TSP Media - Looking For A Break

By Joe Student From the TimesLeader.com

After his appearances on talk shows hosted by Carson Daly and Craig Kilborn and stints as an opening act for major national acts Fuel, 3 Doors Down, Godsmack and Saliva, it wouldn't seem possible that Ben Burnley would be nervous about anything.
He was- over a bowl of soup.

And Billy Corgan. (More...)

By Joe Student From the TimesLeader.com

After his appearances on talk shows hosted by Carson Daly and Craig Kilborn and stints as an opening act for major national acts Fuel, 3 Doors Down, Godsmack and Saliva, it wouldn't seem possible that Ben Burnley would be nervous about anything.
He was- over a bowl of soup.

And Billy Corgan.
Burnley, vocalist and guitarist for Wilkes-Barre-based national modern rock band Breaking Benjamin was paired with Corgan, the frontman and songwriter formerly of the Smashing Pumpkins and Zwan. Breaking Benjamin's record label, Hollywood Records, arranged the meeting of songwriters, which took place at Corgan's Chicago-area home.

After noting that the Smashing Pumpkins' album "Siamese Dream" was a major influence on his musical evolution, Burnley said that meeting Grammy -winner Corgan left him in awe.

"I was starstruck...At one point I'm eating soup (with Corgan) with my head down and I look up and he's eating soup and I think 'I'm eating soup with f*#king Billy Corgan!' ...That wore off, though. I got used to being around him," said Burnley.

The duo wrote five songs in six days. Three of the tunes, "Forget It," "Follow" and "Rain" appear on "We Are Not Alone," the second national release for Breaking Benjamin, which is due in record stores Tuesday.

The album is the follow up to 2002's "Saturate," which has sold 200,000 copies. Burnley said Corgan pushed him to explore more and different ideas with songs than he had done on the previous album.

"He drives me to look at songs in a way that is not conventional. He helped me take a different approach," Burnley said, pointing to the quiet, mid-tempo "Forget It," as an example of how Corgan helped and how different the music sounds than anything else Breaking Benjamin has ever done.

"The vocals are a challenge for me- the way they step up through the song.

He forced me to work harder. It was a dream come true," Burnley said.

Corgan came away impressed as well.

"I really enjoyed my time working with Ben... I think he is a tremendous talent with a real sense for a great song," he said in a Hollywood Records press release.

Burnley has remained friends with Corgan since the intense songwriting sessions at the end of which the two musicians often jammed on old Smashing Pumpkins songs, Burnley said.

"I told him that when the Pumpkins get back together that I want to be at the show," Burnley said.

"He just laughed. Really loud."

The rest is about the bands new album can be read here: http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/entertainment/8988823.htm