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Benmont Tench GDnPlaying with Tom
Pettlr, the Power of SilenGer and
Listening to Everybody But yourself
hyJonRegen
As of publication,
"P*ing play it! We're musicians. We're
he's alsopreppingfor
in the Rockand RollHallof Fame.Playyour the releaseof the long-awaited
TomPetty
f***ingguitarsl"legendarykeyboardistBen- and the HeartbreakersLive Anthology box
montTenchcriesout to hisfellowbandset,featuringrarepedormances
of covers
mates in a scenefromthe recentfour-hour, and Heartbreakers
originalsculledfromthe
career-spanning
TomPettyand the Heartrock legend'sarchives.
breakersdocumentaryRunningDown A
Followinga sold out stop on the Big
Dream.One visitto Tench'sdiscography
SurpriseTourat New York'sfamedBeacon
pageat allmusic.com,
andyou'llquickly
Theater,Tenchand I sat down to talk
understandwhy he continually
decrieseven about his searchfor musicthat matters,
the slightestscent of mediocrity,layinghis
and his singularplacein the pantheonof
musical,(aswellas hisverbal)hearton the
keyboardgreats.
line.ln his nearlyfour-decade
career,Tench
has not only anchoredTomPettyand the
ln an interview yeats ago, you said
Heartbreakers
fromtheirveryinception,
that painters andiazz musicians
he's lenthissoulfulstew of Americanaalways strive to get better, and your
meets-unabashed-rock
keyboardwizardry
sentiment was r.Whyshouldn't we?,, to countlessalbumsby a few artistsyou
that rock and pop music can
just mayhaveheardof: Bob Dylan,the
sometimes become a haven for nonRollingStones,JohnnyCash,Aretha
development. You seem to have been
Franklin,
U2, Don Henley,RoyOrbison,Neil fighting that trend since the
Diamond,JoeCockel WarrenZevon,
beginning.
RandyNewman,MarcCohn,BonnieRaitt,
KeithRichardssaid it, actually,aboutthe
ElvisCostello- and the list goeson.
RollingStones,whentheycameoff theirlong
A longtimeheroto both musicians
and hiatus,that he wantedto continueto grow it.
listenersalike,Tench'srare blend of rauAnd it's true.Youknow,I saw McOoyTyner
cous,rollicking
pianoand soaring.
Hamplaythreeor fouryearsago.He's stillgoing.
mond organhas beena stapleof rock
MuddyWaterspassedawayat 67,JerryLee
musicfor over30 years.Much morethan
Lewisis stillgoing - he stillplaysevenhis
just a foundingHeartbreaker,
he has long
hitswith a lot of passionand fire.So ljust
been music'ssecret keyboardweapon,
don't wantto everstop tryingto see what I
injectingsoul-drenched,
scintillatingparts can do that'sdifferent.But not differentfor
into everysession,song,and tour to
the sakeof different.Differentand as good,
whichhe lendshis talents.Songssimply
or better,thanwhat I'vebeenplaying.
sound betterbecauseof BenmontTench;
Peoplewantto hearthe hits,and if you
imaginethe Heartbreakers'
classic
go out on tour,you wantto playwhat peo"Refugee"withoutBehmont'sblistering
ple want to hear.But you can'tstagnate.
B-3 organ,and you'llbeginto understand I'm definitelya bettermusicianthanI was
just how integralhis playingis.
when I was 26, but I haveto try to keepthe
Tenchis busierthaneverthesedays,
mentalfreshnessand naivet6that I had
touringand recordingwith a wide arrayof
then,and put in somethingof what I've
giftedartists,includingthe WPA (featuring learnedsince.
ToadTheWet Sprocket'sGlen Phillips,
The greatfortunerightnow for me is
and Seanand SaraWatkinsof Nickel
that I'm playingwith a lot of youngermusiCreek),the Big SurpriseTour(withJustin
cianswho sing anygenreof music.They
TownesEarle,DavidRawlings,Gillian
understand,
theystrive,and theykeep
Welch,the Old Crow MedicineShow,and
going,whetherthey'rein their20s, 30s, or
the FeliceBrothers),and countlessothers. 40s. And it's reallycool and encouraging.
What I think is reallyimportant,and
somethingthat Matisseand Bo Diddley
had,is the ideathat you'restillyoungin
the sensethat you'restillpresent.You're
still spirited.Yourbest days are nof
behindyou.This is stillnew and exciting
to you.
So that's what you're still looking for
these days - that sense of adventure
and growth?
Yeah.I want to play with peoplewho are
betterthan I am, or differentthan I am.
And with the Heartbreakers,
that's the
case. I play with [guitarist]Mike Campbell
and lbassist]Ron Blaira//the bloody
time,Theseare peoplethat I learnfrom
everytime I playwith them.And outside
of that,DaveRawlings,GillianWelch,Jon
Brion,Seanand SaraWatkins,Fiona
Apple,who's remarkable- these are people thatjust bringmy heartalive,and that
I listento and I go blind,and I fall into
that space where everythingdisappears.
lt's true abouljazzmusicians.
