New Album, 'Benny's Garden'
Hi, My name is Benny, from Benny Time (makes sense)
Im currently doing my 5th album which is a little scary after the success of my 4th album ‘Benny and Friends’. Benny and Friends was an ARIA nominated album that really changed the music I made and delivered. It also gave me a lot of courage musically and after 30 odd years of writing, was the first time I ever called myself a musician. Crazy right? But true.
Enter the follow up album. ‘Benny’s Garden’
Benny’s Garden is again a new step forward for me as in this instance I found myself with a new band. A band made up of musicians I truly didn’t ever expect to play with. Not only because of their extraordinary experience but also because of their high demand. I was so blown away by them that for this album I decided to let them have their way.
I engaged the producing mastery of Harri Harding (Okenyo, Zindzi and the Zillionaires, Milan Ring) and basically handed over 6 songs and then stood back as he and the band brought all they had to these songs. It was terrifying but incredibly liberating. Not just because of the result but just to have the chance to watch these people create.
The band is Clarinet and acclaimed experimental musician, Laura Altman. Multi instrumentalist Bonnie Stewart. Guitarist extraordinaire and Jazz mind bogolist, Peter Koopman and of course Bass extremist, Abel Cross. Oh, they had one other rule. We were only to record what we could play live. no over dubs, no massive sounds. It needed to sound like we were just playing in, you guest it, ‘benny’s Garden’.
The album is almost there with only a few more mixing days etc but like all of us, funds are getting harder to come by ad I am asking for a little push over the line.
thanks for helping.
Benny
New Single - Come on Boys
New single out now. I have a new song. ‘Come on Boys’. It was originally meant to appear on the album Benny and Friends, however was pulled at the last minute as I felt it didn’t quite fit in the same batch of songs as the others. So it’s been sitting quietly dormant waiting for its moment. It was essentially the last song Michael McGlynn and I worked on before he passed and in true Mike genius fashion he said, ‘Benny i have an idea’ and he did. It began with bringing in Bernie Van Tiel to add a verse, a verse that really essentially became the song. It also is entirely beatboxed by BVT, also another Michael McGlynn amazing call which he won over a series of coin tosses. I miss him desperately, not least for his amazing friendship but just how talented he was as a producer and his ability to bring out the best in me and it hurts to know what I have lost. Mike never understood why i chose to hold back the track but over time he appreciated it and got excited about what it could mean when released. And that was Mike. This kind of grief is new to me but i guess one accepts that the hole is never filled and thats good to know, For Mike has earned a place that isn’t fillable. And that makes me glad. There is no risk of forgetting him. Anyway Mike, the song is coming out my friend and you introduced me to BVT, someone insurmountably cooler than me but someone who understood the song and has made it as strong as it is. “After I was approached to put down a verse on ‘Come on Boys’, I felt a responsibility to share a perspective based around empathy and understanding. I wanted to focus on helping young boys understand their own feelings as well as others. It was an honour to be part of something that has the intentions and potential to change the way we treat each other” Hear it here on Spotify
Raymond McGrath Preliminary Sketch 2
Today my guest is Animator, Writer and Illustrator Raymond McGrath, an artist who is kind of talented beyond compare. You see he is known as an animator which he absolutely deserves for his animation is both exquisite, absolutely versatile and also locked in this world of making the inprobable very real. However when you observe him through the parts he offers us, what you also find is an incredible story writer, song writer and a dreamer in the most absolute purest [...]View More