Benny and Dave

Dave Stevens and Benny Tipene. Interview 2012.

Could you please introduce yourselves as a band? I know you’re called Benny Tipene? It’s supposed to rhyme.

But there’s two of you... I really don’t know what’s happening with that. I’ve thought about like being called Benny & Dave, I thought that would be quite cute. That is quite cute. But yea, I guess like, because what I’ve kind of done is, there’s the songs that I’ve written like by myself, but there’s songs that I want to write with Dave, that I haven’t finished yet. Then I guess we’ll actually decide on what we want to be called and stuff.

I’ve never wanted to be, not that I don’t want to be, but I’ve never been like ‘damn I’m not in the band name’. It doesn’t bother me, you know, I’m in the Benny Tipene band. 

The coolest thing was though, is how I asked him. Because at the time it was just really like ‘oh this is what I’m doing, this is bla bla bla’ and Dave messaged me really excited, he was like ‘this is awesome, this is the kind of music I listen to!’. So I was like ‘If you like it, do you want to play?’ and he was like ‘yes!’. So that’s how he came about. I think I was ready to ask to be in the band before he asked me to be in the band. Yea.

I don't think it would function knowing Dave wasn’t there anymore. That’s how i feel anyway. 

This is emotional already. Nah, it’s like, we organised the flats thing together and that sort of stuff, and I guess that’s what’s kept, like I know I can do that sort of stuff now. And like, Dave pretty much, it was 50/50 the whole way doing the flats thing, but Dave did the poster, and we asked people, got in contact with Te Ra and all that sort of stuff, so. It’s a joint effort.

Team effort. But I’m quite happy for him to take the team name. It’s fine with me. 

We’ll see.

So if you were to introduce yourselves, you’d say ‘we are Benny Tipene’? Well if we were to introduce ourselves, we’d introduce ourselves.

But as a band. If we were on a poster yea, we’d be Benny Tipene. Just like, who else? Who else is like that?.. Lots of people have bands! 

John Mayer! 

Great band, fantastic band. Brilliant musicians. But... you know, like, especially John Mayer Trio, although they’re called the John Mayer Trio, but like, the musicians in his band- fantastic musicians, but they play in the band ‘John Mayer’.

Damien Rice! Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan. Lisa Hannigan is amazing. She’s got an incredible voice. She’s got a solo thing too. But they’re not ‘Damien and Lisa’ they’re just Damien Rice. 

But that’s clearly sexism isn’t it. Well really, that’s sexism in it’s ripest form. Yea... I agree...

So, what do you guys do? Ah... well I play guitar and sing. I do everything else. And Dave does absolutely everything else. He is like... so what I do, oh this song is a good song, is it Fields Of Athenry? No. This guy is just.... Irish...

Yea this one, I know this one... Yea, Feilds of Athenry... Yea that’s all you need to do! Is just lift that party finger and go ‘duuur de de duur de de’. We should have an Irish night tonight. But yea, pretty much what I’ve sort of thought is that like, the demos are pretty much just me, and they are like, what I like to think are like Jeff Buckley and his sketches kind of thing. So the demos are like my sketches, and Dave comes and colours them all in. So it’s like a full picture. So Dave does everything else. Like he colours the picture in, I do the sketches. Quote him on that, I mean, you’re quoting him on everything but definitely quote him on that. Yea, and that’s melodica, that’s xylophone, drums... Should I list everything I do? 

"He colours the picture in, I do the sketches."

Yea that’d be great. So, a little bit of backing vocals every once in a while, melodica, which is a piano you blow into. Some people may not know what that is, you blow into it, it’s like a wind instrument, but it’s got separate valves for each key, I think? Those could all be really bad words to describe it but anyway, it’s a piano with a thing, you blow into it. A xylophone, or glochenspeal? Which ever one the metal one is. I played a little bit of the snare drum at the flats tour which has turned into a full blown kit, well not a full blown, but a kind of cut down version of a drum kit, so I play some drums. Ah, play some electric guitar on the new songs, that’s about it for the moment but who knows. Whatever I’m needed for, I’ll pick up. 

