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00:00Hey, it's Meltdown here, Riff Fest 2025 with Ben from Breaking Benjamin.
00:04Good to see you again, man.
00:04Good to see you too, man.
00:05Yeah, all in black just like last time.
00:06You haven't changed since last time we saw you.
00:08They're literally the same clothes.
00:10I think that was about 2018, pre-pandemic.
00:13I don't even like talking about that.
00:16I don't remember much of that.
00:17No, I got you.
00:19So everywhere I go backstage here, for some reason, it's like Yacht Rock Central.
00:24What's up with that?
00:25Well, you know, we're screaming and playing heavy guitars all day.
00:28It's kind of like if you work at a pizza place and you come home, your wife's like,
00:32I made you pizza.
00:34Like, thanks.
00:36I guess that makes sense.
00:37What's your favorite Yacht Rock band?
00:41Is this a time to plug Yachtly Crew?
00:43No, I didn't know.
00:44Not at all.
00:45You could plug whatever you want.
00:46I've never even heard of them.
00:48But I have now.
00:49They're great, yeah.
00:50I don't know.
00:51I'd say Hall & Oates is good.
00:55What's that other one called?
00:56The REO Speedwagon.
00:57You think they're Yacht Rock, huh?
00:59Does that count?
01:00Yeah, I suppose.
01:01It's kind of borderline because they are good.
01:04Does Hall & Oates count?
01:05Yeah, I think Hall & Oates, yeah.
01:06Yeah, we were talking about that the other day with Yachtly Crew, and I think Hall & Oates
01:09does fit the bill.
01:11By the way, Yachtly Crew just brought a record yesterday.
01:14What do you guys have going on?
01:17Well, we're here.
01:17You're going to put out 10 Yacht Rock classics and one original song like that?
01:20Yeah, I like that.
01:21Yeah.
01:21I mean, that's a safe bet.
01:23That's a crowd pleaser every time.
01:24So what's happening with you guys?
01:27Well, now I've got to check out Yachtly Crew.
01:29Right.
01:29That's the first thing I'm going to do.
01:30Yeah.
01:32And then I guess we're going to play a show.
01:33Might be some inspiration for you.
01:34Yeah.
01:35I've got to know now.
01:36Yeah.
01:36Yeah.
01:37So anything you're laying down in the studio?
01:39Yeah, we're working.
01:40Yeah.
01:40We're working on it.
01:41Yeah.
01:41I'm building a studio in Ocean City, New Jersey, where I live.
01:44And so we're trying to get in there, trying to get that going so we can do it there.
01:49So you're actually building a studio and then you're going to record in it?
01:51Mm-hmm.
01:52Yeah.
01:53Why is that?
01:54Well, I've always wanted to have a studio just to do stuff like on the other side of things.
01:59Uh-huh.
01:59You're seeing it.
02:00Yeah.
02:00Then you can just walk downstairs in your bathrobe or something and lay down tracks.
02:03Yeah.
02:03How's it going, guys?
02:05All right.
02:05I'll come back later.
02:06That's what producers do.
02:07They just check.
02:08You know what happens with guys like that, I notice, is that they lay down tracks or whatever.
02:11Then they give it a few days and they go back down in the studio and they're like,
02:13I don't know if I like this that much.
02:14Yeah.
02:15So with my place, it's like, yeah, just camp out here and when you figure it out, get up and do it.
02:20Yeah.
02:20Yeah.
02:21No rules.
02:22So do you have anything?
02:22I mean, there's nothing recorded right now?
02:25Oh, yeah.
02:25We have a lot recorded.
02:27No, we do.
02:27We have a lot recorded.
02:29But it's just like, it's not done until it's done kind of thing.
02:32Right.
02:33Yeah.
02:33No timeline.
02:34Almost done.
02:35Like all recording-wise, right?
02:37I don't know.
02:37He knows better than me.
02:39Jason's sitting just off the camera.
