Ben Kweller (2023)

One Liner: Piano heavy indie rock in the Ben Folds vein

Wikipedia Genre:  indie rock, indie folk, country rock
Home: Greenville, Texas (but I think he lives in Austin now)

Poster Position: 3 (12)
Day: Saturday at 3
Both Weekends

Thoughts: I like Kweller.  I forget how we happened upon him, but my wife and I found his album Sha Sha many years ago and liked it a lot.  Kind of a Ben Folds meets Weezer kind of sound.  Here is his top song, "Wasted & Ready," with 3.5 million streams.  I'm actually shocked that the playcount is still so low after all these years.  That is a 21 year old tune.

Oooh, is that a french horn in there at the start?  I love when this one kicks in, that is where the Weezer comparison comes from.  Chug-a-lug, baby.  Although, the sound on that video is freaking terrible.  Recorded in an old can of beans!  Weird that is shared from his official YouTube account when it looks and sounds like turd.  The version from the studio is much better.  If that song wasn't on the soundtrack to the ninth American Pie movie, then they missed an opportunity.

That album is from 2002, and its very good.  "How It Should B," that tune, "Family Tree," and "Falling" are all very good tunes.  "Falling" very much sounds like Ben Folds.  Wait, did I see this guy play an ACL taping?  I can't come up with how I originally listened to him. Maybe we saw a taping on KLRU?  Whatever.  I've seen this guy play music before and he sounds good.

He got his start playing around with his dad - a doctor - and they would play covers of the Beatles and Hollies.  He later formed a band called Radish that released a few albums.  I don't know those at all.  But his dad happened to be friends with Nils Lofgren (E Street Band, Crazy Horse, producer), and got them some real studio time and then a label bidding war.  At 19, he went out on his own to try for a solo career.

His 2004 album rings zero bells for me.  One tune has more than 1 million streams, but I don't recognize "On My Way" at all.  But, its a nice little strummed tune with good lyrics that are pretty odd.  I don't remember buying it, but I've heard the songs on 2006's Ben Kweller a number of times.  The top track on there is "Sundress," with 2.7 million streams.

Why do his videos all look like they were shot with the camera from Back to the Future after the terrorists shot it?  Seriously.  He was signed to a real label, do they not have an iPhone he can use to make better videos?

Then he's got a 2009 album called Changing Horses that I had never heard until just now.  Its a very country sound, and it actually matches his voice and style really well.  I dig it.  After that, he released 2012's Go Fly a Kite and then 2021's Circuit Boredom.  Big gap in there, likely due to kid raising, right?  The top track off of that new disc is "Heart Attack Kid," with 1.9 million streams.

More terrible video effects.  But if that is his ranch outside of Austin, he's doing pretty rad for himself!  Catchy and more of the Weezer sound.  I dig it.

In other awful news, I remember seeing an announcement earlier this year that his 16 year old son was killed in a car crash.  Sad stuff.  He had been a musician as well, and was scheduled to play a set at SXSW in March 2023, but sadly died.  Horrible stuff.

In a weird detour from the norm, his Wikipedia entry actually has an entire section called "Austin City Limits Performances," which is odd.

• Kweller played the 2003 Austin City Limits Music Festival at the conclusion of his tour, where he played Sha Sha in its entirety.
• He returned to the Austin City Limits Music Festival in 2004 when he performed on the Bank of America stage.
• As part of his 2006 tour, Kweller played the Austin City Limits Music Festival, where he was plagued by a severe nosebleed for the entirety of his set. After covering his guitar in blood, he attempted to stop the flow by inserting a travel-size tampon thrown onto the stage by a fan, which expanded painfully during a performance of "This Is War". After attempting to play "Falling" at a piano which he also covered in blood, Kweller was forced to end the set early.
• In spring of 2007, Kweller co-headlined with his label-mates Gomez. He continued through the summer with his own string of headlining dates which eventually ended at ACL fest. This time, he did not get a bloody nose; however, commemorative T-shirts were sold at the merchandise booth with fake blood stains that said "ACL 2007: The return of Ben Kweller".

So, I gotta hunt for that video, right?

Welp, there you go.  Shoved a damn tampon up his nose and just kept jamming.  What a weird thing.  Hopefully no big cocaine binges for him this year!  

He then also played 2018 for sure, not sure if he played other years prior to that as well, but I know he was added to the poster in 2018.

I'd definitely go catch the set.  The more I just let his tunes play, the more I like it.  Like an undiscovered Wilco/Weezer/Ben Folds album just waiting out there for the world to enjoy.