Ben Salter

Ben Salter announces ‘EUROPEAN VACATION’ EP + National tour dates

admin — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 02:03:00 +0000

Homegrown singer/songwriter Ben Salter (The Gin Club, Giants Of Science, The Wilson Pickers) returns to the local music scene with a freshly inked deal with ABC Music. The new ‘European Vacation’ EP is set to be released on July 12, 2013. Salter will embark on a slew of national tour dates, kicking off in Toowoomba and continuing across six States and Territories through July.

TICKETS ON SALE: MONDAY 10TH JUNE

Friday 12 July
Spotted Cow
Toowoomba QLD

Thursday 18 July
Café Le Monde
Noosa QLD

Friday 19 July
Black Bear Lodge
Brisbane QLD

Saturday 20 July
The Metro
Adelaide SA

Sunday 21 July
Mojo’s Bar
Perth WA

Thursday 25 July
Worker’s Club
Melbourne VIC

Friday 26 July
Petersham Bowls Club
Sydney NSW

Saturday 27 July
Front Gallery
Canberra ACT

Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/490539177686546/

The first single from the EP is the atmospheric, harmony drenched pop weirdness of “Semi-Pro Gamer”.
Stream that here:

The ‘European Vacation’ EP was born from a project that saw Salter traverse Europe for five months, collaborating with as many songwriters and artists as possible.

As sonically and thematically varied as its inception suggests; the ‘European Vacation’ EP flits between genres as steadily as Salter moved from country to country on his travels.

So the theme of the EP is the journey itself – roaming unexplored territory looking for inspiration and finding it in some unexpected places. With tracks embellished and polished at Nowhere Audio, a small studio in Brisbane’s West End, Salter cements himself as one of the country’s most gifted singer/songwriters.

Ben Salter plays two shows over two nights in Sydney

admin — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 12:09:55 +0000

On Thursday 31st of January and Friday 1st of February, Ben Salter will be playing two special shows at The Union Hotel in Newtown, Sydney. Come on down Sydney!

Ben has also finished wrapping up the organisation of his house party tour as well. If you were interested in having Ben perform at your house during March/April/May, you can still get in touch but do it soon!

Just email – ben bensalter com au

Cheers!
Ben Salter management

Can I Sleep On Your Couch Part åöë: Stumbling Towards The Finnish Line

admin — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 15:36:05 +0000

YOU LOOK GOOD

Q: Has it been a month already?

A:Yes Ben it has.

JAZZ AT BREAKFAST/NO BAD VIBES

The end of the Berlin trip was great. A bunch of us ex pats – me, Richard Cuthbert, Paul Donoghue, Justin Cusack, Josef Muller, Sam Wareing and special guest James Cruickshank – did two days recording and the results are pretty good I think. We might release it under the name “The Green Dress Society”.. There was a poems stuck to the wall where I was staying with Justin called “The Green Dress”.. It was quite grim. Our society, on the other hand, was anything but. Jazz at breakfast and no bad vibes.

The Green Dress Society

AHHHHHHHHHH

After that I headed off for more of my little mini tour with Aage Hedensted aka Mixtune For Cully, a singer/songwriter from Aarhus in Denmark. Did I speak about Aage already? We played in Leipzig together, then back to Berlin, then I went to Stuttgart, then we met again in beautiful Metz, just over the border in France.

Me in Metz

Then on to Duisburg.. Fans of the English comedy series “League of Gentlemen” will be familiar with Duisburg.. Then up to Stockholm ON THE NIGHT TRAIN BOTTOMS UP with a six hour layover in Berlin to see my buddies at the Green Dress Society one last time. Phew. The stretch between Metz and Duisburg was really beautiful, taking in Bonn and Dusseldorf and Cologne. The train goes along the river and the weather was really nice.. The weather has been alarmingly nice the whole time I have been away,with the possible exception of a few days in England and Brittany.. It is meant to rain all the time in Brittany, though. Just read Asterix and The Normans if you don’t believe me.

CURRANT EVENTS, RAISIN D’ETRES

So I’m presently en route to Oslo from Stockholm via Karlstad. Have just finished a week in Stockholm hanging out in leafy stately serene Tullinge which is pronounced TULL ING GA which sounds like TARINGA which fills me with contentment.. Quite a lot about Stockholm and Sweden has and does fill me with contentment, not least the presence of Mr. Ola Buvall Karlsson my bosom buddy and band mate of some nine years standing. Arrived on Saturday with Aage and headed straight for that night’s venue, Southside Tavern in Södermalm, an Irish pub staffed by heaps of Australians and some smatterings of other ethnicities and nationalities. I have stopped even doing the whole “Oh from Australia are you what part etc etc” thing now – it’s become clear we’ve spread to all corners of the world like a cheerful disease. So it’s sort of embarrassing to draw attention to it. You just go about your day. Was so great to see Ola and to finally meet Eric Lindstrom.. their band El Madrigal is fantastic and I do hope they can come to Australia at some stage. Much dancing and revelry ensued and I finally got to meet Ola’s brother Lars which was delightful. Plus his Mum was there. They’re all excellent.

