The Bennies
Vocals/Korg: Anty
Guitar: Jules
Drums: Bowie
Bass: Craig
I chatted to guitarist Jules a little while ago and heres what he had to say:
The Bennies recently finished a run of shows around Australia as a part of Soundwave Festival. How were the shows and what did it feel like to be a part of such a notorious Australian festival?
Really good mate, everyone really got behind us. I mean, you never know how it’s gonna go down but yeah, it was great man. Super professional, probably way more professional than we’re used to but it’s good man. The other Aussie bands that played such as King Parrot & Ne Obliviscaris are all king dudes and it’s great to be able to sit down, have a beer and listen to everyone’s stuff.
Following on from Soundwave, you guys are currently on a headline tour with Foxtrot. You’re 4 shows deep now with 7 still ahead of you, what show has been your favourite of The Party Whirlwind Quest and which show are you looking forward to most?
That’s a tough one, I’m still trying to shake off the hangover from Brisbane but that wouldn’t be fair to Hobart because Hobart was at the start and the last thing in my brain was just ‘get absolutely wrecked in Nambour’. Those two cities are probably two of the hardest partying cities, when we tour around Australia, generally Tassie is just fuckin’ loose and Brisbane, well, they take it to another level – must be the heat or something. I think I’ll settle on Brisbane [for the best so far], it was a sold out show and was really really good fun, great bands played. I think I’m looking forward to Melbourne the most out of all the dates because that’s where we’re from and we don’t actually play in Melbourne that often so it’s always special when we get the chance. Definitely keen to play at Northcote Social Club, which is sold out too. It doesn’t get more special, we’re gonna have more family & friends and shit there so yeah man, Melbourne should be sick.
The Bennies have a weekend of shows with DZ Deathrays shortly after The Party Whirlwind Quest. How have both bands got along in the past? We know DZ to be some party boys so surely you guys have some funny stories to tell?
Yeah I mean, these are the first shows we’ve ever done with them. I think we crossed paths briefly and some of the other guys in the band have had a beer with them or whatever but yeah, it’s something we’ve always wanted to do. I have no doubt we’re gonna get along famously *laughs*. So yeah, it should be good especially since we’re getting out to new places. We’re playing at The Village Green in Glen Waverly and I don’t think I’ve ever even played in Glen Waverly so that’ll be different.
You recently covered TISM’s “(He’ll Never Be An) Ol’ Man River” on Triple J’s ‘Like A Version’ program, what drove you to cover that song and how long did it take to create a version which had a flavour similar to that of The Bennies?
We were on tour when we decided to do it. We were just brainstorming some songs that we thought we might want to do, and I think it was myself who said “maybe TISM” when we were all trying to think of bands that we used to listen to on Triple J many many moons ago and it was unanimous really. We all thought ‘yeah, we’ll fuckin’ do that for sure’. How long did it take to get it to a point when is was completely fuckin’ shit? It took a little bit of mucking around but we were surprised, it’s pretty close to what we do. It might seem obvious to other people but we’d never really had too much to do with TISM or anything like that so yeah. We just got together and smashed it out in a few rehearsals and then rocked in and smashed it out on Triple J which was cool.
Awesome! It got a lot of attention on pretty much every major platform of social media hey?
Yeah it was weird! It really got out there and everyone was getting behind it, it was cool. We really didn’t expect that as a band. How can you I suppose, you never know how it’s going to go down but Matt & Alex are really nice dudes. It was cool man, Triple J have been really supportive of us and have gotten behind a lot of our shit over the last few years.
Do you like partying?
Do I like partying? Yeah, like I like to breathe and eat. Absolutely.
What’s your drink of choice?
Jager, although that’s pretty late 90’s. All the boys in the band know that I love a nice cold beer… And Bloody Mary’s. Me and Bowie (The Bennies’ drummer) have had a fuckin’ hard time finding Bloody Mary’s around Australia. Especially at airports, it’s fucked.
Do you like bongs?
Yeah *laughs* but mind you, I used like them a lot more when I was younger. Like, I don’t mind punching out the odd cone but generally I’m a spliff man these days to be honest. I will mix it up because variety is the spice of life but a 2 or 3 paper spliff gets me going, it’s good.
Alrighty, back on track. Let’s talk about the Carlton Dry Independent Music Awards this year. The Bennies got a hat-trick with Heavy Disco EP, Rainbows In Space & Heavy Disco (single) all coming in the top 20. Were you expecting to make it that high on the board?
Nah man, we didn’t expect shit for that. Do you reckon anyone ever does expect anything? Like, a lot of the time what we write is just a stab in the dark so we hear this stuff and just think ‘fuck, that’s cool’ but we don’t write to get stuff on the charts, we write for our fans and for ourselves… So when we get something like this it’s just an added bonus really.
You guys put yourselves in a genre called “Psychedelic Reggae Ska Doom Metal Punk Rock From Hell”, who influences the sound you create?
Black Sabbath, Bob Marley, Sublime, The Clash and heaps of other shit. Also heaps of stoner stuff like old Fu Manchu. Craig’s right into Metallica, he actually used to be in a Metallica cover band called Motallica.
Mario Party was a classic game and I’m sure you probably played it, who was your character of choice?
Wario for sure. He’s always a bit of a cheeky one, a bit of a bulldozer but in Super Smash Bro’s (which is what we play now on DS’ while we’re on tour) I’m generally Captain Falcon.
Vinyl or download?
Shit, recently I’ve been going through this myself because I love vinyl but sometimes I get really sick of flipping the disk. Like, you’re chilling out on the couch, you hit your groove then 20 minutes later you’re like “fuck, gotta flip the disk”… So for continuity I would go for download, but for actually supporting a band or wanting the art I definitely go with vinyl.
Comedy or horror?
Horror, hands down.
Mashed potato or baked potato?
Mashed, FUCK baked potato.
Tent or caravan?
If i had the option I’d probably go for a caravan, although tents are alright. Usually I just have a few beers and crash out anyway.
What’s in store for The Bennies for the rest of 2015?
Once we finish up doing this tour we’ve gotta get straight back into writing. Sure, after that we’ll do some more touring but really we’re just hanging to get a new album out man. We’ve got a few songs written up already but recording will take up a bit of time. You know, with pre-production, recording, pressing, it takes months.
Thanks for your time Jules!
High fives!
We’ve picked up a cool bunch of shots from The Bennies recent show, thanks to Rachael Barrett.
- Photos: Rachael Barrett