Ben + Vesper Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Mar 1st 2010 5:00PM by K. Finley Slocum
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Not to be confused with the brilliant Illinois chemist Ben Vesper, Ben + Vesper were once likened to a disgruntled hyena cornering a zebra. Oh, yeah, and don't compare them to bands like Ida or Low just because they're married! Traveling from North Jersey to the great city of Austin for SXSW, they hope you brought your bifocals!

Describe your sound in your own words.

Ben: It's like a foreign prescription! When I was young and living in Colorado, my family would go water skiing. It was so nerve-wracking to me, I'd sing to keep myself calm -- so our sound is kind of like waterskiing in slow motion, while wearing a pair of borrowed bifocals!

How did your band form?

B: We met at a music festival and our love for music brought us together. Then after the birth of our second child, we found we were stuck at musical loose ends -- each going our own way, pursuing our own musical endeavors.

Vesper: We got married! Ben really did this as a labor of love for me, to carve out a space for me to create!

What are your musical influences?

V: I'm more influenced by genres rather than specific artists, like medieval church music and '50s/'60s gospel -- although both Joni Mitchell and Edie Brickell were huge influences on me!

B: I'd have to say that Syd Barrett really got me excited about songwriting! And, of course, the great Roy Orbison was a big influence, and I love Chris & Kurt Weisman from Feathers.

How did you come up with your band name?

B: Originally, we had this whole list of names, but we couldn't all agree. Then Daniel Smith, our producer and Sounds Familyre label GM, suggested Ben + Vesper. He said it was an example of how creative our relationship already was and everything that flowed out of it. Oh, yeah, and we had to use the plus sign ... like we carved it in a tree! It just worked.

What's your biggest vice?

B: My piles of books -- everywhere -- and extremely hot beverages. If you come to visit, I'll take offense if you don't share an extremely hot beverage with me!

V: I have a serious sugar addiction and while I'm not ADD, a big vice of mine is distraction and multitasking at all times!

What's in your festival survival kit?

B: Bubble tea, breakfast burritos and sunscreen. I have this serious fear of a burnt head!

V: My sketchbook and illustration kit, knitting, chocolate and a whole bunch of stress-relieving herbs and tea.

Who was your first celeb crush?

B: Barbara Mandrell

V: Michael Jackson, of course! I had this full poster on my wall and I had to give him a kiss before school every day!

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

B: Cher, 'Believe'

V: Rob Base, 'It Takes Two'

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

B: We were in Ashville, North Carolina, at this little Mexican food dive, when all of a sudden we all noticed, at the same time, this weird artwork hanging in the booth. It was sort of a burnt wood piece of an Indian chief with this princess sprawled out over his lap.

V: We weren't sure if we were supposed to look or not! But then it also had this mystical quality to it, very bizarre!

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