So you’re like the the No More Nails? Fix everything? Is that what you were getting at?

Something like that. Yea, people say it’s a multi-instrumentalist, but, it’s not really. Well I guess it is. I think it is. I don’t feel apt at anything but the guitar so... I kind of stumble through everything but guitar, and I play the guitar alright, well that’s how I see it.

You’re extremely modest, because I have heard you, and you are great. What are you hoping to achieve? He’ll tell you his ambitions. Like, so where do I want to go with it?

Yea. Ah, well, I want to, like, I don’t really care about the radio that much, it would be nice to have a song on an advert, which is quite cool, um, I think that would be like a mainstream goal I guess, but I don’t know. Just to be respected as a musician, and known, just for the people to hear the music, so I’m not really fussed about... like, obviously I’d like to make money, but that’s kind of unrealistic, I just want to play shows everywhere in the world. I want to go to Germany and all that kind of stuff. So yea, that’s the plan.

Germany comes up a lot when we talk about your music plans, is there any particular reason? I really liked Germany when I went, but I’ve also thought Holland would be good as well, so like, Amsterdam and all that sort of stuff, just because places, like, it sounds weird saying Germany is so relaxed but it is. I think Berlin is very artistic and they kind of accept anything, so I guess that part, I think Europe just in general will go off. Um, and maybe move into a full band I guess, I don’t know, see what happens.

Yea.

Cool. I like your lyrics a lot. Dave, do you write some lyrics too? Ah, haven’t yet, but that might happen in the near future. It’s going to happen. He’s recorded this one song, and before he sent me the song he sent me the lyrics, and I liked them a lot, and then he sent me the song, he sung it and played it, and he wants me to do a take on it. So we’ll both write it again together. That’s his sketch! And we get to colour it in together.

That’s beautiful. Yea, and it’s really nice. But yea, at the moment the lyrics, just, I don’t know. I’ve written most of them aye. Yea.

But do you feel like they speak on behalf of both of you sometimes? Yea, without getting too deep on a lot of the things Benny talks about, it’s stuff that I’ve been through and that lots of people have, and I think think that’s what you’ve told me you’ve kind of tried to do, is tell stories in a way that everyone can relate to them, because, you know, most of the stories are things that people can relate to in some way or another. So, you know.

Yea, like Trunks The Cat. You know, ‘you come when I click’, um, and if you sleep with a cat on the bed, like he wakes me up at seven and then goes, sort of thing, so he’s not there for very long, sort of stuff. I guess the lyrics you can understand, because I like to think I articulate my words so everybody can understand what I’m saying, but they also make sense. I don’t get too much into metaphors apart from a few songs, so, I think if you’re being honest and straight up with your lyrics, and if they mean something to you, then like it’s cool that other people relate. Like, the new song ‘boxes’, like we both have like... it was really weird, I told Dave, I was sitting in bed one day and these boxes from when I moved out of my flat, and there’s stuff in there from a previous relationship that was like all over my walls, there’s like five boxes that I just haven’t unpacked yet and gotten rid of because I don’t want to go through the emotional crap. And he had the same thing, like he’s got this little box that he’s got little bits and pieces that remind him of his past and all that sort of stuff. And yea.

Everyone has one. 

Yea, so again, I’m singing literally about a box, and for me and Dave, but people’s boxes can be anything.

It could just be memories.

Yea exactly.

Or a photo on the wall, or anything like that. Which is what I mean, they’re all quite relatable, even if it’s not exact, you can make your own metaphors from them, or they can be quite literal. 

It’s a good way to put it. So yea, the lyrics, they’re good I guess.

They’re important. I know he puts lots of importance on lyrics, which they are, especially in that sort of music and his demos, when it’s just a guitar and him, they’re important, they’re half of it you know. 