Theykeep
goingand going,and tryingsomething
new.And it's true aboutsomebodylike
ElvisCostello.What I wantto know is, can
you do it in three-chord
rock'n'roll?In
three-chord,
old-timemusic?In realcountry
musicliketheymadein the '60s? Can you
do.it and keepit fresh?| want to hearthat.
A lot of the time,the Heartbreakers
manageto do that. liye. We've always
beenbetterlive.But I thinka lot of the time
we'vemanagedto throw in a Muddy
Waterssong.Or, on occasion,a Merle
Haggardsong or a VanMorrisoncoverlike
"MysticEyesJ'Andevenour old stuff,I
thinkwe stillplayit with presence.
The writer BarryGreen quoted
[bassist]JohnClaytonin The Mastersof
Music as saying,"When you're playing,
listento everybodybut yourself,especially
whenyou'resoloingJ'lf you can get to the
pointwhereyou can do that.lLaughs.l
There was a PBS American Masters
episode on author Garrison Keillor
recently, and in it he said, ..Wesee the
lr.zooo
t([yBoAnD
25
world perfectly when we're children'
and we spend the rest of our lives try'
ing to remember what we sawf'As You
get older, it becomes harder to find
that wonderment that was there when
you were youngeL
That'sa reallygood termfor it. The wondermentof it. Thejoy of it. That'swhat I'm
lookingfor.
There were a lot of moments on Youl
Big Surprise Tour show at the Beacon
Theater that were like that. For
instance, I didn't know lustin Townes
Earle,but when he sang "Mamats
Eyes" I thought, "This is really the
heart of what I'm talking aboutl'
That'sthe heartof what /'m talkingabout
too, and I hadn'theardhis record,but I had
met him beforewhen his dad did a show or
two with us. But with Justin,it doesn't
more when it goes away" - that sense
soundlikea studiedthing,like"l'mdoing
of thinking orchestrally within a song?
countryfromthe '50s1'lt sounds
revivalist
I thinkljust felt it that way.But also,I had
like,"Well,this is wheremy heartisl' And
reallygood peopleto learnfrom.The radio
that's what I alwayswant to hear.
The best thingthat TomPettydoesfor me when I was a kid was the Beatles,the
RollingStones,the Kinks,the Who,James
is he says,"Ouitthinkingaboutit. Do you
play?"
Brown,Otis Redding,ArethaFranklin,
you
want
to
do
it,
or
rap
about
wantto
Wynette,GeorgeJones,Frank
Tammy
yourself
keep
to
important,
really
And that's
the Zombies. . . on and on.
Sinatra,
and
over-intellectualizing.
fromover-thinking
Tomand Mike,and [Producers]
Also,
just
I'm
having
fun.
so
much
really
It's
Jimmylovine,and Rick
Cordell,
Denny
these
playing
with
all
good
I'm
time.
sucha
a lot fromthem.
learned
|
also
Rubin
somediscovering
people,
and
wonderful
Heartbreakers
to
said
Cordell
[original
show
on
that
Everybody
bodylikeJustin.
I don't knowthe
and
Lynch,
Stan
drummerl
good
time.
a
was havingsuch
quote,
was
something
along
it
but
exact
so
universally
that's
One of the things
just
you
play
if
don't
of,
"Stanley,
lines
playing
the
your
is
what
heralded about
you as tasteit, they'llalwaysmisinterpret
you don't play. You're always serving
full' I thinkthat'sgreat,and it's true.So a
the song, and letting the music
lot of the time,ljust don'tknowwhatthe
breathe,
hellto play,and I decidenot to playit.
me
father
told
My
It's a coupleof things.
just
I did a SaturdayNight Livewith Paul
playing
ten,
one day when I was maybe
15 yearsago.lt was PaulSimonand
Simon
He
playing
too
muchl'
the piano,"You're
And he hurtmyfeelings,but
Nelson.
Willie
Chuck
right.
The
said it kindly,and he was
a song,
wererehearsing
We
right.
he
was
melody
of
the
Berryline,"l losethe beauty
and
said,
the
band
"\ly'hat
he
stopped
and
just
likea symphony"
untilit sounds
meaninglessl'
That's
you
playing?
are
know
I
music,
althoughI likesymphonic
Paul Simon said that to You?
what he meant.lt's the samethingwith
And you know,it stung,becauseI was
Yeah.
TomPettyand MikeCampbellsaying"play
to figureout whatto play.But he
trying
still
favorite
lessl'and the fact that someof my
Youdon'twantto playsomething
was
right.
pianoplayingeveris on Beatlesrecords.
I try to feelout what's
meaningless.
that's
Lifei'
And I don't meanthe solo on "ln My
be goodto havethere,
would
what
missing,
piano
whichis gorgeous.I meanthat the
just
up.
something
filling
of
instead
and
comesin on the chorusof "No Reply"
aesthetically
impressed,
really
I
was
playsthosebeautifulchords,all
by the kind
probably,but alsogroove-wise,
and then it's gone.
compressed,
would
do,
Stainton
playing
Chris
that
of
So you've always had an allangelts
just
play
eighth-notes
up
would
he
where
sense of "lf I bring it in here' it means
26
KtYBoAnD
tl.2ooo
high,allthe waythrough"HighTimeWe
Went" by JoeCocker.There'sjust eighthnoteplayingin fifths,or something.So why
do anythingelse?And it's alsocool,like
"Lookhow cool I am. I'm onlyplaying
eighthsall the way throughJ'
Simplicity seems to be a real hallmark
of your organ and Piano Playing.
