with
A 1
What music have you been listening to lately? I just came across the album Of Violence by the band Town Portal. It reminds me of some of the music I was exposed to in the late ’90s. It’s an instrumental trio, and they’re a little bit of Tortoise, a little bit of Shellac, and a whole bunch of their own thing.
6
Ben Kenney
fter catching the spotlight playing bass and guitar for legendary hip-hoppers the Roots in the early 2000s, Ben Kenney has been holding down the low end for alt-rockers Incubus for the last 16 years. Additionally, he sings and plays all of the instruments on each of his slamming five solo albums, and, in short, is
an all-around musical force of nature. Currently, he’s gearing up to hit the road with Incubus for a summer tour, and he’s working on yet another solo masterpiece. When he’s not busy with those, he’s either kicking it with his dog, Carl, or hitting the asphalt on his motorcycle. Luckily for us, he took a break from his busy schedule to answer our 10 questions.
2
4
What’s one element of your playing that you’ve been working on lately? I need to work on improvising melodies. It’s the most challenging thing. I saw John Scofield live recently, and he always blows my mind with his ability to speak through melody. I would love to be able to create on the spot like that.
3
What’s the best concert you’ve ever attended? “Best” is a hard title to award, but one of my favorites was Big Wreck at the North Star Bar in Philly. There were only 20 people there, but they ripped like they were headlining a sold-out arena. That was important for me to see, having been in bands that played to mostly empty rooms.
BASS MAGAZINE ; ISSUE 2 ; bassmagazine.com
If you could have lunch with any bass player today, alive or dead, who would it be? Frank Bello. He’s rad to talk to. He’s seen the music business completely change a dozen times. And he’s in Anthrax — by far my favorite of the Big Four.
5
If you could sub for a bass player in any band, who would it be? Phil Lynott. If anyone wants to start a Thin Lizzy cover band, hit me up. I want to play those songs onstage so badly.
ANDY KEILEN
10 Questions
