After reaching Number One on the Billboard 200 with their new record Dark Before Dawn, Breaking Benjamin are dominating the rock scene. No road was ever easy with this band as unfortunate legal affairs led to the band’s hiatus back in 2010. Since then, a new lineup of members as well as a record that signifies a solid musicianship has sent them to brighter times. I had the chance to chat to founder and frontman, Benjamin Burnley on the new record, working with his new band mates, the past legal disputes and how he understands himself through the music he creates.
I just wanna congratulate you on releasing your new record, Dark Before Dawn. It’s a record with a new lineup of band members. Do you feel like the new lineup has shaped the band for the better?
Oh definitely, without a doubt. You know, as far as writing is concerned, I’ve always been the primary writer of the band and really that’s only because nobody’s ever really brought anything to the table that I could really wrap my head or heart around. It was always stuff that was just too far outside of what I think the band should sound like. This time around everybody is an amazing choir and an amazing writer and i’m looking forward to the future because with this album, I was already ninety-five percent done with making it and just for the timing of it. I’m really looking forward to the future where we can start from scratch and do something collectively for Breaking Benjamin. I’m really excited about it the future.
It turns out everything worked out for you perfectly. Especially with the hiatus and the legal affairs that you went through before the record. Was it a struggle for you to rebuild the band after the original lineup fell apart?
Well it really wasn’t at all because everybody that’s in the band I’ve been friends with for a really, really long time. Some of them I’ve been friends longer than I’ve been in Breaking Benjamin. When it came time to reform the band – it was kinda a no brainer because it was like “Oh, wow, one of my friends is an amazing bass player and an amazing singer and I have another friend who’s an absolutely amazing drummer”. I already had a lot of friends that were already professional musicians and I had some of them in mind that would not only fit the role musically but professionally. As far as their personalities – that was a major thing too; your personality kind of reflects on how you act and your taste in things. It really helps for the energy of the band and it helps for everybody to be on the same page and when you’re on the same page – you’re gonna create and perform the best music.
Yeah for sure especially if you’re working with really like-minded individuals Did you feel more at home when you were working with them especially on the new album?
Yeah, absolutely because even though the writing of the album was done, we still recorded it all together and it was the best experience I’ve ever had in my musical career. Doing an album, not only because the band members were there but because I produced it myself and did it myself in my own studio. I have my version of events as far as packed albums are concerned. I don’t want to name names but other people would have their version of events as well. Not only did I produce Dark Before Dawn but I also produced Phobia and I produced Dear Agony and I produced a great deal of We Are Not Alone and I produced the entire album on Saturate as well and unfortunately I just had another guy kinda take credit for it and it’s really common in the music industry [people taking credit for other people’s music]. I know what i did. I’m gonna say my version of things and they can say their version of things so people can believe whatever they want.
It’s not very reasonable if people are taking credit for your own work.
Yeah. A lot of people talk smack on the internet but really, they put themselves in that position and if it happened to them they would probably all feel the same way or do the same thing. It’s just a shame that it happens so commonly in the music industry but the one thing that’s awesome now is the record being out and the single “Failure” doing so well. It’s obvious now that what I’ve done and what I’m responsible for because I’ve done nothing different with this album except for there’s nobody else there to take credit for it and it’s successful. It just goes to show who actually did what, you know what I mean?
Yeah for sure. Especially in those kind of events as well you sort of get into this phase of not trusting anybody but I guess now that you’re working with your long-term friends – it’s put you at ease in that aspect. Do you feel that way?
Yeah, absolutely – especially with unauthorised things happening without my consent. You definitely can’t really trust anybody on any front so you know, obviously I had to remove myself from that sort of situation because in a situation itself stifled me – there was no way I could continue. I removed myself and justice prevailed and I was able to reform the band with the people that are supposed to be in it and I’m fortunate enough to be in the position to do that. I’m fortunate that justice was able to prevail and I’m able to continue as what I started.
I’m really happy to hear that especially with all the hard effort and the work that you put through album after album as well. I know you also have some phobias and this prevents you from touring overseas which is unfortunate and I guess your international fanbase don’t really understand the circumstances that you’re in as well. Do you feel like making music has enhanced your understanding on yourself and your struggles?
Yeah. I mean it’s an outlet for me and through that, it’s an outlet for people to connect with the struggles that I have myself because we’re all human. I wanna add that I’ve always in the past waited for other people that work for the band to take the initiative to try and figure out a way to go all over the world and nobody’s ever really taken the initiative to put something together. Now that the band has reformed, I’ve taken it upon myself to pretty much do whatever I need to do to go overseas because I’m going to arrange to take a boat and get over to Australia, get over to Europe – you name it. We’re gonna basically just hit the entire world and if I have to spend time on a boat to get over there – that’s what I’m gonna do and I don’t care what it takes to do it. I’m not gonna let people sit there and say, “Oh, it doesn’t make sense.” I’m gonna do it because I wanna do it. I wanna play for the fans over there. So this time around, we’re working on it now. You know, when you do things that way and go by ship, it takes a little while to organise so we’ve actually got the whole camp working on it as we speak. It’ll probably become, you know, reality several months down the line. I wanna let fans know and everybody know that we are definitely planning to go international with the band and I’m gonna get on a boat and get over there. It’s just gonna take a lot of planning which we’ve already started to do.
I guess music has helped you grow as an individual as well and obviously it’s brought a positive experience in your life. Are there any particular life experiences that have transformed you as a musician?
Well, I think that every single struggle that you have or every single high and low definitely inspires you in whatever shape or form it may be to express yourself. You’ve gone through things that you wanna share with the world because you know that they’re going through things too and you wanna let them know that they’re not alone in their pain and they’re not alone in their joy either so everything bad or good that has happened in life will find it’s way into the art that people do. Whether they realise it or not so, I think that’s the sanest truth for me.
Dark Before Dawn is available now.
To keep updated on the band, follow their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/BreakingBenjamin
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