 Courtesy of the Artist
Born in London and raised in Brooklyn, Ben de la Cour was playing New York City dive bars with his brother a full decade before he could legally drink. A high-school dropout and former amateur boxer, he received his education by listening to his parent’s record collection – full of everything from Bob Dylan and The Everly Brothers to Lynyrd Skynyrd.
At the age of nineteen he spent a year in Havana training with members of the Cuban national boxing team before moving to London with his brother to revive their doom metal band, Dead Man’s Root. They lived in a van and toured around Europe for several years until the band fell apart under the two-fisted attack of burnout and drunken brawls. In 2008 de la Cour returned to the states with a head full of softer, bruised, but no less intense acoustic songs. Following a short stint in Los Angeles, Ben passed through New Orleans and ended up in Nashville. In April of 2018 Ben de la Cour released The High Cost of Living Strange, eight tracks of his self-proclaimed “Americanoir” style - weaving complex, mysterious and sometimes shocking storylines with a unique blend of instrumental backing and the occasional glimpse of gallows humor. Here, Ben answers his Essential 8 and talks briefly about the album, Taco Cabana, and more. With any particular song, was there an “a-ha” moment when you knew the song was completed and perfect? I don’t think there’s ever a point when a song is truly finished. You just kind of get to a point where you feel comfortable enough to abandon them. Like a child. Is there a story behind your album’s title? Not so much. It just kind of flopped into my brain pan one day and it stuck. I thought it sounded cool and mysterious. Why did you choose to anchor the album with the songs you did? You know how Dylan said “write ten songs a day and throw nine away”? Well, my personal take on that is “write ten songs a day and then release them all minus two on a substandard album on an obscure Nashville label”. When/where do you do your best writing? In the morning. When the cloud of existential dread is still only on the horizon.
What’s the best advice you have ever gotten from another musician?
“Don’t drink any whiskey that comes in a plastic bottle” What’s the best advice to give to a musician just starting out? Same as above. What’s your favorite/”go-to” food on the road? Taco Cabana in Texas/NM. Moe’s everywhere else. I’m trying to get a sponsorship, so if you know anybody help a poor songwriter out! Is drinking at gigs a positive or a negative? It depends on whether you’re performing or not! Website/Facebook/Twitter
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