Info about Ben Kweller

                           BEN KWELLER



Early Years

Born in San Francisco in 1981, Kweller was exposed to music at a very early age. His father taught him how to play the drums when he was seven years old, and for the next year, they would play together almost every night.

Radish

In 1993, Kweller met with a local musician, drummer John Kent, and formed the band Radish with bassist Ryan Green. They recorded two independent releases, Hello (1994) and Dizzy (1995), with Martin Baird at Verge Music Works recording studio in Dallas, Texas. In 1998, Radish became a quartet; it featured Joe Butcher on lead guitar and Debbie Williams on bass.As a result of Polygram's merger with Universal Music Group, the 18-song album was never released and Radish secured a release from their contract with Mercury Records.

Solo Career 

At age 19, Kweller moved to New York, where he began his solo career. He played acoustic shows and self-released four EPs (Extended Plays) , comprising some of the unreleased Radish Discount Fireworks recordings and other songs recorded. One of these EPs, Freak Out, Its Ben Kweller, that caught the attention of Evan Dando of The Lemonheads, which then led him on to touring with Dando. In 2001, Ben Kweller became ATO Records' first worldwide signing and released a 5-track EP entitled EP Phone Home. In March 2002, Kweller's first solo studio LP, Sha Sha was released. The album included the radio-friendly and popular single "Wasted & Ready", which reached 29 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. In 2004, On My Way, Kweller's second LP, took a new direction. The album was recorded 'live' – there were limited overdubs and no use of headphones. After the release of On My Way, Kweller embarked on more touring. Two years later, he recorded his third LP, Ben Kweller. Unlike his two other LPs, Kweller played all the instruments on the record himself. His fourth studio album, Changing Horses, was released Febuary 2009 in the United States through ATO Records. Later on in that year, Kweller appeared at Australian festivals such as East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival and West Coast Blues & Roots Festival. Kweller's fifth studio album, entitled Go Fly a Kite, was his first release produced solely by his own record label in 2012. He has stated that the album "will be very electric and energetic while dealing with some darker topics."

Available Equipment List

Available Equipment List

• Panasonic HDC SD20 Digital Camcorder
• Tripod (optional)
• Green Screen (optional)
• SanDisk SD Card (16/32GB)

Panasonic HDC SD20 Digital Camcorder

Green Screen

Tripod

SanDisk SD Card (16&32GB)

                                 






              


                      




                                        

An update...

Since I have finished my practical work with the evaluation (finished on the 19th January), I have had time to compose posts and increase the number of them. As the blog has to be finished by next Friday (29/03/13), I am striving to get my posts numbers up before the deadline. Currently on 50 posts, I am aiming to get up to 55-60 before next Friday.

CD Ads/Posters - Ben Kweller

To compose my advert/poster, I firstly looked at the artist which I have used - Ben Kweller. I looked at 3 or 4 of his different adverts, so I could have an idea of what I wanted to compose. Below shows these different adverts;

Here portrays the contrast effect between the two colors (of which I used in my DigiPack.)

We can see here that an artistic design has been composed onto a white background, showing it to be individualistic

We can highlight the artist portrayed, which is shown in a cartoon design, expressing many different colors.

From all three posters, we can come to see that they all have different elements in composing their designs.

CD Ads/Posters - other artists/bands

Again, like the CD covers, I had to find an influence from various genre artists, such as Arctic Monkeys, The Script and Mumford & Sons. Below depit the CD Ads/Posters for the different artists/bands;

Arctic Monkeys

The Script

Mumford & Sons

All three convey different use of designs and settings on their adverts/posters. However, all three portray the artist/band, which is central to the art piece. This became an influence for me, as I chose to depict the artist, showing their emotions.

CD Covers - other artists\bands

Following on from my last post, I looked at more of the well-known, main artists, to try and get influence for my CD cover.
I began to look at artists within the same genre as my music video (Indie Rock). These include; The Arctic Monkeys, The Script and Mumford & Sons...
From looking at these CD covers, I based my front cover purely on the artist, just like on The Arctic Monkeys CD cover.

'The Arctic Monkeys'
           

 




















'The Script'

'Mumford & Sons'

CD Covers - Ben Kweller

For every artist, they need their album to convey an art piece. To create my CD cover, I had to look at different CD covers to try and have an influence to create my one.

Firstly, I looked at the artist of my music video (Ben Kweller) and to see how his CD covers promotes his song.

'Sha Sha'

'Sundress'

'Changing Horses'

'Go Fly A Kite'

As you can see, the artist's CD covers convey different artistic designs; Some show the artist, some show different colors and fonts, and some depict different templates.

Sha Sha

Sundress

Go Fly A Kite

Changing Horses