DANCE MODS DANCE

The next night was also in Stockholm at the beautiful Teater Lederman, with Ola’s other band The Moving Sounds who are a beat combo. I got up and sang “Have Love, Will Travel” with them which was awesome. The whole show was awesome – they had a grand piano so Ola accompanied me for most of my set which was a lovely change.

Ola and I, Teater Lederman

We sped off after the show to try and catch Memphis garage soul champions Reigning Sound at the famous Revolver nightclub, which is right in the middle of town. Unfortunately that night was their tenth birthday or something and the place was absolutely packed with beautiful Stockholm hipsters. I am not sure how many in the queue wanted to see Reigning Sound or just wanted to be seen but after a half an hour in it – the queue – the Reigning Sound had already started and we were still a half hour away from the front and so that’s why we consulted the I Ching and left. No bother. These are not real problems.

PUNNING STUNTS

The next day we road tripped the six hours to Gothenburg, home of lots of great death metal bands and possibly the only town in the world to my knowledge that has a comedic tradition/heritage, specifically that of PUNNING REGULARLY.

Me, Ola and “The Count”, Ola’s Volvo.

Ola told me about this on the drive and I sort of thought he was lying or something. However within five minutes of meeting our first local the first one dropped. He was the sound guy and he was actually Finnish and he said something like “Oh but I won’t be around for the Finnish”, and then smiled sheepishly and stared at his feet before commenting “.. I have been in Gothenburg too long.” No sooner had the dastardly pun left his lips than Ola’s head snapped around toward me and he said “See?! See!?” ..I couldn’t believe it. Ola is quite fond of a pun himself but he’s not from Gothenburg. Where does that leave us?

FROG

Anyway, yeah, all the locals backed up the story. I told my best pun joke:

Q:What happened when the frog’s car broke down?

A:It was toad away.

Anyway the crowd at Vansinnet (trans: The Insanity) was small but enthusiastic and the gig was great fun, and afterwards we all went out drinking together till the wee hours and there was a great cross cultural exchange of ideas between Australians, Danish, Swedish and Belgians. Yep. I’ve been to Europe m8.

FIVE FOUR SIX EIGHT THREE FOUR

So the past week has been spent lazing around Ola’s place, recording songs, making food. Ola and I went on a date on Thursday night, to the season premiere of the Stockholm Symphony Orchestra. It was great. Although, in an effort to increase my concentration, I drank two coffees before we went in. I never drink coffee as it gives me anxiety. So you can imagine how well that turned out. I was still a bit jittery by the time the finale, Mahler’s Fifth, came around. It goes for seventy minutes. I think I managed to concentrate for about thirty or forty percent of it, so that’s not too bad. It is a struggle when you’ve been bought up on three or four minutes at a time! Our recording also went really well.. I have ended up with six songs so I’m pretty pleased with that. A lot of strange time signatures, for some reason. Neither Ola or I are drummers, really, but we can get by, he more so than I. But it was still a bit of a challenge. Still, I think my two hours of five four Talk Talk rip off drum patterns made me a better person.

Outside, nowish

Anyway we are approaching Oslo. Outside the sun is shining and it all looks a bit like central Victoria, funnily enough. It’s not though. I must go. Only two weeks left of my trip! As soon as I get back I embark on a tour with Something For Kate which is very exciting. A few others things in the works as well. Stumbling towards the finish line, but I remain grateful and very happy. And perhaps most importantly, productive!

Thanks for reading and please stay in touch.

All the best

Ben

Can I Sleep On Your Couch Part Rome Madrid Paris Berlin: Dog Towns, all.

admin — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 21:03:00 +0000

Hello again, this time from Berlin, where I have now been for about two weeks. LAST WEEK I SAW JONATHAN RICHMAN.

JOHNATHAN RICHMAN

Regular readers of this column will know just how exciting this was. So I won’t say anymore. Except I TOUCHED HIM and IT WAS AMAZING.

Berlin Berlin.. What do you say about Berlin.. Everyone has an opinion. The best advice came from my new friend Tom, who is a physicist. “Don’t try and come up with some generalized theory of Berlin, about why it is what it is or how it came to be this way. You will be wrong.”

Turkish bouzouki player and Justin.

So yeah.. Maybe come and visit. You won’t be disappointed. It’s amazing. It’s also rather hot.. 34 or something today. Also, there are HEAPS of dogs. As a result, the cats keep a pretty low profile. Hardly seen any! Heaps of dogs in Paris, also. It’s great, they’re just seamlessly incorporated into everyday life, on the u Bahn and the s Bahn and at restaurants and pubs. Dogs dogs dogs. All shapes and sizes. Just below where I am staying in Freidrichshain there is even a shop that just sells bones for dogs! It’s called “Bones for Dogs”. Controversial.

