Last update: September 26, 2012

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Noteworthy Site of the day on Feb. 12, 1999.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you ask me a question whose answer is contained below, I will either insult you or not reply at all. : )

(1) Where can I get transcriptions/sheet music to BF5 songs?

(2) What is "Brick" about?

(3) When is the band playing next in my home town?

(4) How can I contact the band or the members?

(5) What is the band's policy about taping live shows?

(6) Is there a telephone ringing at 2:54 in "Steven's Last Night in Town?"

(7) Give me some details about Ben's pianos.

(8) What are Ben's views on marijuana?

(9) I have a question which isn't listed here.

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(1) Where can I get chord charts/sheet music to BF5 songs?

Please see my chords & sheet music page.

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(2) What is "Brick" about?

"Brick" is about a young couple's dealing with an abortion. The band has acknowledged that angle on several occasions. It's kind of simplistic to say that the song is "about" abortion... it's really about the people involved. Ben has alluded that the song is autobiographical.

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(3) When is BF5 playing next in my hometown?

Frank Maynard has a list of tour dates.

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(4) How can I contact the band?

Like most famous bands and celebrities, BF5 doesn't publish public contact information, for obvious reasons.  So I can't help you there.  I list this question only because so many people ask me about it. (And no, I don't have some secret line to the band, and if I *did*, I wouldn't violate the band's trust by sharing it to whomever wrote to me asking for it.)

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(5) What is the band's policy about taping live shows?

Darren: "We don't have a problem with it [taping at shows]. They can't use a soundboard feed. They can't bug our sound engineer. He's reluctant to help because people try to bug him. But if you have something like the recorder you're using now, in your pocket or something, it's no problem. But if we see microphones in the air, it's a bit distracting. We're playing stuff for the moment, not to be documented. If we wanted to be documented, we'd do it ourselves. We don't mind fans taping, because they're having a good time, but you do have to be low-key about it." (from Plan 9 Music)

"The band's management have asked me to remind everyone that any sort of profiteering, be it financial or material (blank cassettes) from Ben Folds Five show recordings is considered to be an unfair practice and that takes advantage of the band's liberal policies. Please don't trade anything except even exchanges of BFF material recorded at shows. The band would not want to be put in a situation in which they must stop people from recording live shows." — Frank Maynard, May 20, 1998

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(6) Is there a telephone ringing at 2:54 in "Steven's Last Night in Town?"

Yes, the band recorded "Whatever & Ever Amen" in Ben's house, and they forgot to turn off the phone before recording that track.

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(7) Give me some details on Ben's pianos

Ben used a Baldwin grand for the band's first album and tour.  When Sony signed them for their second album, instead of spending their contract money on recording in an expensive studio, Ben spent the money on a Steinway grand and on recording equipment so they could record the album in his house. He's been touring with the Steinway ever since, and I don't know what happened to the Baldwin.

When Ben played "Brick" on Saturday Night Live (late '97 or early '98), fans on the Magical Armchair email list were making insulting comments about the piano they thought SNL gave Ben to play. Here's an example:

Brad Crum wrote:

>And they make Ben play some barroom piano that sounded pretty marginal...
>p.s. 1.2 million an episode and all they can come up with is a Goodwill piano...

But I wasn't buying it. Here was my reply to the email list:

Are you nuts? That was the perfect piano for Brick: Chunky and bright, big punch, with a quick decay but plenty of reverb, just like the CD version.  Have you listened closely to the CD version of Brick?  I'd bet money that Ben used his old upright on it, rather than the Steinway or the Baldwin grands.  The SNL piano sounded much more like the CD version than his Steinway or Baldwin would have.  Actually, now I'm thinking that maybe that WAS his old upright, and they shipped it to NY for the show.  If not, I think they got lucky by getting such a similar piano for the show.

