The Hooksexup Interview: Ben Folds

Ben Folds fears no comedy. The former frontman of Ben Folds Five isn’t afraid to release a fake album, brandish a synthesizer, or cover Dr. Dre’s "Bitches Ain’t Shit" while rocking Buddy Holly-esque black glasses. But it’s sometimes hard to distinguish his merry pranks from his more sincere work; a collaboration with the notoriously un-musical William Shatner turned out to be a critical darling. So his latest album — a collection of Folds covers sung by college a capella groups and, on two tracks, Folds himself — may raise eyebrows. But Folds insists the album is no joke: "I consider this my new record… If this were Ben World, this would be my greatest-hits album." Forgoing Auto-Tune and modern mixing marvels, Folds mic’d up college dorm lounges, lecture halls, studios and a synagogue. His focus on unfiltered spontaneity paid off — Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella! is the best of Folds, in more ways than one. Folds spoke with Hooksexup about his new album, the perfect song of seduction, and the mighty scent of Bill Shatner. — Nicole Ankowski

At my college, if you were in the right a cappella group you could get laid on any given night. For nonbelievers, can you explain why a cappella isn’t the dorkiest thing in the universe?
I don’t really know that it is or isn’t the dorkiest thing in the universe. I think the main appeal is that people like singing. And I think it’s really cool that — well, whether it’s cool or not — I think it’s great that college kids will get together without class credit and discipline themselves to sing in a group. It’s a pretty big undertaking. I mean, there are lots of ways to get laid. That’s one of the more honorable ones.

What’s the best way to pick up a Ben Folds fan?
There was a famous, improv-comedy performance-art guy named Charlie Todd in New York, [creator of] Improv Everywhere. They’ve done a lot of pretty legendary stunts; one was done in Grand Central Station, which was huge. He started his career by imitating me in a bar, and actually managed to pick up girls. I found that amazing. But, you know, it seemed to work for him.

Are you giving your fans permission to imitate you in bars now?
If they want to, that’s okay. I’m just skeptical of that strategy. I’ve had people tell me that they met at my shows and got married to one of my songs, "Luckiest." I think that’s pretty cool. That song, by the way, is done by one of the a cappella groups on this record and they just slayed it.

I agree; it’s gorgeous. You’ve said that you aimed to write a true love song with "Luckiest." Have you ever crafted the ideal lovemaking song?
I’ve always said that my music was birth-control music. I have all these little shocking dynamics, up and down, which I’m not so sure is conducive to anything but shocking people right off the couch. I made an album called "Fear of Pop," which was an instrumental record. And there’s a song called "Slow Jam ’98," which shows what year it was recorded in. That was as close to a booty-grabbing number as you’re gonna get from me.

How did come up with the concept for this album?
I saw a YouTube video of one of the a cappella groups doing one of my songs. Then the "related videos" on YouTube were one after another of a cappella groups doing my music. And then there were thousands of a cappella entries, doing pop music. It really put pop music in the context of folk music, and sort of transcended the celebrity part of the rock biz. It just becomes about the song, and these people doing their own arrangements.

So you put out a call for a contest?
The idea came a couple years ago to me, and it took awhile to get into gear. The a cappella stuff was so under the radar of anyone who worked in the music business, that when I tried to simply put out the word for a cappella groups, that I wanted to make a record — it came out as some kind of contest to cover my music, and the a cappella part got lost. I re-explained myself: I didn’t want a contest. I just wanted to make an album.

Did you choose the lucky fifteen?
Yeah. I had two weeks in which to listen to about 250 submissions. It was a full-time thing. I came back after the gig, sat in front of my computer with headphones, and went through them all with a notebook. It’s pretty heavy, but once you get into it, and you start really listening for arrangement, and the lead singer, and the interpretation — it gets fascinating. But whittling down from 250 to fifteen is tough.

Did you personally notify the winners?
I got a YouTube account, and I’d just send them a note and said, "This is Ben. I like it. Let’s make a record."

What did you love most about recording with the student groups?
It was refreshing how professional they were — as opposed to professionals. They nailed things really quickly. And I’d chosen well, I suppose. My engineer and I would show up at the college, quickly scout the locations that they had available, shake all the hands, and start putting mics up. It was really fast. I was giving them four hours, all total, between set-up and being a wrap. They usually did it in a couple hours, and sometimes less than that.

What’s next — are you still planning a collaboration with Nick Hornby?
Yeah. Nick’s written nearly twenty sets of lyrics, and I’m gonna write the music. He’s got a completely unique voice. That’s why he’s popular, I suppose. It comes out in his e-mails, it comes out when he talks. That’s just who he is. And he’s not really a lyricist — I’ve talked him into this. I think his cadence is going to be a challenge. [But] I’ve written to lyrics plenty. It only takes a few minutes to write music to someone’s lyrics.

Wow. For you.
Yeah, well, for me. But other people that I’ve heard use that method say that they find it really fast, too. Because you tend to find something quickly, you know — or not.

What does Shatner smell like in person?
Essence of Bill, I don’t know. He’s usually got crisp, nice, new clothes on and probably some kind of cologne or something. I never really noticed. Leather. Some kind of leather shit. He smells like the future! He smells like the Enterprise. Last time I saw him, he smelled suspiciously like the green lady.

What’s sexier: black glasses or a cappella?
Hm, I kinda like black glasses, if I have to choose.

People have been talking about the death of the music industry for years. Would you say your current album is a way to combat that?
The atrophy of the old system shouldn’t be confused with the death of music at all. Because music is always there. Just to see the a cappella groups is proof of that. Without class credit, without really any structure or motivation that would be obvious at all, they’re just putting it together and singing and doing it. Now the music business, in its sort of amorphous form, is picking up on that and making sure it’s distributed out of necessity.

[Laughs] I feel like I’m giving some kind of fuckin’ economics lecture. But it really does come from the music. The music business has been severely crippled for a long time, but that has actually helped music. That hasn’t hurt music, that has helped music. A challenge is always good for creativity. ‘Cause if you’re working within a limitation, you can’t afford a normal amount of stuff, and you have to do it on a shorter schedule and with less money. That’s almost always good, in my experience.

Click here to purchase Ben Fold Presents: University A Cappella!

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