Ben Lee Talks Resurrecting Old Band With New, Free Album

A young songwriting veteran of sorts, Ben Lee has managed to release seven solo albums by age 30. But after 17 years of solo success, he decided that he just wanted to be a kid again.

"Out of becoming a grown-up and a professional and all of that, there has been all of these responsibilities added on to just making music, like shaking hands with radio stations and playing festivals, and paying people's salaries," Lee tells Paste. "All of this stuff that gets it turned into a much more serious business."

As an escape, Lee revived childhood band Noise Addict with Tuesday's free, online release of It Never Was About the Audience. Lee left Noise Addict before venturing solo in 1996 with Grandpaw Would. But a month ago, he began to recreate the youthful exuberance the band once had, since the 1996 release of its debut album, Meet the Real You.

In just one week, Lee recorded his initial go at It Never Was at home with a four-track tape deck. Contributors include Dinosaur Jr.'s Lou Barlow and El May's Lara Meyyeratken, friends Lee found who possessed a “whole sort of tenderness that comes with informality.” But the most welcome voice that appears in the album is also the youngest: that of Kate, his 7-year-old stepdaughter.

Kate cooked up her own chant, “Lasagne,” in the excitement of trying a dish she never had before. “She just started really enjoying the word and got excited about it, and she started going, 'Lasagne, lasagne, lasagne, the people like lasagne pie!'” Lee recalls. “I was like, 'Aw, man, that's a hit.'”

As he worked on It Never Was, Lee thought of Kate and his own child to come, along with his past youthful years. But once he reflected on his revisitation to Noise Addict, he realized the experience was not one of nostalgia, but of humility. "Bands are bigger than individuals, even if they are only one person essentially," Lee says. "The arrogance of people to break up bands. Why do we need to make it indefinitely over?"

It Was Never About the Audience is streaming now on NoiseAddict.net.

Related links:
Ben Lee on MySpace
Review: Ben Lee: The Rebirth of Venus
News: Ben Lee Announces The Rebirth of Venus

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