Ben Bennett - Bio (high-class art gallery/down-to-earth DIY hybrid version)

Ben Bennett is a totally legit musician based in Columbus, Ohio. He is continuously looking for ways to make the most varied and visceral array of sounds from the simplest instruments. His ongoing investigation of the drum set has led him to distill it to its essential sound-making apparatus - the vibrating membrane. He plays an evolving pile of often home-made instruments, which includes tuned drum heads, frame-drums, rubber stretched across a hoop, rubber by itself, sheet metal, and wind instruments with reeds made from drum heads. All this stuff fits easily on his back or on his bike, and can get rained on, dragged along the ground, or tossed down the stairs with no worry. Unencumbered by expensive, delicate, or complicated gear and electronics, little if anything stands between the sounds heard and the bodily movement required to make them.

He has played sporadically with many musicians, but his most frequent and ongoing cohorts are Jack Wright, Ryan Jewell, Wilson Shook, and Jack Callahan. In addition to petrol-fueled tours, he and Callahan pedaled a nice loop around Massachusetts and Vermont on a 7-day bike tour, and once he biked all the way down to Cincinnati to play a gig. He played once in Canada and once in Japan. "international". "transcontinental".

Some seemingly pretty smart people have called his sets "really great", "transcendental", "the best thing I've seen - maybe ever", or as this one music conservatory student put it, "pretty entertaining stuff".