Everyone’s favourite party animals The Bennies released their ultimate summer banger ‘Party Machine’ on triple j’sGood Nightsrecently, but when I catch up with guitarist Jules Rozenbergs, the boys are hard at work in the studio laying down tracks for the rest of their forthcoming album.
“We like to start the party when we record with a few beers and a few spliffs,” he says. “It helps to get out all the energy we’ve soaked in recently. We’ve been on the road and met so many different people. I love travelling with the boys, and we’re closer than ever. I think that’s really going to come through in the music – and so far, so good. I just listened to the drums and they’ve come up really nice.
“This is the most prep we’ve done for any album before – I don’t know if that makes us sound better or worse!” Rozenbergs laughs. “But at the moment we’re really trying to create something special for us and for our fans.”
A handful of lucky punters will already have heard some of The Bennies’ new material at an intimate gig they played earlier this year. “We put on a small show at The Old Bar in Melbourne and played half a set of new songs. It was a good exercise in stress, actually, because we’re so used to playing our old set, but it went over really well and gave us a good idea of what people will respond to. Even though the crowd didn’t know the songs, overall it seems like everyone was pretty psyched, which made us more psyched. After the show, we were smoking a bit of weed and we were like, ‘Fuck yeah!’ “Everyone has our backs, so we really can’t complain.”
The fun-loving four-piece recently supported US punk veterans Reel Big Fish and Less Than Jake on a national tour. “Us ska dudes have to stick together!” laughs Rozenbergs again. But after having to cancel their US tour halfway through last month, Rozenbergs says The Bennies are focusing all their energy on an 18-date Australian tour that kicked off last week. Determined to reach all points of the compass, they’ll tear the roof off venues in Hobart, Bunbury, Cairns, Darwin, Newcastle and everywhere in between.
“This time we’ll push ourselves to get even further north and further west,” says Rozenbergs. “It’s a sad reality that not every band can visit every town all the time, but it’s totally understandable because Australia is so fucking big! A lot of people miss out that aren’t in the main states or cities. I’m a music fan before I’m a musician, and it always means heaps to me when bands go out of their way on tour, and so it’s us paying it forward, and it means the world for us to do that.”
There’s no denying The Bennies are influenced by a lot of different bands. The fact they promote themselves as a ‘psychedelic, reggae, ska, doom metal, punk rock band from hell’ gives you the idea they don’t like to be pigeon-holed – so I wonder who Rozenbergs was influenced by before he became a Benny.
“One of my big influences when I was a bit younger was The Bouncing Souls. The Souls are one of my favourite bands of all time, and when I was a very young guy I got to meet Bryan Kienlen, their bass player. It was around the time I was starting my first band and I didn’t really have a clue, and I was finding it difficult to get going or find any traction.
“Anyway, I thought he was a god. I could barely talk to him I was so nervous, but he talked to me as if I was just like him. He told me to just have fun, make time for my friends and one day I could be touring America. He didn’t talk to me like he was a rad fucking bass player who had played with everyone and made amazing music. He didn’t tease or talk down to me, or put me down, and I’ve always held on to that,” Rozenbergs says.
“Also, I’ve had the negative experience of when you meet your heroes and it’s not always that great. I won’t say who’s a fucking arsehole and who’s not, because that’s not good for anyone, but at the end of the day that does happen and it can crush young people’s dreams. I think sometimes musicians forget how much music can mean to people – music gets us through the darkness and it helps us celebrate the light, if you know what I mean.”
Two bands that will help The Bennies shine on this tour are The Hard Aches, a duo from Adelaide, and Melbourne’s Wet Pensioner. “The Hard Aches are an independent band and they’ve worked really fucking hard,” Rozenbergs says. “They’ve made a name for themselves, not just in Adelaide but around Australia. BD is the frontman of the band and he’s a great songwriter. If you like the narratives that The Smith Street Band use, then you’ll dig them.
“They’ve done so much for the scene, so it was only natural that we wanted to get them on board and hang out with them. They’re great people and you wanna be able to hang out if you’re going to tour everywhere. Plus we’ve got Wet Pensioner, who are fucking mental as well. The band are really good friends of ours … They’re an up-and-coming band that we’re really excited about. They put on a great stage show and they bring the party – so everyone will have a lot of fun!”
[The Bennies photo by Ian Laidlaw]
The Bennies play theFactory Floor on Friday November 27, with supports The Hard Aches and Wet Pensioner.