There certainly are a lot of Australian musicians here, and I’ve been collaborating like crazy with as many as I can.

Richard Cuthbert, Justin Cusack and Joseph Muller at the Green Dress Social Club

Sydney’s Richard Cuthbert, of Cuthbert and the Night Walkers and Green Mohair Jacket, who I played with in Sydney just before we both left.. Brisbane’s own Paul Donoghue aka Big Strong Brute. Josef Muller of Laneous & The Family Yah, The Well Alrights and many others. Justin Cusack of Black Pony Express. (I’m currently staying with Justin. We’ve established a social club.) Sam Wareing aka Wasp Summer who has also sheltered and gainfully employed me. Tom “The Physicist” Oates. And of course Melbourne rabble rousers Bitter Sweet Kicks.. They’re on your throughout Europe. They’ve had a hell of a time.. They’re all pretty young, it’s their first ever international tour, and they’ve had some MAJOR crises.. they have no driver or anything, doing it all themselves.. But they’re doing an amazing job. When I saw them at White Trash they absolutely tore the place up, it made me so proud to be Australian! (Much more proud than the stupid Olympics. There wasn’t much to feel proud about there, and I’m not talking about the medal count.. The way the athletes carry on is appalling in my opinion. I dunno, I know it must be tough and everything but surely the fact that there can be only one winner must be foremost in their minds? You wouldn’t think so. Anyway.)

But yeah, we booked a studio for four hours, Bitter Sweet Kicks and I, and recorded a few songs which I think are pretty cool. One is called “Better Drunk Than Homesick”, which is something a bar tender said to them in France or somewhere. They’re playing at Meredith this year and I think I’m gonna have to go, the line up is incredible. Don’t know how. I’ll figure it out. Spiritualized! Turbonegro! Hot Snakes! Primal Scream!

I feel kind of bad that I haven’t really engaged with any Berlin or German artists yet but I am working on rectifying that. I’m off to Hamburg for few days on Tuesday, then Copenhagen, then back to Berlin for another week and another show, and a huuuge mega collaboration thing I am planning.. Kind of like a Young Liberals recording session but in Berlin.

Charlie and Johnny from Bitter Sweet Kicks enjoying a bit of classical Don Don at the Bode Museum, Berlin.

Prior to Berlin I was in Paris for a week, which was really lovely. Did a couple of shows, wrote a few songs, went and saw a cello recital, went to a bunch of galleries and stuff.. It was fantastic. What can I say? I am extremely lucky! I pray every day to the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Thanks so much to Marion and all her pals, and to Boris and La Feline and La Pergola.

Malo the giant cat, St. Ambroise, Paris.

New friend Pierre the philosopher/alto sax player, Paris.

Prior to THAT, I was in Madrid. I am going back to Spain in September but I had to make a special visit to do a special collaboration.. More on that later. It went very well however. I didn’t have much of a chance to do any touristy activity, but I saw some flamenco, which was amazing.. Met up with Luis who is organizing some shows for me next month. It was a whirlwind four day visit.

Scare Couer Cathedral, Montmarte, Paris

Anyway that’s about it I think, for now. So excited about winning the Best Album award for The Cat.. It’s a huge honour. Also very excited to see HITS on the cover of the Courier Mail. Tomorrow I have to go and negotiate getting my shipment of CDs from German post. Apparently that’s quite a drama.

My Dad came here when it was still divided, with the wall and everything, and snuck into East Berlin, cause he was in the army and could kind of get away with it. Drove around. That’s pretty cool.

Anyway it’s getting toward bedtime.. Even though it’s past midnight it’s still around 28 degrees here at the Green Dress Social Club.. I might try and demo a song before bed.. We’ll see.

Hope you are well and please stay in touch.

X x

Ben

The Paris-Tokyo Museum, Paris

I Thank You

admin — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 20:01:03 +0000

Last night “The Cat” won best album award at the Queensland Music Awards! I am so honoured. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported and helped me, lent me money, come to my shows.. To all the people who played on, produced, mixed and listened to the album.. To all my family and friends. And to you, whoever is reading this. Thanks for that too. Respect to all the other nominees and winners. I’m currently in Berlin having a grand time.. Today I collaborated with Melbournians Bitter Sweet Kicks and Black Pony. About to get stuck into mixing our collaboration! While I have been here I have also recorded songs with Big Strong Brute, Tom Oates and Sam Wareing.. Hoping to chase down Richie Cuthbert soon! So busy.

Also went and saw JONATHAN RICHMAN.

More clues coming.

I thank you.

SALTY