02:41Yeah.
02:42Show him with his.
02:43There you go.
02:43Perfect.
02:44There he is.
02:44Excellent.
02:45Look how beautiful.
02:46Yeah.
02:47Awesome.
02:48Hey, I'm glad you guys pushed everything off to the side here so we could talk.
02:51No, this is great.
02:52Yeah.
02:52Yeah.
02:53We just had our meet and greet in here.
02:55Yeah, how'd that go?
02:55I see tons of people doing the meet and greet.
02:58I don't know, when you were a kid, did you do any meet and greets with any bands?
03:01They didn't really have stuff like that.
03:03Right.
03:03So, no, I would have done Nirvana, I would have done Pearl Jam, who else, Tool, they definitely
03:12wouldn't do one.
03:13Right, right, right.
03:14But if they did.
03:15Yeah, Maynard would be facing the other way or something.
03:17When I was a kid, I went to Lollapalooza in Philadelphia in the 90s, Lollapalooza, you know, like that type.
03:28So it was all those.
03:29And Primus and Alice in Chains were the headliners.
03:32It was with Lane.
03:33Yeah.
03:34And Rage Against the Machine was there.
03:36And you can Google it, too.
03:38They just stood there with their wangs hanging out, their whole set.
03:41You can Google that.
03:42I don't want to Google that.
03:44I was there.
03:45So that's the closest to a meet and greet that I got back in those days.
03:49That's a sad state of affairs, a meet and greet.
03:51And then we just played this thing.
03:53I didn't get the opportunity, but we just played, I don't remember where it was, but Tom Moriello was there playing with his thing.
03:58Yeah.
03:58And I wanted so badly to be like, dude, I saw your freaking wang, bro.
04:03But I didn't get the chance.
04:05That would have been epic.
04:06Yeah.
04:06I'd be like, you know, we have an icebreaker.
04:08Right.
04:09Yeah, because I've never met him.
04:10So I'm like, you know, we have something in common.
04:12We've both seen his wang.
04:14Right.
04:15Yeah.
04:15But it never happened.
04:16Bringing it back just a little bit.
04:18No, I've actually interviewed him before on stage, actually, for an hour and a half one time.
04:21He's really great to talk with.
04:24I wonder if he remembers that show.
04:26Yeah.
04:26I should have asked him about that.
04:27It was in the 90s, man.
04:29It was a long time ago.
04:30Yeah.
04:30What was your gateway drug to picking up an instrument?
04:34Definitely Nirvana.
04:35Okay.
04:36100%.
04:36Yeah.
04:36That was the band that made it, made me want to do this.
04:40And then they were like, like you said, the gateway.
04:43Yeah.
04:43To other things.
04:44Yeah.
04:45I remember the first time I played Nirvana on the radio, people hated it.
04:48And all of a sudden, it's like because the hair bands were still there.
04:50And all of a sudden, it's like, at the time, they took over the world.
04:53Yeah.
04:54It just took people a minute to get it, I guess.
04:56Yeah.
04:57So you were in Mid-State, Pennsylvania?
04:59Hmm?
04:59You were in Mid-State, Pennsylvania?
05:01Yeah.
05:01Like Central.
05:02Okay.
05:03So where would you go to concerts?
05:04Over in like Hershey or Philadelphia?
05:05Philadelphia.
05:05Hershey.
05:06Yeah.
05:07Yeah.
05:07You know the greatest band to ever come out of Philadelphia?
05:09Tell me.
05:10Cinderella.
05:11Oh, okay.
05:11I mean.
05:12Because we had a band called Manowar.
05:17Oh, Manowar.
05:17Yeah.
05:18What do you mean, we?
05:18Where are they from?
05:19I don't know where they're from.
05:20Okay.
05:21Just, I mean, Pennsylvania's a big state.
05:23Yeah.
05:23I'm just saying Pennsylvania in general.
