song), then a husband and wife duo sang some bluesy jazz, she had an amazing voice yet the least soul i have ever seen on stage, then some guy played some bluesy numbers that sounded good, some woman sang quiet pretty stuff about an old lady's fruit tree, a couple from salt lake city sang good songs with awful cliched folk harmonies and tenor recorder solos, and an old punk sang blues songs about how he misses the good old days when he could drink drive. the crowd was filled with those people that are middle aged hippies - you know how there's always one person in every workplace who doesn't quite fit in - i've found where they all belong.

each to their own and all that...

land speed record

so last night The Plastic Kitchen attacked bodega, following american americana anti-american foreign policy musician Jefferson Pepper. Jefferson played a great acoustic set featuring lots of songs from his CD 'Christmas in Fallujah' as well as a few rip-roaring covers - Ring of Fire, and an Uncle Tupelo song.

Then we hit the stage. quite literally, with me knocking my beer over my setlist as i was plugging in my bass. this is the second or third time i've spilt beer over a setlist before i start playing and i wouldn't be surprised if one day spilling beer on setlists is referred to as 'doing a ben'. meanwhile cilla our diva is in shock at how filthy the bodega stage was - 'haven't you heard of vacuuming?' was the first thing she said when she arrived. lets hope she never has to see CBGBs or even the Valve in Wellington. As for Cindy, fresh from her first ever drum lesson, she was ready to rock! Summoning the spirit of Richie Ramone, Cindy managed to shave 3 minutes off our set as she counted in the fastest versions of Sunday Morning and NYC we've ever done. Hey Ho. Let's Go.

No more plastic gigs for a while, but early April we're doing some more recording, so watch this space for news of a Plastic Kitchen EP.

for sale - $700,000,000 or nearest offer

so how come Narnia didn't win the oscar for best wardrobe? its the only movie where you can actually see the wardrobe?

sam just sold trademe.co.nz for seven hundred million dollars!!! dasben.com is now available for purchase for any similar sum. just putting it out there, is all.

tonight the plastic kitchen and american folk punk anti-war anti-bush troubador Jefferson Pepper play Bar Bodega. the kitchen are going to pull out some songs we haven't played for ages, including our Devo cover. the night is going to rock like a chair that also rocks.

b