• Ben Kweller
• Ben Folds
• Ben Lee

Ben Folds live at Coachella
Photo: John Shearer

INDIO, California — The Donnas have nothing on the Bens.

The three members really are named Ben, and you may have heard of them: Ben Folds, Ben Kweller and Ben Lee.

The solo singers officially became a group, or at least a side project, when they recorded four songs together in Nashville last month.

"There's some new wave on there, a piano ballad that Folds sings, a countryish song," Kweller said Saturday backstage at Coachella (see "Iggy, Beasties, White Stripes Lead Three-Pronged Invasion At Coachella"). "It's just all three of us writing songs; there's not any one particular sound. It's all three of us singing, big harmonies."

After the three-day studio session, the trio spent a week touring together in Australia. The Bens will likely hit the road again this summer when the EP is released via their individual Web sites and indie record stores.

The group came together with the help of another solo singer — no, not another Ben, but Evan Dando. "The first time I met him, he said, 'You have to meet my buddy Ben Lee, you guys are going to hit it off,'" Kweller said of Dando, who helped the former Radish singer launch a solo career. "So at [Dando's] wedding, he had me sit next to him and it was sort of like a blind date. And then Ben Lee introduced me to Ben Folds later."

For now the Bens project is just for fun, since Folds is recording his second post-Ben Folds Five studio album and Australia's Lee is working on material with Dan "the Automator" Nakamura.

Kweller, in the meantime, is still busy promoting Sha Sha, his second solo effort and first for Dave Matthews' ATO Records (see "Former Radish Singer Ben Kweller Mounts Comeback At Age 20"). After releasing the Weezer-like rock tunes "Wasted & Ready" and "How It Should Be (Sha Sha)" as the first two singles, he's dropping the piano-pop song "Falling" to show another side of his album.

"A lot of those songs are really autobiographical, all about change and leaving your parents' house for the first time and growing up in this, like, crazy city and being really scared and intimidated but at the same time being really inspired and looking forward to tomorrow," Kweller said of New York-centric Sha Sha. " 'Falling' was the epitome of what I was going through, sort of trying to convince yourself you're not falling when you really are. It's a really optimistic record, though. You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, but you don't care. You just have to give it your best."

Kweller, who left Monday for a Japanese tour but will return in time for June 13's Bonnaroo Music Festival, has already written 16 songs for his next album, which he plans to record in August.

"I just sing what comes in my head, like stream of consciousness," Kweller said. "It's better when you don't think about it, sort of like freestyling. The [songs] tell the future. It's cool."

• Ben Folds
• Ben Kweller
• Ben Lee

Beastie Boy Mike D at the 2003 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival
Photo: BarryBrecheisen

INDIO, California — If not for the palm trees and smoldering temperatures, it would've been easy to forget that the Coachella festival was in the Southern California desert.

This past weekend, Queens of the Stone Age and Ben Harper gave homecoming performances of sorts (both are from nearby towns) and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jack Johnson and Black Eyed Peas made the two-hour drive from Los Angeles, but for the most part it was all about England, New York and Detroit. (Click to see photos from the festival.)

From England came Blur, Johnny Marr and Primal Scream, along with the bubbling-under Libertines, the Music, South, Badly Drawn Boy, Gomez, Groove Armada and countless DJs. New York brought Saturday's headliner, a standout show from the Beastie Boys, and fellow icons Sonic Youth, along with Interpol, Fischerspooner, the Rapture and the Mooney Suzuki. There's only two of them, but the White Stripes had no problem representing Detroit's garage scene, while the Von Bondies and Whirlwind Heat were two of the most talked about breakthrough bands on the bill.

Coachella featured more than 75 acts playing on five stages over two days. Here's a rundown on some of the more memorable performances:

• The Beastie Boys took the stage Saturday without their instruments, but DJ Mix Master Mike more than made up for it with his own ill communication, tweaking every track and mixing in beats from Missy Elliott's "Work It" and Erik Sermon's "React." The trio rapped parts of at least three new tracks, all of which had the hip-hop simplicity of their latest single, the anti-war anthem "In a World Gone Mad." Mostly, though, the set was heavy on party starters — "Root Down," "Body Movin'," "So What'cha Want," "Intergalactic" and even a bit of the old gem "Brass Monkey" — a sharp contrast to Adam "MCA" Yauch's political banter between songs. "At the next election, vote anyone but Bush," he said at one point.