05:24Because the Breaking Benjamins, I'm originally from Jersey, but Breaking Benjamins hails from
05:31Pennsylvania.
05:31Gotcha.
05:31So when I say we, I mean, you know, Pennsylvanians.
05:35And we had another band.
05:38I think they were called Dirty Looks.
05:40They had one song.
05:40Dirty Looks, right?
05:41Do you remember that?
05:42Remember the Hooters?
05:43The Hooters?
05:43No.
05:44Do you remember the Badleys?
05:45You ever hear of the Badleys?
05:46No.
05:47They were a Pennsylvania band.
05:48Hail Storm?
05:48You ever heard of them?
05:49Yeah.
05:49They're a Pennsylvania band.
05:50Yeah.
05:51Yeah.
05:51Live?
05:52You know, there used to be this Pennsylvania newspaper thing for musicians.
05:57I forget exactly what it's called.
05:59I think it was just called Pennsylvania Musician.
06:01And it was like a newspaper.
06:02And Hail Storm was on the cover a couple of times.
06:05And they're like little kids.
06:05Yeah.
06:06So I remember like being there, seeing it.
06:09So it's cool to see them out there.
06:10Yeah.
06:10I was going to say, do you have a bond with other bands from the area?
06:13I don't really know them too personally because they're from a different part.
06:16Yeah.
06:16But we were still in the same area doing the same thing.
06:19So it's cool to see that they did their thing and they're doing it.
06:22Yeah.
06:23One of my favorite things hails from Pennsylvania, York, Pennsylvania, my Harley-Davidson.
06:27Yeah.
06:29Yeah.
06:29There's a factory there or something.
06:31Yeah.
06:31I have a Harley too.
06:32Oh, you do?
06:33Just a little one.
06:34An iron.
06:35Okay.
06:35I was going to say you're too big for a sports or you can't do that.
06:38An iron, I think, is smaller than that.
06:40Isn't it?
06:40Really?
06:41I don't know.
06:41I'm not sure.
06:42I've seen them side by side.
06:45Yeah.
06:45Do you have the Harley-Davidson bug like I do?
06:47No.
06:48My riding days, I think.
06:50My friends told me 35 years ago, it would get in my blood and I'm like, you're right.
06:54And here we are.
06:55Yeah.
06:55No.
06:56I haven't ridden a motorcycle in a long time, but I still have it.
06:59Yeah.
07:00So when you get the studio done, are you going to have other people record there too?
07:03Yeah.
07:04Yeah.
07:04It's like that.
07:04The studio is not only to do my stuff, but it's for me to be on the other side, not a performer,
07:10but the producing and putting bands together and seeing what I can make.
07:14Start your own company or?
07:16I don't know.
07:17Yeah.
07:18Just kind of laying it out right now?
07:19Yeah.
07:19It's also a video game development studio, which I also do.
07:23And so I'll be doing stuff like that in there too.
07:25And who do you talk to when it goes to building your own studio?
07:29There's no template for it, is there?
07:30It's been a journey.
07:32I'll tell you that because I did not talk to the right people at first.
07:35But we got it there.
07:36One of my friends has a pretty nice studio down in Nashville and someone will give them
07:41500 bucks.
07:41I'll come in for the afternoon and rip out some tracks.
07:45See, that's exactly the thing is that you have a lot of studios in Nashville, you have
07:49a lot in New York.
07:50There isn't a single one anywhere near where I built mine.
07:53So it's a different thing too.
07:54That was another cool thing about doing it.
07:57And with the records you've made so far, has there been studios that felt more comfortable
08:00and more apt to write and stuff like that just at ease?
08:04There's been studios that I really love.
08:07We did, I think it's our third record, Phobia, it's called.
08:13Is that our third?
08:14I don't know.
08:16But we did that at a studio in New Jersey somewhere and I loved that studio.
08:21And then we went back and did another song there.
08:22I can't remember what it was.
