© Radical Face

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Radical Face, Live in Concert
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

7:00pm

Tickets: $10 in advance

The Studio at Webster Hall

Click here to get tickets!

125 East 11th St
New York, NY 10003

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Give Us More Face!

We have a fresh music find: a new face representing cool music…and that face is pretty damn radical. Radical Face has recently grabbed significant audiophile attention with its single “Welcome Home,” prominently featured in Nikon television campaigns. Radical Face, the folk-inspired group who seldom performs live, is set to appear here in New York City at Webster Hall on October 25th.

Zac Stackell, Music Editor at The Showt, recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Radical Face lead man, singer/songwriter Ben Cooper to discuss his early years, his inspiration and who he’d marry, screw and kill.

Scroll down to read The Showt’s exclusive with Ben Cooper of Radical Face.

By Zac Stackell

Click here to preview Radical Face’s single “Pound of Flesh.”

You’ve mentioned in previous interviews that you are very vulnerable to the forces of your surroundings – what has inspired your new album, “The Family Tree: The Roots”?
It’s a topic I’ve wanted to tackle for a long time. I come from a big family – one of ten kids – and it’s something that’s had a big effect on me. I was hesitant to start for fear I would screw it up, but once I began, I lost my reservations and it all just poured out. I wrote over 40 songs for it over the course of two years.

Where did you get the idea to use aged musical instruments from the 1800’s on your album?
After I’d organized all the songs I’d written, I decided to divide everything up into a time line starting around 1800 and progressing on up until about 1950. Once that was in place, I figured I’d do something similar with the production. So the first album is the simplest, in terms of sounds and instruments used, and it gets more complicated as the time line progresses.

Who is your biggest music idol, living or dead?
That’s tough. I’ve never really been one to idolize anyone. But for shits and giggles, I guess I’ll go with Beethoven. He spent 6 years composing the 9th. I’ve always admired that kind of attention to detail.

Are there any favorite artists with whom you’ve already performed or collaborated?
It sounds cheesy, but I’m a fan of a lot of my friends and people I’m close to. For example, I really love the music my brother writes, and I enjoy working with him. But really, for the most part, I haven’t collaborated with a lot of people, and I don’t tour often, so it’s never really come up.

When did you realize that music was your ultimate calling and how did you make the discovery?
I still sometimes wonder if it is. Hahaha. But music didn’t really click for me until I was 20. After I graduated high school, I really wanted to be a writer. I actually quit my job at the time, lived on my mom’s couch and wrote every day. I studied under a quadriplegic, former-English professor that I met through an online workshop, and over the course of a year wrote two books. Then my hard drive crashed. I hadn’t backed the books up, so they were just gone. Poof! A year’s work, down the drain.

Not knowing what else to do, I got a job at a nearby bookstore and started playing music again. But this time, instead of forming a band, I called up my friend Alex (we have a project called Electric President) and we just wrote and recorded songs. And that’s when it clicked.

Do you have any plans for future collaborations or gossip on upcoming releases?
Always. I have a record coming out early next year that I did with a friend of mine who goes by the name Rickolus. The project is called “Clone”, and the shortest description I can come up with for the record is that it’s a science-fiction-fairy-tale-rock-opera. And then I’ve got two more records to release for [my] Family Tree trilogy. I’m also helping produce a hip-hop record for another friend named Bleubird,  so lots more to do.

Have you played the “rock star” card anywhere to get your way? Would you be inclined to do so again, if not already? We call them “diva moments.”
Hahaha. No, I’ve never done that. I usually don’t even tell people I’m a musician. And I don’t look like one, so no one ever asks…which is nice. I like to stay pretty low-key.

Answer Kill, Marry, or Screw for the following three names: Zooey Deschanel, Leann Rimes, Gwyneth Paltrow?
Well, I’m gay, so I guess my only option is to kill them all.