Gentle Ben / Ben Lee Interview ­ August 2003

Me & Ben Lee

When Ben Lee steps up to the microphone to begin performing his encore, it takes a few minutes for the crowd in Irving Plaza to recognize the song . Finally, a voice near the stage yells, "I know he isn't covering Christina!" But as it turns out, yes, he is covering her, doing a searingly poignant version of "Beautiful", which, by it's end, has totally won over the crowd who erupt in cheers as Ben sweetly says goodbye and puts an end to his set. I catch up with him a few weeks later to discuss his new record, Hey you.Yes you, his budding acting career, and his full-time job as the boyfriend of a movie star. Not surprisingly, he is as amiable and easygoing as a nice Australian indie-rock rock star can possibly be.

TCR: So, this interview is for a gay magazine, what do you think about that?

BL: Well, I've noticed that the gays have always had certain affection for me. And I have a certain affection for them . . . so, that's very cool.

TCR: This new record has been finished for a long time, right? But it's just now coming out here in the states?

BL: It's been done almost 2 years...

TCR: What was the hold up?

BL: I don't know man, you tell me. This music industry is weird, and it doesn't change just because I do. . . It's kind of like a farming--You plant some seeds, you let things grow . . . and sometimes you have to wait to harvest it. And now is finally the time to harvest.

TCR: In comparison with your other records, how is this record different?

BL: I feel like this is the most tense album . . . like it's probably the angriest, most alienated record... which is funny, because at the moment, almost two years later, I feel more harmonious than I've ever felt in my life.

TCR: So what in the hell have you been doing for the past two years?

BL: Well, I made a little movie called The Rage in Placid Lake, then I came back to America and toured with a whole lot with people like Vanessa Carlton and Gomez, then I went back to Australia when the record came out there a year ago and promoted it and toured and toured . . .

TCR: Did you have fun making the movie? We're you nervous?

BL: Ooh, yeah, I just went into it without putting any pressure on myself. I figure it's really not my piece of art, that it's really the director's medium, so I left it up to the director. Even If I fuck it up, he's the one who has to answer to the investors and stuff, so I just figured I'd do what I'm told. I just read what was in the script, you know? I don't know enough about acting to really know what's going on, so I just showed up and. . . tried to pretend it was real. (laughs)

TCR: Well, basically that's all that acting is, right?

BL: I guess, I mean, I'm sure you could get more technical than that. I'm sure that's now how someone like Al Pacino would approach it, just show up . . .

TCR: ...and pretend that it's all real.

BL: I wasn't in a position where I had the liberty of coaching and learning technique. I just tried to be as honest as I could. I had a great time.

TCR: People might not realize that, at this point, you're already a veteran of the music industry. How old were you when you made your first records?

BL: I recorded with Noise Addict when I was 14. Then I made Grandpaw Would (for the Beastie Boy's Grand Royal label) when I was 15.

TCR: At 15, that must have been a completely insane!

BL: It was cool. I just saw opportunities and took them. I was writing a lot of songs, I loved music, and there were people who wanted me to come to America and record them, so I did...and then they came out. I only now look back and realize that people thought I was actually cool. I was in Australia going to school, so I really didn't get a sense of it. People liked it, you know? NME wrote about it. It could have been so much pressure, but I was toally oblivious to it.

TCR: That's probably good. That probably saved you a lot of trouble. Having those experiences at such a young age can really freak a person out.

BL: Oh, I was freaked out all right, but when you're 14 or 15, what difference does it make? What's not to be freaked out by?

TCR: How old are you now?

BL: I'll be 25 in a month.

TCR: How would you categorize your relationship to the recording industry now?

BL: It's different when I'm in Australia. My last record went platinum there, and I definitely feel like I'm a part of Australian popular culture. . . whereas here, I don't know. I've never really worked with a huge major label. I try not to have expectations about how the world will react to my music because you just never know, it always surprises me. I just try to be in control as much as I can. If I play a club I set up my own stuff, I take the money, I do the merch...I'd like to become an artist that works independently of all that stuff. With bands like Guster, or even a band like Bright Eyes, there is this sort of model of doing business in which you do you own thing and are in control of your own thing. It's inspiring to me to see that it's more acceptable now to work that way.

TCR: You recently collaborated with a few different people, including Evan Dando and Kylie Minogue, how was that?

BL: Great, great. I wrote two songs that ended up on Evan's new record, Baby I'm bored, and I really didn't know when I wrote them that he'd end up recording them, but after I heard him play them...I love hearing other people interperet my songs. it's sharing something in a way that's really beautiful.

TCR: And what about Kylie?

BL: She's so awesome. We recorded a duet of a Duran Duran song, "The Reflex", and it was really fun. She's like Madonna or something. She's so impressive. . . and nice.

TCR: Are you sick of people asking you about your girlfriend?

BL: Nah, I'm used to it.

TCR: Do people, especially here in the US, tend to think of you as Mr. Claire Danes?

BL: I don't know. Maybe. I just wish more people who thought of me that way also bought my albums...but's that's fine. It's a fine way to think. (laughs)

TCR: Is it hard for you to have a "normal" life, being such a celebrity couple?

BL: No, not really. We just do our thing. We hang out with friends. It's very normal.

TCR: What's next for you?

BL: I don't know. You know, I just love writing songs and making music. I just try to follow the good feeling and the fun.

Hey you.Yes you. is in stores now.

- T. Cole Rachel