Ben Folds is the Edgar Lee Masters of song writing. Like the author’s “Spoon River Anthology” of character tableaus, the North Carolina raised Folds writes about ordinary people struggling with complex problems on his four group (Ben Folds Five broke up a year ago if you didn?t know) albums and solo debut album Rockin the Suburbs.
Crooning with a caustic bend that sounds pretty good too, Folds might just have concocted the formula for critical acclaim. So why doesn?t the “flashy dressed” media bite into the key puncher’s juicy catalog? Maybe it’s because Ben’s plain P-B-and-J façade doesn?t jibe with the glossy set, but who reads record reviews anyways?
Folds recently spoke to The Herald about biting Radiohead, recording in Australia and experience through brushing teeth

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The Badger Herald: When writing “Rocking the Suburbs,” did you have a certain mook rock, misogynist, Woodstock-burning band in mind?

Ben Folds: It was a comment on the entire genre, the whole radio format really. It was just kind of funny really.

BH: Have you ever had contact with that crowd or do try to stay away?

BF: Sometimes a modern-rock station that I will do an interview with will mention that so and so band has been through here and have made comments on the song. For the most part they think it’s funny. I also wanted the video to clear things up. This is funny. The entire genre is funny. Ultimately I am going to have more respect for those guys than the rock critics because they actually do it.

BH: Can you recall any memorable Madison experiences?

BF: We played at Club DeWash, and when we were loading the piano up it was 35 below zero and I remember going “Fuck, where the hell are we?”

BH: Do you still carry around that battered beast?

BF: I switched to a different one now and have hired people to carry it for me.

BH: How long have you lived in Australia?

BF: Three years.

BH: And you recorded in an old church down there. It always intrigues me when artists record in unique spaces. Was this choice strictly for the sonic quality?

BF: The church was the office space used by the recording studio and so we recorded in there because the music quality was surprisingly better. It was really an odd place.

BH: Did you catch the Olympics?

BF: We were in Adelaide so we actually watched them on TV. It was exciting because it was happening down there.

BH: Yeah, sorry for the trite question. So, Ben Grosse. He has produced some pretty different music before working with you, for example Fliter’s Title of Record back in 1999. Are you a fan?

BF: I like some of it and I like how it sounds a lot. I listened to that album and knew the production was really good.

BH: That guy from Filter, Richard Patrick, is supposed to be crazy to work with. Did Grosse share any of this with you?

BF: Ben never said anything about him being crazy and he likes to tell about crazy people.

BH: Do you read record reviews?

BF: Sometimes. It just depends. I don?t look for them but if someone mentions, “Man, you got slammed here,” or if there is a really good review. Maybe I will check it out.

BH: If I was an artist getting mentions in publications, reviews would drive me crazy.

BF: Well they do. People reviewing records are just not the final word on anything. I think historically it is proven over and over again. Reviewing is good, don?t get me wrong, but there are so many times where the critics and writers buy the hype. I have never really gotten amazing reviews because I have always had a kind of non-image. I don?t get many shitty reviews, but then non-image part really tends to fuck them up because they like to know what they are dealing with. Like Radiohead, the guy looks fucked up and they look melancholy and they come from England. They get great reviews on stuff that they shouldn?t. Sometimes they do deserve the great reviews, but everything they do is not as good as what the critics think. It’s just not all up to snuff. They have a gem here and there, but here is a case where the critics are buying the hype. It took them a while to come down from Beck too. I mean Midnight Vultures, I don?t see how that is any different than a Steely Dan album, which they would hate. It?s the image that seems to sway them a bit. Most rock critics are concerned with how they dress. They are into that shit and I am not.

BH: Who is your bassist and where did you find him, because he is amazing in concert.

BF: His name is Millard Powers and he is an old friend of mine. He is a great bass player, but has been getting really the short end of the stick. He is coming after I played with Robert Sledge for so long, who is a really flashy bass player and a really innovative bass player because we didn?t have a guitarist. And so now Millard is playing when we have a guitarist and the stuff doesn?t really call for that kind of flash, but he is fucking good and I think it is kind of cool that someone picks it up, because they have to pick it up kind of subtly ? a lot of people are like, “Man, Robert is better; he played faster.”

BH: Do you see yourself forming another band?

