Meet New York's Own, Ben Kweller

Born in 1981 in San Francisco, California, Ben Kweller had an innate desire to make music. He grew up in Greenville, Texas listening to music. He was only seven years old when his father taught him how to play the drums, nine when he wrote his first song on the piano, and eleven when he got his first guitar, a Red Fender Stratocaster. His passion for music was still strong as he entered adolescence and he formed a band called "Radish" with John Kent. Radish went on to release four albums. They released Hello, Dizzy, Restraining Bolt, and Discount Fireworks, though Discount Fireworks was never released to the public.

When Ben Kweller was nineteen years old, he moved to New York City with his girlfriend. They lived in a small apartment where Ben wrote many songs. He recorded them to his computer, and created a CD entitled, Freak Out...It's Ben Kweller. After this album was released, he played as many shows as he could get around the city. Like many starving artists, he didn't have a lot of money, so he played with a guitar and keyboard, as well as any other instrument he could get his hands on - shakers, tambourines, harmonica, etc. Also, he couldn't afford a back drop, so before shows he would create one of his own - a hand made sign with his name (or just BK) written on it.

Evan Dando (of The Lemonheads) called him up one day during this time, and asked him to tour with him. For all of Dando's American shows, Ben was the main opening act as they drove around the country in Ben's old Volvo. Dando even took him overseas to play in Europe. Over time, Ben became friends with many other artists in the New York City area, including Adam Green and Kimya Dawson (Moldy Peaches), The Strokes, and Nada Serf. He also had the opportunity of opening for, and playing with several musicians such as Jeff Tweedy, Death Cab for Cutie, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and The Black Crowes at one of their Hammerstein reunion shows.

As his popularity grew, Ben was approached by Michael McDonald, co-founder of ATO Records along with Dave Matthews. At the time, ATO Records was a fairly new label. Ben had respect for Dave Matthews and his music, and ultimately decided to take McDonald up on his offer. He signed with ATO in 2001, and released an EP (Phone Home) in December. While on ATO Records Ben released two more albums - Sha Sha (2002), and On My Way (2004).

With Sha Sha, he became more popular than ever. He got to tour with his first sold out headlining tour. After touring, he wanted to get right back in the studio. He recorded On My Way, which he says he is very proud of. On this album, he wanted to really show the world the talent of the band he'd been playing with. To do this, they recorded everything live, no headphones, and very few overdubs. This leaves the album feeling very raw and real - like you might get at a live show. After the release, they toured, playing with bands such as Death Cab for Cutie, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and the White Stripes.

As for the future? Ben has no plans of slowing down any time soon. He is currently doing promotion for the release of his album Ben Kweller, released last year. He attributes his final decision of playing all the instruments by himself to the fact that it was a very autobiographical and personal album. He has plans to pick back up with his band for future projects.