 A while back it was Sleepytime Trio, which was Drew, Jonathan, Dave, they are pretty much defunct now. Then there was Milemarker, and now solo release from a veteran of both bands Ben Davis. Ben’s new release, "The Hush Patterns Of Relief" will be out sometime in May on Lovitt Records. VIER: So what happened to Milemarker? BEN: Well, Milemarker is still together, it’s just that they decided to move to Chicago, and I didn’t want to move. We all use to live in Chapel Hill, N.C., we kind of started as a side project while Sleepytime Trio was still going on. When they decided to move , I decided to not play with them anymore. I have a son here in Chapel Hill, so I kind of dropped out of Milemarker, because they were touring pretty much year round. I just couldn’t do it financially and I wasn’t ready to leave my son. So I decided not to go with them. We are still friends, in fact Dave just did the artwork for my new album. I still play with some of the guys from Sleepytime Trio in a band called, Bats And Mice. We are currently working on a full length CD, so I’ve been going to Richmond a lot. We plan to record again this summer so we are working on that. And my solo CD, "The Hush Pattern Of Relief" on Lovitt Records will be out in May sometime. It’s some simple songs we did. VIER: Can you tell us about the new CD? BEN: Well, it’s more like the Bats And Mice stuff than Sleepytime trio, it’s very slow stuff. It’s basically songs I wrote on the piano. I wrote them initially as lullabies for my son and I played them for some people and they liked them. So I started making some demos out of them. People were asking why I didn’t play, and Milemarker was touring and I didn’t have a band to play with, so I put something together. We played a few shows and people wanted to get copies of the music. We made more demos, and I was talking to Brian from Lovitt, And I have a history with Brian and he was interested in it, so we decide to put it out. |
VIER: You said, it was lullabies does it come across that way? BEN: No, it started out that way, and then we put in a couple of guitars, piano, bass and drums. It’s now more of a slow band thing, more vocally driven. We throw in a cello here and there, a lap steel, and a smidgen of accordion, we try to mix it up a bit. It’s not way out there, it’s somewhere between Elliot Smith and Blackheart Procession. It’s not as dark as Blackheart, but not as happy as Elliot Smith. But for a reference point it’s somewhere in there. VIER: Who was in the band for the record? BEN: Well, Jonathan Fuller plays drums, he played in Sleepytime Trio, and is in Engine Down, and also plays on the Bats And Mice record. He lives in Richmond so he’s not the regular drummer. The regular drummer is John Harrison, he plays in the Comas from Chapel Hill. Andy Harrad is the guitarist and vocalist, he also plays for the Comas. Tom Laney plays bass, he’s actually the brother of Dave Laney from Milemarker. Matt Long plays guitar, he’s from the band, Mayflies U.S.A.. Then we have Nicole Gehweiler on keyboards. But I think we’re going to use different members in the band when they are available to tour. Everybody in this band has other bands that they are in too. I have a bunch of good friends that have learned the ten songs and we have been playing shows. Their other bands, especially the Comas, are going to get busy and they won’t be available, so I will get other friends to pick up their parts. But I will be the primary songwriter and just rotate members. We’re all friends so it’s nice to get together and hang out and play. VIER: So have you done a tour yet? BEN: No, we’ve mostly been playing in Chapel Hill at the Local 506 and Go. The crowds are fine, there is a nice scene and people and other bands support each other. We are going to be at Mac Rock in Harrisonburg and we plan to do some touring this summer. I think we’re just going to go out for a week or two at a time, not the months long tours. You know a week here, a week there sort of thing. VIER: So you probably won’t go on a tour of Europe or abroad? BEN: Oh, I don’t know, I have been to Europe twice with Milemarker and Sleepytime Trio and I got to see the United States. But it was cool that you had all these nice punk kids showing you the cool places in their towns. If you were just traveling around you would just see the tourist crap. It was pretty cool to see a different side of places. But we will see with this band. |