Both Sides of the Gun...

Gentlemen - I ask you to harken back to the end of this summers Ben Harper concert. The emotionally charged ending to "With My Own Two Hands"...Ben and the crowd of 2200 musical-friends chanting "I Believe in a Better Way...I Believe in a Better Way". Fast forward to the present, Bens upcoming album will open with an equally charged song called "Better Way". I have an early version, and it sounds GOOD. Real Good. March 21st cant get here FAST ENOUGH. Heres a great interview with Ben about the album.
Enjoy - Woods.

Relix
February/March 2006

Reel Time

Rocking The Boat
With Ben Harper

By Daniel H. Brown

In a recording studio, in the middle of a boat, in the middle of L.A., Ben Harper is in the middle of a world at odds. But after being cooped in this place for over two-and-a-half months he has finished Both Sides Of The Gun, a two-disc album that weaves together a variety of old and new musical styles from his career, creating an auricular tapestry that is strangely cohesive. With soundman Danny Kaleb capturing the differnet moods of each song, Harper has been free to confidently explore any number of musings. Flipping the Lakers game on mute, Harper kicks back on the couch to chat about his newest work.

The Gist

My favorite records are the ones you half know what you're going to do, you half know what you're going to say, and you half have it exposed to you during the process. That's what this has been.
I started these songs the second I finished my last record. The way this one's built is for people who dig what I do. Ther's a lot of different shit people want to hear-funk, slide, ballads-but this way, with two records, I could represent the different things that interest me.
Each side is 32 minutes, the first side harder than the second. I kind of went by b.p.m.s organizing it. If something's moving with a certain force it's going to end up on the first record. Not that there's any less of a force on the second record, but it's just that it's a slower tempo on the whole. There's a difference between the two in the lyrical context as well. The discs are charged differently: that's why the album is titled Both Sides Of The Gun.

The Sound

I stumbled onto this electric xylophone in a pro drum shop and I was like, "This thing is magic." That was it: cool. The xylophone with the guitar gave it a new, almost haunting sound. And then on the instrument list, Jeezus! All types of amps, a baby grand piano, mumerous keyboards and melatrons... the percussion instruments go on for days-tablas, dumbecks, drum kits... On this record I went every place that I love to go and even places I've never been that came from the back of my distorted brain into the studio room through the mics. Luckily, Danny was there to capture the amazing sound of all the instruments. That man... He's a genius at recording.

The Tunes

We had to cut a couple of songs for time reasons but I did not need to abandon anything because I got hung up. I narrowed the tracks down to 18, and then "Black Rain" came along, which knocked another off. I wrote that song after watching that shit in New Orleans go down and straight-out put pen to paper and recorded it with various members of the ICs (Innocent Criminals).
On "Better Way" I just layered the shit out of the percussions-I don't even know what the shit is going on there, I just layered and layered. After that I laid down the bass, slide guitar and vocals, and there it was.
On other songs like "Serve Your Soul", I brought in a couple of friends of mine whose playing I've admired. I showed them the changes and how it went and we just jammed. The different musicians I brought in, well, look man: If I'm going to be bringing someone in on a song they'd better bring something to it that I can't on my own, otherwise I'll just play the shit myslef. So anybody I brought in, whether it's the string players on "Morning Yearning", my own band The Innocent Criminals on "Picture In A Frame", or the three cats from Austin, Texas, on "Serve Your Soul", it's because I know they bring a certain, special sound and energy to the process.

The Philosphy

You sounded more confident on this record.

Look man, I can't sit up here and agree with you, cause I don't. I don't have an unconfident record. Straight up, every time I've stepped to a note, on every single record, on every single song, it's been with the utmost confidence. Is there evolution reflected? Yes. Maturity? I hope so, but I'd like to think I've been in a state of "becoming" since the first record and I hope to still be there after this. I think the second you arrive somewhere and want to rest there, fucking stagnation sets in and then you constantly end up wanting to be that person time and time again. I don't want to ever do the same thing twice. I don't mind doing parts of the same thing, but I always want to be trying new shit and this record shows an extension of experimentation, for sure.
After you've been loved and loathed for a certain amount of time, the praise and criticism falls on deaf ears. I've never done it for that. I mean, do you do something for ego or because you have a soul calling? I hope, without sounding ethereally ridiculous, this is my shit. This is what I do. It gives my life meaning and if it connects through people I'm all the more fortunate.

Last Thoughts

I laughed in this record more than I've laughed on any other record. It's cabin fever, man, you're locked up in here from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. every day for three months. You get a little bit nuts. But in the process of this record, more than any of the others, I felt like I surpassed my expectations for myself. And man, I hope that translates to the way people hear it. *