A few days later, Ben's tour manager wrote to the email list to explain that, in fact, they HAD flown Ben's old upright in to NY to do the show.  So now I get to gloat that I was right. : ) ... I guess all the fans expected to see the grand piano because that's what they see in concert, but I'm surprised that all the fans thought the upright sounded different than the CD just because it LOOKED different.

By the way, during this same email discussion, Enloejr asked, "What happened to the Baldwin grand piano he always plays?"  But as I explained then, Ben had been playing a 1930's Steinway since late 1996.  In fact on the promo video for WE&EA, shortly before Ben started touring with the newly-purchased Steinway, Robert says, "You dive into this thing and I can't touch it?"  To which Ben replies, "I don't dive into THIS one!"  Of course, he did decide to tour with the Steinway, and to abuse it.

While Baldwin is a good brand and Steinway is better, note that Ben doesn't play the best brand, Bosendorfer.  I'm glad he doesn't, because that could be considered pretentious. People who HAVE chosen Bosendorfer include Tori Amos, Victor Borge, and Dr. Evil / Mini Me.  (I didn't think it was pretentious for Borge to play the Bosendorfer, but Ben's not nearly as old as Borge was.)

To get the super-bright sound on songs like "Mess" (from The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner) and "Losing Lisa" (from Rocking the Suburbs), he bought a separate Kimball piano and inserted thumbtacks into the felt hammers.  He bought that particular unit in New York after trying over 50.  He used it on Ben Folds Five's 1999 European tour, and in 2009 he auctioned it off for charity. (CharityBuzz)

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(8) There are references to marijuana in BF5 songs (Uncle Walter, Battle of Who Could Care Less...). What are Ben's views on pot?

The following interview from High Times magazine was posted to a fan discussion list in Aug. 1997. (I don't know the date of the original publication.)

BEN FOLDS GOT FIVE ON IT, By John Fortunado On their breakthrough sophomore set, Whatever and Ever Amen (550 Music/Sony). Ben Folds Five defy alt-indie fetishism with twisted baroque piano tunes. A self-described dweeb, pianist Folds leaves the majority of the trio's weed inhalation to his partner, bassist and coarranger Robert Sledge. Among the highlights of their recent tour of Europe were recording a B-side cover version of Oasis' "Champagne Supernova" (which includes the swell line, "Where were you while we were getting high?") in London and visiting several Amsterdam coffeeshops in search of "killer skunk."

Should marijuana be legalized?
Ben Folds: I'm definitely pro-legalization. It's just stupid for the government to fight something they obviously cannot control. Besides, spiritually, I like being around my band members and friends when they're stoned. They're more fun. Last summer, I decided to stay stoned for Lollapalooza. But these days, the closest I get to doing drugs is through sleep deprivation. You get to a point where you can practically read people's minds.

So then you don't smoke? When I was in college, there were lots of students who were into weed because they had their first taste of freedom away from their parents.  Kids would brag about smoking and I'd be like, "So what?"  My parents used to get stoned, so that was one less thing for me to rebel against.  Usually, I don't smoke because it doesn't agree with me.  I'm not always the best candidate to inhale with.

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(9) I have a question that's not listed here.

Then I likely don't know the answer, sorry.  (If I did, it would be on this site.)

Ben Folds Five studio albums
1st album (July 25, 1995)	2nd album (Mar. 18, 1997)	3rd album (Apr. 27, 1999)	4th album (Sep. 18, 2012)
Compilation albums
Naked Baby Photos (Jan. 13, 1998) live tracks, alternate versions, obscure covers	The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective (Oct. 11, 2011)
Sheet Music
Keyboard Signature Licks Sheet Music Order for $23. Expertly written note-for-note sheet music for selected songs from all four BF5 albums, plus commentary, interviews with Ben about the songs, and a practice CD!  Read my review.	Whatever & Ever Amen Sheet Music Order for $20	The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner Sheet Music Order for $20.	Naked Baby Photos. This is a collection of live & alternate versions and some covers. This is a good source for songs from the first album since the sheet music for the debut album is long out of print. Order for $20.