Lyrics are the main reason I’m into the artists I like within that genre, I can’t take it seriously if the lyrics are bullshit. Yea. It’d be like taking a Kings Of Leon song, and just playing that on acoustic guitar. There are some good ones, but there are some that don’t make any sense and it’s just crap. But I guess that’s the cool thing about music, that can work for people. But also, Bon Iver’s lyrics don’t make any sense sometimes, and when he sings them just by himself, that’s one of the most emotional things, but I guess that comes down to the musicianship. Because whenever I listen to him I’m like ‘wow this is deep’ but I don’t understand what he’s singing about because he’s singing so high and all that kind of stuff. 

Yea, he’s conveying it through other means. Yea he packs a bunch of emotion into the music. And then the lyrics, you get the feeling from the music and the lyrics you just know are about that because it comes through. 

I get that from yours too, if you didn’t speak english I could still feel the emotion. I agree. So lyrics are important, to me they are. 

You’re both perusing music as a career, is that freaky? Nah, well like, most of my friends, like Drew, a very good friend of mine, he’s just finished study and he’s got a really good job, and a lot of my friends are like that now. And they’re all making very big, adult moves and all that sort of stuff. And sometimes like I used to be a bit down. I had a job last year, and I was doing 40 hour weeks and music on top of that, but then someone said to me ‘if you’re unhappy in that job you should just do what you like’. So I just live off playing in cafes and all that sort of stuff, and in the mid week is where I write most of my music. I just, if I don’t do this I’m going to be an old man later on in life being like ‘man, I did not give that one hundred percent, I did not give that my full attention’ and I’d rather know, and get experience, and if I fail then I’ve still got the experience to gain and the good times and stuff, and hanging out with Dave. I guess if it doesn’t work out it doesn’t work out, and I’ve got the rest of my life to do study. Most people do that sort of stuff. Yea, now’s the time to do it because I’ve got the time and energy and I’m focused on it. 

Now’s a good time to fail. 

"I’d rather know, and get experience, and if I fail then I’ve still got the experience to gain and the good times and stuff."

You feel the same way Dave? Yea, i think it’s very hard to seriously consider a career in music in New Zealand, from being in a music related job, to consider, or to have it your ambition to play music and to live off it in New Zealand is quite unrealistic. The amount of people who will never be able to do that, it’s a tiny percentage of people who can actually do that, but, like he says, nows the time to try, and to fail. I guess it’s ok to fail now, you’ll be fine, or do really well, but you know, if you get down the track and are like ‘well now I can’t even try, and if I fail I’ve got my wife and my kids who I have to pay for, when I jump out of my job and don’t get any gigs, what are they going to say when I come home with no money’ you know?

I guess another aspect for me now is that there’s two parts to my music. There’s my cafe covers scene, and then there’s my own stuff. My own stuff is during the week, and whenever I play a show at the stomach or do the flats thing or whatever, it’s like a project. Like my solo stuff is my project, and my cafe stuff is my job I guess, but still it’s what I’d be doing in my room everyday anyway.

And Dave, your job is being an audio engineer? At the moment yea. 

Are you going to continue that once you finish at The Stomach? Um, I intend to stay in the music community in some way for my job, I don’t know what that will be, but I’m not ready to leave music behind, not yet anyway, well not ever! But definitely not as a career. You know, I’ll be looking pretty intently on trying to find a job that involves sounds in some way.

He’s pretty good at what he does.

I agree. I get by. 

So what else? Ask two more questions.

Ok, I’ll ask one more, but with two parts. Alright, and then we can ask you a question each? 

Sure, why not. My question is... I bet this is going to be the hardest question to answer. I bet. By the way she doesn’t know what the question is, it’s going to be hard. You’re trying to think of the worst thing you could possibly ask!

What is it that you’re trying to do, by only doing what you want to do? Where’s my happy place?!

Yea, ultimate dream is what you’re saying? Like, if everything worked perfectly, and everything that we’re trying to do happened, where would we be in five or ten years...

Yea, like best case scenario, what do you hope to wake up and feel, do you know what I mean? Separate answer right?

