 Courtesy of the Artist Have you had a lousy day? Ever feel like chucking it all and heading for the hills? Ben Bostick knows where you’re coming from. The Californian country rocker has had a few escape fantasies of his own – visions of ditching the rat race and getting back to the land, reclaiming his primal manhood, or just partying until he drops. Yet Bostick is too smart to think there’s any easy way out of the trap. He’s poured all of his ambivalence, his frustration, and his wild will to get free into a delicious growler called “No Show Blues”, the first cut on the soon-to-be-released Hellfire, a collection of ferocious, uncompromising, brutally honest, and darkly funny outlaw country songs – songs Waylon and Willie would recognize as part of their tradition. Bostick keeps his tales concise, his rhymes tight, and his language bluntly poetic, and sings it all in the parched growl of a desperate man who has been wandering the Mojave for too long. Here, Bostick answers his Essential 8 and talks songwriting, the classics he listens to on the road, struggle and success, and more. Do you write about personal experience, the experience of others, observations, made-up stories, something else or a combination? I write from all different angles, depending on what kind of song I’m writing. On this album, I’m writing from the perspective of a character who is part of me: the self-loathing, bitter, and resentful part of me that wants to see order crumble and chaos reign. It’s my punk side, my dark side, and the side of me that relates to all the people out there who work their lives away in some crummy job for too little money while the cost of living keeps rising. I wrote this album for people who still smoke cigarettes, who drink whatever is cheapest and strongest, yet who manage to stay at the table despite the lousy cards they’re holding. Always in the hole, always scrambling, but never quitting. It’s an album about hell and self-destruction and persistence. I wrote a lot of songs in the year leading up to this album, and the ones that made the final cut are the ones that fit that feeling. What’s the best advice to give to a musician just starting out? If you are looking to get rich playing music, quit now. If you are looking for external validation for your incredible talent, quit now. If you are looking to because famous and popular, quit now. If making music is a means to some other end for you, quit now. If none of the above apply and you know that being able to make music for a living is its own precious reward, then you need no advice from me. Make it happen, soldier. What are your “must have” albums for the road?
I love to listen to new music on the road, but here are some classics that I can always reach for when nothing else is clicking…
My biggest struggle so far has been finding my audience. My records have been too unconventional for the country folks, too rocking for the Americana folks, and too twangy for the rock folks. By nature I’m an outsider, a contrarian, and I am temperamentally incapable of following trends, so my audience has to find me by stumbling upon my live act or reading fine publications like yours that lend me some ink. So thank you! What has been your biggest success? My biggest success is being able to make a living playing the music I want to play. Every now and then I have to pinch myself—I don’t have a boss and I play my own music for a living. As far as I’m concerned, I’m living the dream. It ain’t easy making a living this way, but it’s the easiest living I’ve ever done. Which song of yours gets the best crowd response? “Hellfire” is definitely the biggest crowd pleaser. The chorus is a call and response deal where I say “I’m talking ‘bout hellfire,” and the crowd yells back “hellfire!” There’s something about crowd call and response that is primal, almost like some sort of an ancient ritual. I also think that the patrons of the bars I play in also just like to hear a good song about getting drunk and yell every now and then. Favorite (or first) concert you have ever attended? There’s a tie for my favorite concert, both of which took place when I was eighteen or so. The first concert was Springsteen at the University of South Carolina basketball stadium. I had been playing in bands for a few years, and I had seen a few big shows, but I had no idea how powerful live music could be until I saw the Boss stir up an auditorium until it practically boiled over in near-religious ecstasy. The second concert that blew my mind that year was seeing Victor Wooten play a small club called Senate Park in downtown Columbia, SC. I had no idea people could play instruments like that. Like Springsteen, Wooten and his band were able to transcend music and bring the audience to a realm of human experience beyond the one we occupy everyday. Both concerts left me inspired and left a long-lasting impression? Is there a recent release you cannot stop listening to? Western Centuries, “Songs from the Deluge.” That is a fantastic record that hooked me immediately. I love everything about it, from the songwriting to the playing to the singing. It’s a great record that you can listen to over and over and it gets better on every play. I don’t know why so few people know about them. Many people should. Shout out to Shamblin’ Sexton from the Whiksey Preachin’ Show for turning me on to them. Website/Facebook/Instagram
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