Photo by Brian Stollery
For his latest album, Tigerface, experimental keyboardist Marco Benevento uprooted himself from his comfort zone and embarked on a path that assured very little. Leaving behind his Brooklyn home and typical recording spots, Benevento headed for Los Angeles’ famed EastWest studio—the iconic recording studio which gave birth to albums like The Beach Boys’ groundbreaking 1966 album Pet Sounds —and began work on what would become Tigerface. This, coupled with the addition of Rubblebucket vocalist Kalmia Travers on two tracks, spelled, for many, Benevento’s decision to head in a more mainstream direction. But after toying with the tracks for nearly two years and relocating himself once again to the woodlands of Saugerties, NY, Benevento wound up producing his most audacious effort to date. Just before hitting the road for a series of East Coast dates, Benevento spoke with Jambands.com about the new album, his development as an artist as well as the future of The Duo, Surprise Me Mr. Davis and more.
What were some of the biggest factors that led to your development as an artist during the period between the release of your previous album Between the Needles and Nightfall and your new album Tigerface ?
Well I moved from Brooklyn to Saugerties, NY. I live now in Saugerties—closer to Woodstock—about three miles from Levon Helm’s barn. I’ve been here about a year and a half, and [the move] happened in the middle of making this record. I think that shift helped a bit. Although, I recorded all the basic tracks for Tigerface in November and December of 2010, but the record just came out now, so I’ve been sitting with the record for two years—I’ve never sat with a record for two years. I normally sit with a record for six months or eight months then I do all the overdubbing and mixing and the record comes out. So I took my sweet time with this one because of the move—that took some time away from editing it.
I actually made a bunch of notes on every take of every song and listened to everything and got really got into the sound of the takes or the sound of every drum part I liked or bass line, or piano part. Just the fact that I was able to take my time with this one was a huge factor. I actually added the vocals to “This Is How It Goes” a year-and-a-half later. At first, it was just a fun idea and it just turned into a real pop tune by adding [Rubblebucket vocalist] Kalmia [Travers] and the lyrics.
I’d say those are the two big factors—the move and sitting with it for that long.
In a way, there’s a bridge between your last two albums in the sense that they share some conceptual ideas and seem to have propelled you toward a distinct sound of your own. Was there a conscious effort to build on some of the ideas that were created during the Between the Needles sessions while working on Tigerface ?
I guess it was a similar approach in that on Between the Needles and Nightfall we did a lot of writing in the studio. We did writing where I had an ‘A’ section, and then we’d all get together in the studio and attempt to write a bridge together or write the bridge on the spot. There was a lot of studio writing on Tigerface, which basically means writing very fast because you’re recording. There was a bit of a similar approach to writing between the two records, like that.
I’d say that the way Tigerface is made is super unique compared to the other record, maybe because I sat with it for so long and tried different arrangements of songs. For example, the one that has [Phish bassist] Mike Gordon playing bass on it, we had an arrangement of a song but it was the reverse to what it is on the record. So, we recorded the track and then when I went home I was like, “Wait, let’s put the ending first, the intro second…” and I just rearranged the parts on a laptop and I was like “that’s how the song should go.” I did a lot of “frankensteining” with this record, but it doesn’t necessarily sound like it.
You worked with a vocalist on this record, which is something you had not done in the past. What inspired you to put words to two of your songs on this album? Who wrote the lyrics?
I wrote the words for “This Is How It Goes” with my wife way before we even decided to use Kal. I wrote those words and then Kal wrote the words for “Limbs of a Pine.” I was sitting with the instrumental version of “This Is How It Goes” since December 2010 and I just thought that the melody could really lend itself to some words. So my wife and I sat down and really surprised ourselves with how the song instantly went from a jazz song to almost a radio song.
It was inspired by curiosity just to hear what it would sound like. We did it rather quickly and I don’t know how much sense [the words] actually make. I’m sure I’ll do it again and maybe even use Kal again. I do like it. It’s kind of cool to hear. I could have sung on it, but I felt it sounded like a female vocalist.
