Benjamin Cartel - IndieRec Interview, August 2004
By David DiSanzo
http://www.indierec.com

The Benjamin Cartel http://www.benjamincartel.com are Brooklyn's loose pop rock quartet that write and record sparkling songs covering day to day topics and setting them to catchy, earthy, foot tapping rock and roll. Thier songs have singable choruses, tasty guitar leads and nice but not overly sweet melodies. they are mixed and recorded very elegantly as well! I urge you to visit their site and listen to some of their music.

I got to ask Mister Benjamin some questions regarding his band and his music recently. Read on:

Q: How long have you been making music?

A: A long time now. I have been playing in bands ever I was High School - a decade and change. The Benjamin Cartel started 3 years ago - with different members. One of them being Ben Trokan, who now plays in a band called Robbers on High Street.

Q: Who are the guys in your band and how did you meet them?

A: Krishna, the drummer, is an old friend -a friend of a friend. We met through a good friend of mine from Westchester. We used to be roommates -downtown in the city and we had been talking about playing in a band together for years. But that didn't happen till last year. Keiran, bass and vocals, is also another friend of another Westchester friend. We met last year and found that we had been been hanging out at the same clubs, watching the same bands, and knew a lot of the same people for a while before we ever met. And The Inspector, guitarist, was met/found thru an add in craiglist -'Guitarist Wanted.'

Q: Who inspired the first track on your CD? Was it a person or are you comparing two bigger than life entities?!

A: Which cd? M&G; Sessions? For M&G; the song 'No One' was inspired by a story that Krishna told me about his girlfriend at the time. Krishna and I wrote that song together. For Salt Water album, the song 'No Good,' was about a girl who I used to date - who was 'no good' for me.

Q: What are your influences?

A: As a songwriter I listen to a lot of catchy, poppy, indie-rock and pop - The Replacements, The Lemonheads, Oasis, Radiohead, Teenage Fanclub, Wilco, Velvet Underground, Jonathan Richmann, Sonic Youth, Pixies -As well as classics like Bob Marley, Desmond Decker, Neil Young, Tom Petty, John Lennon, T Rex, Jimi Hendrix, The 'Stones, and Bob Dylan. If it's a catchy classic song -it's up for grabs in my book. I want to write stuff that people will remember. As a band we all like a lot of Reggae, Black Sabbath, P-Funk, The Who, and The Beastie Boys. At least that's the stuff we all agree on. There you go - Have I left out any musical genres? Oh yeah, Jazz. We LOVE that too.

Q: What are your next steps for the band? How do you plan to take it to the next level?

A: We have been doing some regional and national touring. And we've also played to audiences in England as well. We will keep touring and making more contacts and fans as we have been -both in the US and in Europe. Each year we play out more and more and keep the band busy as possible. The goal is just to keep attracting bigger audiences, play with bigger bands, sell more cds, etc. And I am seeing that happen already. This summer I will be playing some acoustic shows, while the band takes a little rest. I will be on tour with Courtney Kaiser (a singer/songwriter who also sings back-up vocals for John Melancamp) We will be promoting our own cds (cds of The Benjamin Cartel and Courtney Kaiser's debut album)as a duo. It's a two for one type o' deal