Ben Kweller talks to Paste, launches tour

Ben Kweller is keeping it positive. When discussing ambitious plans to record two albums at once, or the seemingly perilous task-at-hand of escaping flash flood waters without hanging up on an interviewer, the Texas-born rocker’s voice maintains a relaxed tonal quality, peppered with the more-than-occasional "yeah, man" and "you know," as if he were catching up with an old buddy.

Not too old, however. Although Kweller is an 11-year veteran of the music industry, seven as a solo artist, he is still only 26 and could easily pass for himself a decade ago. This cheek-pinchable façade belies his maturity as a family man and a serious artist who has moved beyond goofy analogies involving sex and spaghetti.

Weeks before his tour, which begins today in Detroit, Kweller spoke with Paste about upcoming projects, the family life and his ultimate regret.

What are you up to right now?

I’m down in Texas at my parents’ lake house, and we’ve been having constant rain and flooding, and the lake is higher than it’s ever been in the history of the lake. The lake was built in the '20s and just this morning it started flooding, so the water is higher than all the docks, and we’ve just been trying to pull boats in, and it’s really crazy.

Are you down there for Independence Day?

Yeah, exactly, I come down every Fourth of July.

So you guys usually get out in the boats, but now you’re not able to?

Yeah, we’re not able to right now. People can’t get in and out of the lake, actually, ‘cause the bridge is flooded over a few feet. There are helicopters swarming, like news helicopters. It’s crazy what’s going on.

Are you going to be able to get out of there?

I’m not going to be able to for a day or two, but I don’t have any place to go so I’m all right. I got a piano here, so I’m all good.

You have these full album shows coming up. That seems to be a popular concert idea lately. Why did you decide to do those?

I just thought it would be a fun idea to do, because I knew I wanted to play smaller rooms on this tour, and I thought for New York it would be fun to do three nights at Southpaw, and I said – “Well, wait a minute, I have three albums out, why don’t I do each album?” It’s just an idea I came up with and I didn’t realize other people were doing it. I guess it’s a trend. I knew a lot of my fans would want to buy all three nights so we just made a discount for all three nights. There’s a private party for people who buy the three night pass.

What’s that going to be like?

It’s going to be pizza from the local pizza joint, and beer.

Are you working on any new material right now?

Yeah, I’m actually going to start recording my next album in September. And then, I’m actually going to record two albums and just release them separately.

You’re going to record them together, though?

I’m going to record them probably a few months apart, two albums before the first one comes out just to have the next one ready to go.

Why two albums like that?

They’re different but it’s mainly so I can tour and not take a break, and just have an album ready to go. Just have a '60s approach. That’s the way a lot of bands like the Stones used to work. If you have a lot of material, you might as well record it and just keep releasing music, you know? Just sort of a reaction to the types of the modern times we’re in, you know?

The first one that’s going to come out is kind of a country album with pedal steel. More folksy and rootsy. The other one’s going to be more rock based. They’ll be different, for sure.

Is there going to be anything new going on with the Bens?

Well, I don’t know, I just got a text message from Ben Lee the other day saying he wanted to get together to write some songs. We might actually get together and start working on something, we’ll see how it goes. We all want to do it, it’s just a matter of scheduling.

One of the people who helped you out at the beginning of your solo career, Evan Dando, has been touring with the Lemonheads again this year. Do you still talk to him and did you catch him on the tour?

I saw him in Australia. He got on stage and we played “Walk On Me” together. Him and his wife are happy, so yeah, it was good to see him.

How are you and your wife?

We’ve been together for like eight years, but we’ve been married for four. We have a baby boy.

How old is he?

He’s one. He’s doing good, everything’s cool. We’re just touring like a gypsy family. It’s great. We’ve always really traveled together even before we were married, so we see each other the same amount. Getting married, like when you find someone you love and want to spend the rest of your life with, when you get married, it feels so good, ‘cause it sets it all in stone and makes it official. You just become a team and it’s really great. My career’s very much a family business. She’s involved in a lot of the decisions. She runs my merch company and does a lot of the designs. It’s very much a family operation. I try to keep it all very independent. Any time I start an idea, I try to keep it all ran by me, you know? I try to make sure that my career is independent of any record company or anybody else because I don’t ever want to be chained to someone else’s decisions. When I got into the music business it was very much about being a slave to the label. And you felt like you couldn’t tour unless the record label said yes or gave you money. It’s very important these days just to become independent.

Does that make it easier on you, since you don’t owe-

Yeah, it does make it easier, but it also makes it hard because you have to be more involved in the business side of things, which sucks.

You said your wife helps out a lot with that?

I have a great manager, too, that’s just amazing. Her name is Ginna, and she’s totally my comrade, you know? And we’re just trying to build something that will last forever. And just set ourselves up to have a great business that will be able to allow me to make the music I want for the rest of my life.

I recently listened to the Smashing Pumpkins cover you did. Was there ever a time when they were your favorite band?

I always loved the Pumpkins. Nirvana was my favorite, you know? They were just one of those influential bands in my life and my generation. It was really fun to do that song. I never got to see them live in concert.

I wonder if Billy Corgan heard the “Today” cover yet. It’s on my MySpace and I’m one of the Pumpkins’ top friends. I hope he thinks that it was good.

Have you met him?

No, I’ve never met Corgan. I know James Iha, but I guess they’re probably not the closest of friends these days.

I better go kind of soon. I’m now on this dock and I’m going to have to get myself back to the house and the water’s, like...

You’re on a dock?

I’m on a dock, yeah. I’m literally standing in like five inches of water, ‘cause the water is over the dock, I swear to God. The boathouse floor is filled with water. And like, the front of the dock where it reaches land? I’m going to have to swim to the shore.

How are you going to swim and have your cell phone at the same time?

I know! I don’t know! Ha! I’m like stranded, man!

I’d almost think you’d want to keep that thing on, in case you’re going down, so you can say “Okay, the cell phone is about to be ruined by the lake, here’s a number you can call to tell someone I’m drowning.”

Well, I wish I could take photos of it for the interview, you know? It stopped raining but I just can’t believe how high the water is.

You’re going to swim across the whole lake?

I’m going to have to.

How did you get where you are now?

It’s probably just going to come up past my belly button. I walked out here before we got on the phone and at that point the water wasn’t as high. It’s just rising.

That’s sort of concerning.

I’ll be all right. My dad is up in the house, and they see me, and we’re all good.

Do you have some flares?

Yeah we got some f—in’ flares! I have life vests! I’m Rambo! I’m the Rambo of rock 'n' roll!

I can let you go. Sounds like you need to get back.

I just want to say that I’m the motherf—in’ Rambo of rock 'n' roll, and I just want to also say that I was a Boy Scout and I wanted to be an Eagle Scout more than anything in the world.

My dad was a Boy Scout leader, he’d be proud.

That’s the shit! When I was 16, I went on my first rock 'n' roll tour, and rock 'n' roll was obviously my number one dream, and then Boy Scouts and fishing came next, so when I had to go on tour and my career started taking off as a kid, I realized I was never gonna be an Eagle Scout cause once you’re 18 you can’t be an Eagle Scout. You gotta tell your dad my biggest regret was not becoming an Eagle Scout.