It’s hard to imagine this past Sept. 11 was punctuated by Ben Lee turning 40. Especially when you consider just how long we’ve been listening to the Australian indie pop artist, who first caught the attention of acts like Sonic Youth and Beastie Boys when he was part of the Sydney youth punk group Noise Addict in the early ’90s.
Since then, he’s established himself as one of the great singer-songwriters on the L.A. music scene, releasing 13 solo albums beginning with 1995’s Grandpaw Would, which came out on the Beasties’ Grand Royal label when Lee was still in high school and highlighted by one of that year’s best singles in the Pixies-plugging “Pop Queen.”
“I remember very specifically several moments on the journey through 25 years wondering if the ride was going to be over,” Lee says. “I’m sorta entrepreneurial so I’ve managed to do different things along the way. But at the end of the day, I think when you start out really young, that feeling of documenting your journey and expressing yourself, when that gets into your blood it’s hard to imagine a life without it. Even in those moments where I was unsure what the future held, I’m so certain of my love for artistic expression that I’ll just cross my fingers and keep going.”….READ MORE