BF: It feels really good to play with these guys, I have no reason to switch out everybody, but I am also enjoying my status of being solo and all the things that come with that. I don?t want to jump back into a band situation.

BH: Then is your relationship with Robert and Jesse rocky?

BF: I have talked to them recently. We stay in touch.

BH: I understand that, during this tour, you play mostly your solo material, is this in respect to your band mates?

BF: A little bit. One thing is that this is new and I want that to be what I am doing. I want to live in the present. I just found when playing the old songs in rehearsal that we either were going to do a Ben Folds Five cover version or be a Ben Folds Five cover band and that would draw direct comparisons and everyone is going to be like Sledge vs. Powers. It’s not a contest. I’m not into that vibe. I don?t want to feel that at all. And it’s also the guys in my former band did such a fucking great job, I don’t feel like going up there to rip them off ? that’s not cool. So at the end of the set I play things from the piano, the songs that are derived from the keys and those Ben Folds Five songs only.

BH: Explain your song-writing process.

BF: I write in several note books; for some songs I will have up to 40 pages written and when it comes down to crunch time I will spread them out all along the floor with paper all over the place and I will be crawling around on my hands and knees with a pencil. This is right as I am finishing the song up. Most of the process is done in my head and at the piano, but then at the end I’m like, “OK, this is the full-court press time and know I have to finish this fucking song,” and that?s the way I deal with it.

BH: So you’re saying this is kind of painful?

BF: No, no. It sucks. It’s a totally shitty process for me.

BH: So, who the hell is Fred Jones?

BF: A retired newspaper man.

BH: Is there a biographical element in this character? I mean, not to say that you’re a retired newspaper man. You know what I mean?

BF: No, that is the picture I had in my mind: an old guy who had the same desk for many years, a journalist.

BH: That’s a nice change from the trite factory worker?

BF: Yeah, there is a lot of potential in the character. Writers are interesting people. There is lots of ego there. For a writer to be passed over for a younger person is a great character sketch.

BH: Do you have many older fans?

BF: They’ve got their certain people. People from their era. I have people come up to me and say, “Man, I see Dr. John all the time and I came up to see you and it’s not quite as good.” They can’t hear what is relevant.

BH Did you have the Turtles’ “Happy Together” in mind when writing “Losing Lisa?”

BH: No.

BH: Oh, because its similar. The hint is very underlying, buts it’s great.

BF: And Ben Grosse thought that also and really produced it up to that point. He really made sure that we steered in that direction as much as possible because he liked that. The demo didn?t sound as much like that.

BH: Who is the “you” character in the song “Not the Same?”

BF: It?s a guy who takes acid at a party, climbs up a tree and has a religious experience. It’s kind of hard to explain.

BH: Yeah, I gathered that.

BF: It’s a really abstract. Anything you do in your life, you will not be the same after you do. Sometimes it will be brushing your teeth, sometimes it might be falling out a window. After every action, you are not the same. People are just in constant change and there are these little markers. So that’s part of it. The other part is that for every action that you take, you acquire responsibility of some kind. Like I walked out my door with my songs one day and years later I have X wife, kids, house, songs, publishing, crew, pianos. You acquire responsibilities. This guy crawls up a tree, takes acid, freaks out and is a born-again Christian and he begins to preach to other people and people begin to follow him. And then there is this ridiculous story of one of these television evangelists who had a water-slide amusement park and some kid died on the water slide. And then it took the whole T.V. ministry down. So you is responsible, you reaps the benefits and then you loses it all.

BH: What’s it like having your video played right before/after Limp Bizkit? Isn’t that kind of ridiculous?

BF: MTV is kind of like Romper Room, Sesame Street or something. You can’t get too upset about something because you have grown out of it. [MTV] is good at what they do. I don?t have a problem with MTV. I have a problem with record labels who second guess MTV. I think they could be a little bit more artistically creative.

BH: How to you feel about being compared to the New Radical on CD Now’s crossover bands feature?

BF: I don?t know much about the New Radicals, but that song they had was a fucking good song. I think that they encapsulate in that song a lot of what Ben Folds is all about. Not that the listened to me and tried to copy. I’m not saying that.

MR: What are your favorite songs to play?

BF: Its really easy for me to play “Fred Jones” and I like playing “Rockin’ the Suburbs” because it is totally different live and I like playing “Evaporated” because it is the song Ben Folds Five never played live.