WERS 88.9 fm - Artist Interview: Ben Kweller

February 24, 2009

After an acoustic set at WERS, Ben Kweller was running late for his sound check at The Somerville Theater, but he spared a few minutes to talk with WERS.org.

Interview conducted and transcribed by Lily Jeong

When you are touring, what do you do before the show? Do you have any routines?
(Holds up a bottle of herbal remedy) I spray a bunch of this stuff in my mouth, Singer’s Saving Grace, and I have a humidifier backstage so I breathe the steam. And my friend Conor Oberst actually showed me the stuff that he uses called honey loquat, which is this medicinal thick honey that numbs your mouth, and it tastes really good, so I just take a spoonful of that and just kind of let it soothe my throat. And I suck on a Halls as I walk to the stage. It’s all about taking care of my voice. My voice gets very fragile because I’m always doing interviews, doing stuff all day.

If you had an opportunity to make music with an artist living or dead who would it be?
Kurt Cobain. He’s my favorite. If he could come back alive, or even back in the 80s before he was famous if I could hang out with him and write songs, that would be cool.

I’ve noticed that you’ve toured with many artists such as Jeff Tweedy, Ben Folds and Gomez. Who was the most interesting to work with and why?
Jeff Tweedy was a big honor because that was before I was even anything. I had this wreck CD that I made at my apartment called Freak out! It’s Ben Kweller, and I sent it to his manager, and they actually wrote back and said “Jeff loves it. He wants you to open for him.” He was doing a solo tour, so I got to open for him. And he really took me under his wings when I was just a no name. This is before Myspace and all that stuff. It was a lot harder to reach people.

What’s the most ridiculous fan experience you have had?
Well, I had this fan that was kind of a stalker, and she wanted my e-mail address, and I knew she was crazy. She would always bring these weird gifts, and she would always tell me how we were soul mates. So I gave her my best friend’s e-mail address, and I told him “Look, I’m going to give this crazy girl your e-mail address and tell her it’s mine.” So I gave her his e-mail address. And about a year later on my birthday my friend – he never told me that she wrote – he made me a book of every e-mail that she wrote to me. He never once responded or anything. She wrote an e-mail everyday to that address, sometimes three times a day she would send e-mails. And he made a book and bound it to make this beautiful-looking book, and he was like “yeah, half was through she breaks up with you but then you guys get back together, and she finally leaves you at the very end.” It’s a whole book! That’s the craziest thing.

If you were not playing music, what do you see yourself doing?
I could not imagine that, but the things that I love next are bass fishing, which is such a hillbilly thing but I love it. If I could be a professional fisherman, it would be so hard but I would do that. Or be a tour guide to guide people on lakes and take them fishing, that would be really fun. I could probably get a job at an Apple store because I know everything about Macintosh computers that there is. I don’t know. If music was not in my life I would be sad, but I would find something.  

www.benkweller.com