TSP Media - Billy Corgan co-writes songs on Breaking Benjamin album

source: www.cleveland.com

BREAKING OUT
Friday, May 21, 2004
Robert Cherry
Special to The Plain Dealer

Even as a self-professed "complete loser" in high school, Ben Burnley knew he'd one day escape his small hometown and rock the world's stages...

"I'm a firm believer in - I won't say premonitions - but if you always have a feeling about something, and it's not a forced feeling, chances are it's going to come true," he said, calling from his home near Wilkes-Barre, Pa. "I always had a feeling about music. I knew in a way that this is what I would be doing with my life."
Today, he's the singer-guitarist and namesake for Breaking Benjamin. The quartet first made a dent in the modern-rock charts with 2002's "Polyamorous," a sleek slab of heavy melodic rock with some of the seething creepiness of Tool. Following up that success after touring virtually nonstop for 18 months proved a little difficult for Burnley.

"We Are Not Alone," due in stores on Tuesday, June 29, features the image of a bald gentleman with his head in his hands. One gets the sense that Burnley frequently assumed this position while writing the album on a tight deadline.

Songs such as "So Cold," which is featured on the "Hellboy" trailer, ratchet up the persecution complex with apocalyptic images of crowds scattering from dark forces.

Fortunately, Burnley now can laugh about the album's inspiration. "There's a little bitterness on this album," he said. "To tell you the truth, I was really miserable when we were doing this album. I was feeling a lot of pressure from all sides at the time. But it was a good thing, because it fueled the songs."

If some of those songs sound reminiscent of the Smashing Pumpkins, there are two good reasons. One, Burnley covered the alt-rockers' angsty anthem "Zero" when he was starting out. And two, Burnley co-wrote three of the tracks on "We Are Not Alone" with Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan. It was a "dream come true" for the young singer - eating soup and crafting tunes with another former zero.

"The coolest thing about it was, we'd be sitting there working, and I'd come up with a vocal melody, and then he would sing it back to me," Burnley said. "And no one sounds like Billy Corgan except Billy Corgan. And I'm like, 'Holy crap, Billy Corgan is singing something that I just thought of.' "

Burnley will have another brush with his past inspirations when he shares a bill once again with rap-rockers Cypress Hill at X-Fest at Tower City Amphitheater in Cleveland. When the two groups first performed together, the circumstances were quite different.

"I opened for them when I was 19," Burnley said. "I was playing in a very early version of Breaking Benjamin. They played my hometown, and they just picked us because we were the biggest band around there. It was cool, because we played with them before we were signed or anything. We were still nobodies, just having fun."

Do you think they'll remember you as that kid with a dream?

"I don't think they'll remember me at all," Burnley said.

Right - they are known for enjoying the occasional memory-dampening "jazz cigarette."

He laughed. "I didn't say that."

Robert Cherry is a free-lance writer in Cleveland.

Contact this writer at:

Friday@plaind.com