Well it's ensembleplaying.The Beatles
werean ensemble.The RollingStones
were an ensemble.And you listento those
recordsand thingswork againsteach
other.I don't wantto coverup what Mike's
doing.I wantto hearthe way the guitars
ring.And throughworkingwiththe same
bandfor a longtime,and throughthem
sayingto me "Why don't you leavethat
outl' or "Why don'tyou come in herei'I
learnedso much.And I stilldo.
Also,I didn'tplayorganas a kid.I
playedFarfisa[organ]for a while,and
then I switchedto Wurlitzer[electric
piano].I didn'tlikethe soundof
I lovedMatthewFisherand
Hammonds.
BookerT.Jones,but I didn'tlikethe "big
Hammondwith a lot of tremolo"sound.lt
seemedlike it was tryingtoo hard' So I
didn'twantto PlaYHammond'
I startedplayinga
ln the Heartbreakers,
littlebit of organ,partlybecause,whileI
sang backthen,and Stansangall the time'
my rangewas limited.So to fill in the parts
wherewe wouldhavelikedto haveused
voices,I startedtryingto playthe organas
thoughit were backgroundvocals,
That's amazing, be@use You'le
thought of as suclt an ionic B'3 organ
Benmont
Tenclr's
Live Rig
-
hasbeenlench's
Brown
keytoard
techKevin
tellsme.Brown,
currently
ontourwithPhish,
longtime
for35years,"
hadlhesamellammond
C-3organ
"Benmgnl's
in thevintage-minded
keyboardist's
liverigduring
thaltime.
seenlittlechange
huthasremarkably
keytoard
techfor31ofthoseyears,
pickup
pianowitha llelpenstill
"Benmonl
hadthelirstone
humbucking
aclually
inside,"
saysBtown.
C7grand
Benmont
usesa Yamaha
lte audience,
"Facing
"Thefloland
pianomicmphone
f,S-5synlhesizet.
aswell]'0ntopofthepiano,
Tench
usesa Roland
system
ofthose,
andheusesit alongwithan[arlhworks
"Benmont
andbrings
the
usesit mainly
continues.
forstringpadswitha holdpedal,
stayin tune,"Brown
thalwouldn't
replaces
lheold$berheims
lpistured]
tolrigger
fioma vintage
Akaisampler.
pedall'Tench
PC-200
Mk ll Ml0lcontloller
samples
alsousesa Roland
in andoutwitha yotume
slrings
modiElectdc
Piano,
Erown
tellsme,"andontopis a Wurlitzer
Student
llammond
C-3organ,
"Heusesit witha leslie147,"
Totheleltol thepianoisTench's
0X7,"
Yamaha
double-keyboard
Farlisa
organ.
"0ntopis anodginal
sideol thepianois Tench's
keyioard
restorer]
KenFichl'0nthedght-hand
liedby[renowned
llo
Morei"
Around
llere
Come
from
he
uses
for
lhe
sitar
sounds
'0on't
Etown
conlinues,
"which
withan18-inch
arepowered
driveranda l2-inchhorn.Thespeakers
calinei(usedasa monitor),
speaker
runlhrough
a JBLfullrange
AllTench's
keyboards
a mixerto lhehouse.
byCrown
ampliliers,
andlheoulputrunsthrough
player,but it really wasn't intentional
from the start.
No,it wasn't.lt wasn'tat all.I shiedaway
from it, becausetherewere so manyorganists in Floridatryingto playas well as
GreggAllman,
andso manybandsin Florida
tryingto be the AllmanBrothers.TheAllman
Brothersweregreat,but therewereso
manypoorimitations
around,I thinkI came
to associatethe Hammondwith bad imitationsof Gregg.So it justturnedme off.
So you initially came in playing Wurlitzer?
28
KEYBoARD rr.zoog
I playedFarfisathe firsttime I playedwith
I
Mudcrutch,
andthenI playedWurlitzer.
had a Wurlitzerwith a Marshallstack.lt
was fantastic- 100 Watts of a Wurlitzer.lt
go| loud.We playedsomehighschool
and crackedthe ceiling.
auditorium
JonathanCain from Journeyspoke
about how he and Steve Perry intentionallytjied to wlite songs that
would stand the test of time. Similarly,
your work in the Heartbreakers and
other projects forms the soundtrack to
many people's lives.I was reading
your discography, and I kept saying,
"Wow, he's on ilraf record tool' lt's no
small achievement.
I'veluckedout.I'vemet peoplewho like
musicthatI like,andwantme to playon
theirrecords.And I don'tknowhow it happened.I'vereallybeenin the rightplaceat
the righttime. E
interuiewin
ofJonflegen
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