I must admit, I was surprised when I heard singer-songwriter Ben Lee refer to himself as an "elder statesman". He's 45 years old, turning 46 next month. Login or signup to continue reading Then again, he has been making music professionally since he was 14 and his band, Noise Addict, caught the attention of Sonic Youth and Beastie Boys.
He went solo at the age of 16 and, over the years, has given us songs like Cigarettes Will Kill You , Catch My Disease , Gamble Everything For Love and We're All In This Together . There are too many Lee collaborations to list here, but the most important has to be his marriage to Ione Skye. The pair describe their record label Weirder Together as a "creative container" for "left of centre" musicians and other creatives.
It's a multidisciplinary platform where content can be made and shared. Lee has been using the term "elder statesman" to describe the sense of responsibility he feels towards musicians and other creatives new to the scene, waiting in earnest for their "big break" to come. "Ultimately it's a case of figuring out how to be most useful in your community," he says.
"I've always liked the behind the scenes stuff and Ione are both interested in developing and producing and helping other people get their things together." He has a new album due for release next month, This One's for the Old Headz , from which he has released two singles, Heavy Metal and Positive Energy . The music video for Heavy Metal was directed by Nash Edgerton and features a wig-wearing Lee recreating scenes from the 1988 documentary The Decline of Western Civilisation Part II: The Metal Years .
Recorded in just three days with producer Justin Stanley, Lee says the album is a nod to his formative years and "a throwback to classic power-pop albums by artists like Teenage Fanclub, The Replacements, Big Star and The Lemonheads". I challenge you to avoid getting Heavy Metal or Positive Energy stuck in your head after listening. Lee is a master at manipulating your mind with a deceptively simple but catchy tune.
He says he's "not the world's best guitar player or singer and realised pretty early on that my job was just to be authentically myself". And meeting Ione was, in many ways, the beginning of the realisation of his potential. "When you team up with someone and you're on the same page, it's amazing what you can achieve together," he says.
Remaining true to himself, being "indie" in the full sense of the word, has meant analysing three decades of opportunities with a critical eye. "If I was to have compromised, it would have changed the arc of my career, but it wasn't my path," Lee says. "My path was to embrace my own uniqueness, and that seems to be what my audience likes.
Just about all of my most successful moments have been when I did what I wanted, what interested me." One of his latest creative pursuits is his so-called alter-ego DJ Dad Bod, where he swaps the guitar for a turntable and lyrics for mash-ups. Lee's life is full of variety but anchored by authenticity, and that applies to his live performances as well.
"This tour is pretty chill. I'll fly somewhere, pick up a rental car, I listen to a podcast, I show up and play a gig ..
. it's good, it's not very hectic," he says. "I toured America for many years and when you go, you go for six to eight weeks and you do the whole country.
In Australia, gig goers are far more responsible, they like to go from Thursday to Sunday, which makes touring a much more leisurely process. "I'm really into achieving, and quality, but I really want life to be enjoyable. My vision of my career was always about having these expansive and creative experiences with smart people - but also for it be fun.
" Audiences can expect the unexpected - and a lot of fun - at a Ben Lee show. "You can't be totally off the cuff when you've got a band on stage with you, but the best shows for me have the hits, some new stuff and some obscure stuff that people may not expect," he says. "When I play solo I go up on stage with a list of 60 or 80 songs and I don't decide beforehand what songs I'm going to play, I just go with the experience and I try to make every night different.
"I want people to be aware that by coming to the show they're getting an experience that is not like any other night. It's something that only exists on that night." He recalls the days when no one filmed live shows on their mobile phones and "you didn't feel like you had to do everything perfectly".
"I try to bring that same energy today. My audience, they're not coming for perfection, they're coming to see me as me," he says. "Obviously there is a level of professionalism generated by three decades of touring (laughs) so it's not going to be totally chaotic, but to a degree, I think some playfulness and experimentation and even mistakes are part of what people really love about live music.
"I always wanted to make music that was for everyone, and I love the idea that someone can walk into my shows, having never heard a song, and be authentically entertained. "I think it's the kind of show that people feel quite comfortable bringing someone to, even if that person is not as big a fan, or a deep student of the record, because you think they're going to like it. I like that.
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