Yep. So, for me, and for Dave, I see that we are both two young single lads, who don’t have a lot of attachments, like we do like our family and our friends, and Palmerston North, and all of that, but I think that at the end of the day, if I can make this a job, and we’re both earning good money from it, and still having fun and being creative and still writing our own music, then I think that that’s set. And touring the world. Definitely touring the world. Going to places and seeing all that sort of stuff. I think if we can earn, like I’m happy earning 40k a year playing music, if it’s my own stuff, and I’d do that for the rest of my life. I’m not too fussed about being a rich bastard, I mean moneys good, but if that was your job and all you were doing was playing gigs at night time and being like ‘hey man we had a good weekend, lets write a song about it’ and that’s it, that’s how you make your money. Your thoughts are making you money.

As a complete aside, I’m not going to answer mine yet, but that’s the best thing about Benny’s music, is that he can write a song about his cat, and about doing something fun, and then about the boxes and things like that, and because there’s so many people like ‘I’m an acoustic artist, I’m going to write sob songs for a whole album’ or ‘I’m this sort of an acoustic artist, I’m going to write a party album’ where as he can throw them all in one set and it doesn’t sound out of place. 

I agree. That’s cool. And now I’ll answer. Two part.. Um, one; to never be forced to do something outside what I want to do musically, so like if some one was like ‘I’m going to give you lots of money but you have to write an album that can relate to these people’ or you know ‘has these words in it’ or ‘is about this’ that would suck. And the second one is like, making music that people can relate to. That’s the best thing about when I listen to that sort of music, or any sort of music, is that you feel like they’re singing to you, or about you, or you feel like you wrote this song but couldn’t do it as good as him, you know. That’s one of the best bits when I’m looking for new music and my favourite bands and stuff. So to be able to do that for other people would be amazing. 

Yea, having relationships with other people through your songs.

Yea, and allowing them to personally, on the most personal level, relate to something, like ‘that song is about me, I did that exact thing’ which is you know, that ends up being your favourite song because you’re like ‘this is my story, I just couldn’t sing it or write it as well as that guy who just did’. To be able to be that guy, or that person or that band, to be a part of that band. 

That’s one of the most magical things about music right.

Yep. Agreed. Right our turn to ask you questions. Do you have a question? Um, if you’ve got one you fire first.

Where’d you get your shirt? I got this at the Salvation Army about three years ago for a few bucks. So... that answers that.

Sorry for not noticing it before. No I don’t wear it very often. It’s a once in a season shirt.

I’d make it a twice in a season shirt. Thank you, it’s short sleeved.

I like short selves.

Ok, um, how long have you had your nose pierced for? And will you keep it? Probably, it’ll leave a big hole if I take it out. First half of that question; since I was 18.

Really, has it always been there? Yep.

I think I might have just noticed that recently.

It becomes a part of her face and you don’t notice it as something that’s, you know?

So those are the answers. Thank you, thank you for letting us interview you today.

Oh and we’re doing an EP next week at The Stomach. Yea we’re recording it very soon.

Cool. So that’s the last part of this, where can people hear your stuff? Well my phone number is 027 26..... nah our bandcamp is where it’s at for me to be honest, free downloads, bennytipene.bandcamp.com google search it. Then there’s facebook/bennytipene that links to bandcamp from there as well. Also, you can watch me play sometimes and that’s on facebook too.

I think it’s only fair that you both acknowledge your other projects as well. Nerines is on facebook. The Nerines. You’ve interviewed them before. Losses, you’ve interviewed them before. What else? Ah, what else do I do? Countdown? I’ll DJ your sweet sixteen. Oh yea! Dave has the insanest party play list ever, and he’s got it down to an art. That is an art!

Do you have any Will Smith? Definitely, Miami and Jiggy With It. So... Oh Slower Motion, I should mention that as well.

Oh yea. A song a day for a month. 

I’m planning another something as well for Slower Motion, I thought that would be the end of it but it might... It’s making a comeback. It might, well that’s not the plan I have but maybe one day. It has to do with females and the alphabet, yea, that’s all I’m going to say. slowermotion.bandcamp.com

Nice.

Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.