The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival offered reporters a chance to interview a few of its main attractions to help publicize the upcoming concert. The first interview was with musician and University of Massachusetts Spring Concert alum, Ben Folds.
Reporters asked a wide variety of questions about what he intends to play at his festival slot this summer. They also took the opportunity to verify rumors of a potential new album. Gary Graff of United Stations Radio asked the first such question:
Gary Graff: "So you've been, you know, throughout your tours this year and even in the last year, you've been playing a lot of new material. What do you have planned for Bonnaroo in terms of rolling out new stuff? Is there even more of it, and also, what's up with the new album? When's it going to come out?"
Ben Folds: "I think it's coming out in September, and yes - it's not a bad idea to play, although we've played most of the album [and] there's not a lot left to unveil. We've got two or three songs that we were sort of holding on to, just so that someone could buy the record, not knowing it's going to be on the whole thing. But it's not a bad idea to play one of those new ones at Bonnaroo. That's kind of a special show so we may do that."
GG: "Well, if you know, do you have a title for the album, the new one?"
BF: "No, I don't. That's going to be one of the last things I think that's going to fall together here. I'm not really sure. I may have a couple of ideas, but we've got some really good stuff going for the art work that I'm excited about. So I kind of want to get that in order and see if that helps me make up my mind."
Other reporters focused their questions more on his upcoming festival appearance and about his sentiments on his 2006 set at the famed festival.
Rachel Katz of Columbia University asked, "So you played at Bonnaroo back in 2006 and I was wondering what your experience was like then on stage, off stage and with the fans, and then do you think that this year will be at all different and how so?
BF: "Well, I don't know. I mean, mine was funny because I just - I kind of live in a cave. I mean, I spend a lot of time in the dark room making prints and then I go out on the road and it's not that I'm not interested in what goes on, but I played a lot of festivals."
Ben goes on to say that he's played a diverse array of festivals, including most of the "important ones over the last 12 years," though he admits that due to his reclusive personality, he'd rather be at home or on a "yoga retreat." His first experience at the festival provided him with this funny anecdote:
BF: "So I did this thing and then I got off the plane and the next day I went to play this thing called Bonnaroo. For all I knew, it was like a coffee house. I had no idea. And then we walked out on stage and there's like 60,000 people."
The festival also will give Folds the chance to play and interact with some of music's other big names. He shows particular excitement when declaring that "Kanye West is playing right after him."
While Folds is excited about the festival appearance, he personally prefers "just touring with one or two other bands - with the exception of a few notable festivals."
Unlike many of his fellow artists, who opt for festivals for environmental reasons, Folds says that his relationship with the huge shows exists quite outside the realm of environmental activism.
BF: "I don't suppose that our driving our bus, you know, [going how many] miles to get there is going to do anything for the environment. I try not to use plastic bottles, I try not to leave lights on and I don't drive much. So I don't know, you know, I tried to do my little bit, but I don't really pretend that I'm doing it through the festival."
Folds also goes on to compliment the festival crowds, saying that they do a lot to ease his worries that America will end up resembling the dumbed-down futuristic society in Mike Judge's movie "Idiocracy." He compliments the crowds on their knowledge of music and their ability to give live musicians an educated listen.
He also does his best to put down the complaints that the festival acts have gotten increasingly mainstream, and offers his personal opinion about the burgeoning success of Bonnaroo and festivals in general.
BF: "What I mean by that is, you know, maybe indie rock is actually more mainstream. I think it's a sign, no one is going to listen to my demo tape for 10 years and then suddenly things changed, they came my way and then I - it was mainstream there for a little while just because everything came out. I think this was happening with Bonnaroo."
Pete Rizzo can be reached at prizzo@student.umass.edu
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