Is that something you might do in the future, sing on one of your own tunes?
I could, potentially. I don’t know. I hope not…no I’m kidding. I just haven’t gotten the complete urge to do it yet.
Is the song title “Soma” a Brave New World reference?
Oh, that’s just the name of the studio we recorded it at.
*Have you read the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley?
Yeah, but it’s been so long. What was that?
Soma is the drug they hand out in their dystopian future world to keep the society regulated and happy. It’s also a muscle relaxant in the real world.
Oh, wow! Maybe that’s it. That’s the track that has John McEntire on it, the drummer from Tortoise and The Sea and Cake, and he has this studio in Chicago called Soma. So that’s probably how he got the name for his studio.
Were there any guests that you were particularly excited about working with on this album?
Stuart Bogie, the saxophonist that’s in Antibalas and that tours with Iron & Wine and is on the new David Byrne and St. Vincent record and has his own band Superhuman Happiness. Superhuman Happiness is one of my favorite bands. Matt Chamberlain and Andrew Barr, Reed Mathis…and Dave Driewitz is on a couple of tracks—he’s been my bassist and the bass player in Ween. It’s cool to have Dave on the record because he’s the guy I go on the road with and he was the bass player for frickin’ Ween and it’s just badass. I did something with a violin player from L.A., Ali Helnwein (Traction Avenue Chamber Orchestra); he plays some violin lines that I wrote on “Eagle Rock.”
Many of the songs on the album meld both classic elements with newer, more experimental or electronic sounds. Is that something that you try to attain intentionally or is it more just a result of your personal style?
I think a lot of the songs and the style of music that I’m writing is kind of like me working shit out in my head. You know, unintentionally, maybe some Italian roots might come through or a very traditional sounding melody might come through. I played the song “Fireworks” for my friend and he said, “It sounds very Italian.” My dad is from Italy and he came to the country when he was 15, so I was raised playing a lot of Italian Neapolitan songs and traditional songs.
I also like classic rock. I’ve been into Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and The Who…I have my roots in very melodic music, like rock and traditional Italian music. Then I got into jazz and other experimental music along the way and then I kind of did a 360 and came back to playing rock after playing jazz for a while. Now there’s an influence of jazz and some electronic stuff. I think it’s just a thing that’s built in to the person that’s making the music.
Baptiste Ibar of the band BiziGara designed the cover art for Tigerface ashe did on your debut studio album Invisible Baby. What is it about Ibar’s work that you are drawn to and how did you discover him?
I’ve always been drawn to his art since I’ve known him and I’ve known him since 1995 or ’96…I’ve known him for a long time. We have mutual friends like The Barr Brothers and some other folks. I’ve always had his art hanging in my house and his sister also makes art. They’re just a really nice family, good people. I bought one of the tiger face stencils, maybe he gave it to me, but I have that huge tiger face stencil in a frame and I’ve always wanted to use it as an album cover. At some point, I knew I would do that. It came time and I decided to call it Tigerface because of the stencil, and also the name “Tigerface.” I had that in my mind for a long time too. I wanted to call one of my albums Tigerface but I didn’t want to do it because there’s a band called Tigerface. So I was like, “I need to wait until they’re not playing any shows” or “I can’t use a band’s name for an album.” I totally could have, Idon’t think it was any big deal. So I finally decided to do it.
What’s in the works for Surprise Me Mr. Davis or, perhaps, The Duo?
Joe [Russo] and I get together once in a while, we actually played just recently at Levon’s place. Joe is one of the drummers that they have been using since Levon passed away. Joe and I play here and there and we also play in Bustle in Your Hedgerow and every time we play we dream about getting The Duo back together and recording—especially now that I have this studio out here in the country. So we plan on making a record at some point, we just don’t know when. But we will as soon as we get some time. Joe’s been super busy with Furthur too, not to mention. So it’s been hard, but we want to do it.
Davis will get on with it soon enough. We have some things that we recorded a year and half back or maybe two years back that we want to release. So we’re figuring out what to do with that.
