Ben Kweller quotage

In the October/November issue of Chord, there will be a proper feature on Ben Kweller written by yours truly. But in the meantime, why don't you enjoy some surplus (read: EXCLUSIVE!!!111) quotage that didn't make it into the story? Enjoy, pop music lovers:

On how BK will never get sick of music...
“When I first started writing songs at 8, 9, 10 years old, I just wrote them on a piano and kept them in my brain. But when I got older, I read about other songwriters like Paul Simon who always kept a sketchbook. So then I started keeping a notebook with all my poems and stuff in them. And Paul Simon would say he would sit down every morning and write a song, and I was like, ‘Wow, you can treat songwriting like a job.’ But when I tried to do that, I just started writing songs for the sake of songs. I realized that for me it’s about when the inspiration hits me, whether I’m in the shower or in bed or whatever. You don’t know when the next inspiration is going to come. That’s the problem. You can’t set your alarm clock every day. It’s not a chore or something I can be late for, but it can be really difficult when you trying to finish the damn song. I think I’ll always love it, though. It’s one of the coolest things in the world to create something out of thin air that didn’t exist before”

On performing all the instruments by himself on the new album...
“When I was writing these songs, some were finished and some were still in progress. And I went to record a few at my friend’s house, and that actually became the demos. So, when it was time to find a producer, Gil Norton got those demos and said I had to play all the instruments because he loved the demos and felt they had a certain sound to them. At first, I was going to get a band and teach the songs to them like I always do, but he was adamant. He made a good point when he told me the same hand that plays the hi-hat will play the acoustic guitar, so there’s a certain groove to it. I thought it was really cool to make a big layered album all by myself.”

On keeping it simple and pissing on "cred"...
“I feel like I used to do more of that. As a songwriter, I think I’m getting more into simplifying my music. On Sha Sha, there are a few really long songs like ‘In Other Words,’ but it’s still poppy and hooky. I don’t know where my music will take me. I’ll just have to see what starts coming out. I felt more concerned showing people what I could do musically, but now I’m not interested in that as much. I’m more into expressing my thoughts through my lyrics and sort of trying to keep it simple. I want everyone to be able to relate to it. I’ve been doing this so long that I’m no longer interested in indie cred. I think I established that early on, and I’m lucky to have that, but I’m at the point where I want to make music for the people and talk about real situations that people go through. I want substance and less musical vomit. There are so many new bands that aren’t saying anything in their music. I get a sense from some new bands that they’re just trying to be cool and not trying very had to be good songwriters.”