Ben Farley on Lowell, MA, Butthole Surfers, and Bandmates as Friends with Benefits

Ben Farley (aka Benjamin Lee Farley, Benbo Benskie, Benjelly, Packrat, Toxoplasmodon, Venyamin Wetkoff, Benjamiah Bunkum…) was featured on Holy Crap Records Podcast #38 for his song “Let Me Live in Your House.” He reports that he has finally formed a band around his solo stuff: Ben & the Couch Crashers, and is also in the band PNDB.

My favorite thing to wear onstage:

Undies?

why

I’ve been in this one band called PNDB for 3 plus years and for the most part I’ve been wearing various cowboy hat/fancy jacket/tighty-whitie combinations. Drunkenly dropping trou in front of a roomful/not-so-full of people has been strangely and stupidly liberating. But now I have this gargoyle mask and yellow leisure suit. I’m tempted to start a whole other project around it but I think it’s gonna hafta be my PNDB shit from now on.

Suit and mask. Undies not pictured.

The last musical instrument or musical-performance-related item that I bought and loved was:

I am currently still making payments to the gentlemen at the Tone Loft… a 1981 Gibson Sonex… I keep erasing the rest of my reply because no matter what I write it sounds creepy and/or vaguely sexual. But I love that guitar and it was instant symbiosis and being able to make tiny payments on it has been crucial.

[Editor’s note: If I had a dollar for every creepy/sexual guitar reference I’ve heard, I would not have to make a living as a highly-paid Editor.]

The artist who has influenced me most is:

Ooof. This is gonna take a while. But just this morning while listening to your podcast and hearing y’all talk about “Let Me Live in Your House” and feeling all good about myself, your mentioning Butthole Surfers got me realizing that, if I was to be put in exactly this current interview scenario, but also with a gun at my head for whatever reason (must be one o them SERIOUS interviews… ) Butthole Surfers might really truly be my biggest influence when it comes down to it.

image by Coleman Rogers

Independent Worm Saloon is the second CD I ever bought with my own paper route money, back in like 1996…? I should check my dates… Point being that I’m sure getting into BHS at 8 or 9 or 10 years old had a big ol’ influence on me and my not realizing that some people just aren’t ok with a noise track in between ballads or whatever I’m trying to say at this point.

Could list a bunch more “serious” influences that make me sound deep or whatever but no one gives a shit, BHS 4 RNR HOF.

Something I wish I’d known before joining/starting a band:

It’s like being friends with benefits with each bandmate but everyone also kinda wants to get serious but it’s terrifying so everybody just sleeps with everybody else instead and local scenes get very incestuous. I forgot which way I meant that.

friends with benefits

Image by Brian Bailey

I live in Lowell, MA.

I was born in the area, grew up here and in the area, left for a while, came back. It’s kinda my favorite city in the world, at least out of the few dozen or so where I’ve lived/crashed/toured/etc

The general vibe of this city is:

Cautiously optimistic creative explosion. Because everything is falling apart around us, plus looming gentrification

Image by Coleman Rogers

Some examples of that vibe include:

Inspector 34, Angie Bruce, Michael F Dailey Jr, the Natty D’s, Kofi Edzi, Trope, Corner Soul, Kishor Hollenbeck (SP?), Corey Luebbers, Walter Wright, Nick Telles just moved here… too many musical and visual Masterminds and I really don’t fuck around with that word haha… But also there are more and more homeless folks downtown and fentanyl is killing everyone else and uhhhh wanna buy an old cotton mill? it’s haunted and at least one guy will ask you if Kerouac ever peed on anything in the building.

The best place to play music here is:

Tie: UnchArted Gallery and Warp & Weft. UnchArted is a miracle establishment run by the above-mentioned MIKE DAILEY, with rotating monthly art shows, nightly live music, music scene incubation, and some seriously great pizza (and beer). Warp n Weft is my ego’s choice because I never sing better than on that stage. Also a miracle establishment, for other long-winded reasons.

UnchArted. Art+Music+Beer+Pizza. Let’s all go to Lowell.

My favorite local band (aside from my own):

Inspector 34. Jimm Warren is a brilliant human and this band is his baby and it’s just the best and we feed each other’s egos and self-hatred in equal measures.

I collect:

Records until I’m broke again and then I sell them all back to RRRon. At the moment it’s pretty much gone. Now I collect a thousand pennies at a time and trade them for cigarettes.

My favorite thing to watch on tv is:

All-time? South Park. Lately, Impractical Jokers. Dumb name, great show. I want Trey Parker to somehow, one day, find and read this interview, and then invite me to hang out with him.

In my fridge you’ll always find:

Odors. Not aromas. Odors.

why

I am a disgusting person.

A winter indulgence that I would never forgo is:

Being caretaker of the Overlook

why

Dunno, I’ve just always been the caretaker.

Wamesit falls overlook, Lowell, MA

if you’re going to buy me a gift, say in the under-$50 range, I would like:

Cigarettes and weed

The last music I downloaded was:

San Cha. Recent Bandcamp find. Wacked-out operatic traditional Latin music but also nowadays skronky and she freaks out sometimes and…

<a href="http://elsancha.bandcamp.com/album/capricho-del-diablo-2">Capricho Del Diablo by San Cha</a>

In my heart I wish I was:

Bugs Bunny

because

I mean when he was alive.

A beauty staple that I’m never without is:

The staple that holds my upper lip in place.

why

You should see me without it, yowza.

My personal analysis of the current state of the music industry is:

Bandcamp solves everything

The best place to eat breakfast in my city is:

Club Diner at 3 a.m. Above-average diner food with the best kind of grizzled waitresses but mainly it’s the only thing open after last-call and hooooooooweee Good Times.