08:24But yeah, I don't know if that, it's probably still around.
08:27I don't remember what it's called or anything.
08:28But I love the vibe of it.
08:30So there's that one.
08:30And then there was one that we did, We Are Not Alone, which is our second record, right
08:38in near Times Square.
08:42It was called Mirror Image, but that's not there anymore.
08:45But I loved that studio.
08:46There's a lot of stuff going on in Times Square.
08:48Did that play into that record?
08:50I mean, as far as like...
08:51A little bit, yeah.
08:53So Cold was the song off that.
08:54I was doing it in the winter and I was staying in my hotel and I wrote the lyrics for that
09:00song in there.
09:02The standing memory of that studio was there was a Studio A and a Studio B.
09:07Studio B was like a lot of rap arts and stuff in studio because it was a smaller one.
09:11And Studio A was like for bands.
09:14And I was sitting in the...
09:16There wasn't a lot of space.
09:18I was in New York and I was sitting in the lounge area and a red man came up to me and
09:25he goes, hey man, if anybody calls, I'm not here.
09:29I'm like, bro, I don't work here.
09:30I'm just like doing some songs over there.
09:33And he's like, oh, it's all good, man.
09:35But I did let him know that if anyone...
09:38I did, you know, when people call, I was like, he's not here.
09:40Yeah, it's like Moe's Tavern.
09:42Yeah.
09:43Yeah.
09:44Yeah, it's the Simpsons.
09:45If I find you, I'm going to cut your heart out.
09:48When was the last time you were like starstruck by a celebrity?
09:53The last time?
09:54I mean, I have been quite a bit.
09:56We did a tour with Bush and Alice in Chains and that was pretty starstrike-y like every
10:02day.
10:02Yeah, I saw that tour.
10:03That played here.
10:04Yeah.
10:04Yeah, I was always nervous on that tour because both of those bands are like bands from before
10:10all of this.
10:10Yeah.
10:11Like a lot of other bands that I meet I respect and admire, but kind of doing the same thing
10:17around the same time where bands like Alice in Chains and Bush are like bands from when
10:21I'm a kid.
10:22Right.
10:22So it hits a little bit different and it's weird to think that we're doing all the same
10:26thing with them even though we kind of are.
10:28But that was a little nerve-wracking.
10:30Yeah, that was a great show.
10:33Yeah, we had a lot of fun on that tour.
10:35Yeah, I saw Alice in Chains on the Clash of the Titans tour.
10:39You probably don't remember that, do you?
10:40No.
10:401991, Megadeth Slayer Anthrax.
10:42That was a nice line-up.
10:43Oh, yeah.
10:43I like that.
10:44Like I said, I got to see them with Lane and that Lollapalooza show.
10:48Yeah.
10:48That was a great show and I told them about it.
10:50Yeah, so you're super influenced by all that 90s stuff.
10:53Yeah, that's my time.
10:54Right.
10:55Yeah.
10:55That's when you're growing up and shaping all your musical.
11:00Yeah, when my brain's like putty still.
11:02Yeah.
11:02Yeah.
11:03Well, we didn't get too much about a new music or new record.
11:06You're not going to give away too much more, are you?
11:08That's all I got.
11:11I gave you all I got.
11:13All right.
11:14We're working on it and we're pretty far along.
11:16We're just finishing touches and things here and there.
11:19Those things take time.
11:21If it's a little detail or a big detail, it has to be just as perfect.
11:25No deadline, though?
11:27No, we don't have a deadline or anything like that.
11:29Just whenever you get your studio built and you finish it.
11:31Yeah.
11:32Yeah, we've just been doing it here and there.
11:34So it would be cool to have it all consolidated in one place.
11:37Awesome.
11:37Yeah.
11:38Well, thanks so much for taking the time with the Riff here.
11:40Riff Fest 2025 with Benjamin from Breaking Benjamin here backstage at Pine Knob.
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