Benskuba has been making music and navigating the business for a quite a while now. He was the kid in school (age 10) that showed up to show and tell with his band…and I don’t mean the kind made out of rubber.
I had the opportunity to grab this brief interview so we discuss Benskuba’s music, changes in the business, and what influenced his new album. Be sure to show your support by sharing, streaming, and downloading the music.
You were the kid in school who brought their band to school for show and tell. How long have you been making music? How young were you when you first started playing an instrument?
40yrs making music, age 11 first started playing drums then bass a year later
How has the landscape of music and the music business changed over the years?
First of all, the way music is recorded is totally different. Bands had to be very well rehearsed before you hit the “record” button, you only had 5-6 takes before the tape started to degrade. With computer’s, you have unlimited takes, tracks, copy and paste and the ability to experiment with different sounds and arrangements all at the click of a button.
The music business is a different story! Used to be major record companies controlled or filtered what the general population heard by way of popular music. With the Internet and computer recording, any musician or DIY band can release and distribute worldwide a full cd thats not controlled by the corporate major record labels. That’s a huge shift (good or bad) Internet radio also allows indie artist’s to expose their music to the world, bypassing mainstream radio.
Who or what are your influences? What hooked you on music at such a young age?
Main influences : U2, Simple minds, The Clash, REM, English Beat, Daft Punk, James Brown, Carlos Santana
I been threw most era’s of pop and rock music so they all had an influence, from The Beatles, The Who,The Ventures even The Beach boys early on but what hooked me on music was hearing Alice Cooper “Killer” album at age 9…. I was swallowed into the rock&roll abyss shortly after.
What was the last song you listened to?
Song remains the same…..Led Zep.
Now that you have been creating as a one-man band for a while…What are some advantages and disadvantages of working solo? What do you miss most about working with a band?
Advantages: everything I say goes! No other ego’s involved.
Disadvantages: It’s way harder than I thought … You have to write and record all the instrument parts plus sing and write lyrics. It’s nice to have other member’s to bounce ideas off of. It’s also easier to build the song with a band playing instead of building the song track by track yourself.
What I miss most about playing with a band during recording is probably the camaraderie. There are long hours during the recording process and it’s nice to have your band-mates there goofing off especially before doing a serious vocal take.
I read in your bio that tragedy struck during the creative process for the new project. Can you tell us a little about that and how it impacted the album?
After planning some dates to go into the studio and record, Blair(Spike) was diagnosed with Als. It was becoming increasingly clear his ability to play drums was declining fast. The first thing to go was the use of his hands and arms. Soon after I decided to do the album on my own and play all instruments instead of hiring musicians. Obviously the impact was huge on me personally and the over all sound and rhythm of the music, but I feel those circumstances sort of fueled me with emotional edge and focus I might other wise not of had.
Do you actively gig? Tour? Where can we see you perform?
Currently I’m rehearsing with a new band and are planning a summer tour through western Canada.
1rst stop is the Aerostock Festival in Regina sk late June/27
Where can we connect with you online? Listen to your music?
- www.benskuba.com
http://www.cdbaby.com/AlbumDetails.aspx?AlbumID=benskuba2
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/celebration/id958761414
https://www.facebook.com/benskubamusic
Any last thoughts? Shout outs? Words of wisdom?
special thanks to Carl Cress at Organic sounds Calgary after recording a million tracks I handed him the songs and said “hey! I need this mixed by next week”
