It’s hard for me to know where on the musical spectrum my taste would lie today had it not been for my Freshman year roommate at Indiana University. While I dabbled in alt rock throughout high school, it wasn’t really until college that I learned to appreciate the singer/songwriter genre. Christian introduced me to artists like Ben Harper, G Love & Special Sauce, Jack Johnson, The Eels and yes, Ben Folds Five. Thirteen years after the release of their last album in 1999, Ben Folds Five is BACK with a brand new record, The Sound of the Life of the Mind, due September 18th on ImaVeePee Records/Sony Music. BELOW the fold, make sure and check out a new song (possible first single?) from the album, “Do It Anyway,” which was released onto the band’s YouTube page July 27th.
I distinctly remember seeing Ben Folds Five live for the first and the last time at the Indiana University Auditorium, October 19th, 1999. An up & coming band called Train served as the opening act for the boys of BFF, having just released their first radio hit, “Meet Virginia” a few months prior. At the time, the only songs I knew by Ben Folds Five were “Brick” and the “Battle of Who Could Care Less” but despite of my lack of familiarity with BFF, that gig remains today one of the most memorable.
The genesis of the Joe Pisapia (formerly of Guster)-produced The Sound of the Life of the Mind took place via a successful grassroots direct-to-fans campaign on PledgeMusic, where artists and fans work harmoniously with charities to create albums and other musical-centric projects. The album, released to the public on September 18th, will first be available to those dedicated fans who participated in the PledgeMusic Campaign. A portion of the album’s sales generated will be used to support Music Education and Music Therapy, an organization personally chosen by Ben Folds Five. Now, that’s the way to make a classy comeback!
Ben Folds Five is Ben Folds (of course!) on piano, Robert Sledge on bass and Darren Jessee on the drums. Formed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina back in 1994, the trio quickly became known for their energetic, live sets, earning them an intensely loyal fanbase, one that that remains by their side to this day. After releasing their first self titled album independently, Ben Folds Five started to hit their stride with the release of 1997’s Whatever and Ever Amen via the now defunct Sony subsidiary 550 Records. It was that album which dropped the emotional powerhouse ballad, “Brick” onto the world, and went on to sell over 2 million copies worldwide. The band’s last album was 1999’s The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, featuring the single “Army.” The band split in 2000, most assuredly breaking hearts the world over.
While there have been one-off reunions over the years, it was 2011’s reunion on The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective, a career-spanning Ben Folds anthology that seemingly rekindled the band’s chemistry and creative juices. Ben Folds Five will embark on a brand new North American Tour starting September 13th in Massachusetts before heading abroad for dates in the UK, Ireland and Australia.
The Sound of the Life of the Mind Tracklisting:
1. Erase Me
2. Michael Praytor, Five Years Later
3. Sky High
4. The Sound of the Life of the Mind
5. On Being Frank
6. Draw a Crowd
7. Do It Anyway
8. Hold That Thought
9. Away When You Were Here
10. Thank You For Breaking My Heart
Tour Dates:
September 13 Holyoke, MA Mountain Park Amphitheatre September 14 New York, NY Central Park Rumsey Playground September 16 Cary, NC Koka Booth Amphitheatre September 18 Atlanta, GA Tabernacle September 19 North Charleston, SC North Charleston Performing Arts Center September 21 Pensacola Beach, FL DeLuna Fest September 23 Dallas, TX Palladium Ballroom September 24 Austin, TX Stubbs Waller Creek Amphitheatre September 25 Houston, TX Bayou Music Center September 28 Kansas City, MO Starlight October 2 Detroit, MI The Fillmore Detroit October 5 Buffalo, NY Kleinhas November 10 Melbourne, Australia Harvest Festival – Werribee Park November 17 Sydney, Australia Harvest Festival – Parramatta Park November 18 Brisbane, Australia Harvest Festival – Botanic Gardens November 23 Bristol, England O2 Academy November 24 Nottingham, England Rock City November 26 Dublin, Ireland Vicar Street November 29 Manchester, England O2 Apollo November 30 Glasgow, Scotland O2 Academy December 1 Leeds, England O2 Academy December 3 Birmingham, England O2 Academy December 4 London, England O2 Academy Brixton December 5 London, England O2 Academy Brixton
