Undercover was fortunate to have caught up with Ben Gillies for a chat about his new project Bento and to ask questions about other stuff we have always wanted to know. Checkout the chat below.
UC: You are going to get a lot of comparisons with Silverchair and the word "Silverchair" is going to be thrown around a bit by the media, do you want them to all shut up about Silverchair or are you happy to have the association bandied about if it generates interest in your new project Bento?
B.G: Silverchair was a huuuuge part of my life and still is, its part of who I am. I’ll always be immensely proud of our achievements and grateful for all the loyal fans that stuck by us. Sure people might throw the word around as you say but that’s cool with me. Having been in a well known band will inevitably open some doors for Bento that might not have happened otherwise but equally I’m building Bento one step at a time – it’s very much a DIY project. There is no big machine in place making things happen, I’m across all aspects of it from artwork to advertising to being part of the development of the website (wearebento.com) It’s been an amazing learning curve so far.
UC: Given that it's been over a year since the announcement that Silverchair would go into hibernation indefinitely, was that the impetus to create your new solo project or was there another reason for you wanting to go solo again?
B.G: I’ve always worked on my own music between Silverchair sessions. When the band decided we were going into hibernation, It gave me the time, energy and drive to keep rolling with what would eventually become BENTO. I wasn’t planning on making an album, I just wanted to see some of my ideas realized – in the studio it all came together it went from tinkering away working on the tracks to evolving it into ‘yep this is what I wanna do, I wanna make this album’.
UC: Traditionally Bento is a single-portion take-away Japanese meal, watching the video for Diamond Days, you are obviously not a single portion. Who are the other guys involved in Bento and how much do they contribute?
B.G:The musos involved in the Diamond Days clip were all involved in the recording process too. It was great hitting the studio with a mixed bag of mates from all corners of the musical world. In the studio if we needed a keyboardist we'd get on the phone and start calling our mates... as it turned out Thomas Rawle (guitar), Scott Alpin (keys) and Dave Symes (bass) are the most present on the album. At this point I don't have a touring band together but it's something I'm working towards.
UC: What about Bento makes you most proud or happy or both? Have there been any " I feel like it's Christmas" moments whilst working on the project that make you really excited when you think about them?
B.G: Definitely both. Making my own record, where I'm 100% in the drivers seat, is something I've always wanted to do. One moment that made me really realize the enormity of it was when Tom came to the studio to play the guitar part on Diamond Days. The very first time he hit the chorus, he totally nailed it. I was always proud of that song but that moment for me definitely cemented not only the song but the belief in what I was doing. I knew things were falling into place, that the album was taking form and it was exhilarating.
UC: Who is the person you have most enjoyed working with in a musical capacity ?
B.G: A gentleman by the name of Michael Atherton. He played the hurdy gurdy on the album and he came into the studio with bags of musical goodies. This guy was totally into ethnic instruments, some that I wasn’t really familiar with and lots of percussion. One of my favourites was the water phone. You know the sound in the Matrix films when they move within the matrix? Almost sounds like bowed glass.... one of those. It's a metal sphere with a small opening to add water, plus different length steel rods attached. You move the water around the sphere while you bow the steel rods. I loved it, obviously. You can here this sound on one of the tracks from the album "Naked Next to Me".
UC: Where in the world is the greatest place to play as far as adrenalin rushes go?
B.G : Playing big festivals or stadium shows are just AWESOME! In my career I’ve been lucky enough to play a tonne of them. It doesn't matter where they are. They're just a different level of excitement. That being said, Brazil was definitely always an amazing place to play – but as cliched as it might sound playing in front of an Australian crowd is pretty damn special too.
UC: With a wealth of history in the music industry and thus some acquired wisdom under your belt, how do you define success these days ?
B.G: Being happy. Getting about doing what you want to be doing, not being defined or feeling inhabited by what other people see you as or what people define your music as. Is it really the end of the world if you don’t fit into a particular genre or people can't define you with a category? I think challenging yourself to do what feels right – even though it means you really have to ‘put yourself out there’ in a major way so what? I don’t think that goes just for the good ol’ music bizz either but goes for life in general.
Ben Gillies will release the album Diamond Days on October 26th under the moniker "Bento."