• Like the Beasties, the Chili Peppers focused their headlining slot on keeping the sun-drenched festival-goers on their feet. Though the band mellowed some on last year's By the Way, their hit-filled live show Sunday was as energetic as ever. Short of sporting only socks, the guys were their old selves, jumping around like caged animals, spouting random dialogue and giving it away now.

• N.E.R.D.'s one-hour set on Saturday was a bit misleading, as the first half was all Spymob, the Minneapolis rock group that doubles as N.E.R.D.'s live band, performing Police-inspired songs from their upcoming debut. When Pharrell Williams and company finally came out, they played three songs before taking a break so friend Kenna could sing his new single. For a finale, Williams brought out Kelly Osbourne and Black Eyed Peas' Will.I.Am for "Rock Star," though Osbourne proved hardly that, running offstage midway through.

• "Who here doesn't like the Hives?" singer Pelle Almqvist asked, silencing the crowd. "Who here came for the Hives?" he followed to a deafening roar. "Point taken." Obnoxious confidence is part of their shtick, but he did make a point. Both the Hives Saturday and the White Stripes Sunday drew enormous crowds curious to hear two of last year's breakthrough bands.

• In their sharp formalwear, Interpol easily rivaled the Hives for best dressed. The NYC band conjured its swanky interpretation of Joy Division, combining bleak atmosphere with pop hooks, and delivered nearly flawless renditions of songs from Turn on the Bright Light. Despite going up against the Chili Peppers, Interpol generated a large crowd that even lingered for a good while in hopes of an encore that never came.

• While "Song 2" and "Girls and Boys" generated the loudest response, Saturday's crowd was quite receptive to the moody and eclectic tracks a retooled Blur previewed from their forthcoming Think Tank. Frontman Damon Albarn dedicated a song to the late Joe Strummer during a set that mixed Think Tank tunes like the infectious "Crazy Beat" with Britpop classics like "Beetlebum."

• "Scottish people and the desert don't mix very well," Idlewild singer Roddy Woomble joked Saturday afternoon. The floppy-haired lads struggled against the sweltering heat as they began "Little Discourage" from 2000's 100 Broken Windows, but they'd found their places by the song's chorus, easing smoothly into several of the driving and emotive tunes from this year's The Remote Part and earlier tracks like "I'm a Message" and "Roseability."

• Damon Gough was dressed even more poorly for the weather, sporting the cap, beard and thick denim that have become synonymous with his Badly Drawn Boy persona. Gough, more than willing to show off his prowess with a guitar, harmonica and piano, even sang about playing Coachella. "I was told I was headlining the show," he crooned with his typical combination of wit, self-effacement and mock arrogance. "And I am, 'cause that's how I feel."

• Despite sound problems, Hot Hot Heat gave a blistering performance that brought over a herd of VIPs, including Tony Hawk and Kelly Osbourne, who were singing the catchy "Bandages" like everyone else when the show was over. The problems escalated as the night went on, and ended with the Libertines playing only two songs — not good for their first U.S. performance. Organizers squeezed them back in on Sunday so Stateside tastemakers could see the band British journalists are calling the next Strokes.

• Anyone expecting an explosion similar to their former band's musical bombast may have been disappointed by ex-At the Drive-In members Cedric Bixler and Omar Rodriguez's set with the Mars Volta on Sunday. Latin rhythms and long percussive jams were the name of the game as Bixler's nearly Whitesnake-like falsetto soared over every hacky sack and Frisbee game on the far reaches of the field while Rodriquez split his time between barely distorted picking (with scarcely a metallic palm mute to be found) and effects-drenched noise.

• Ben Folds played only the keys in his largely improvisational set, which ended with the singer/songwriter bringing "Song for the Dumped" to a crawl and ad-libbing vulgar yet hilarious lyrics. In a similarly fun set Saturday, Ben Kweller played a little piano, too, spewing out some of the poppiest songs of the weekend.

• On Sunday, Jack White and Juliette Lewis took in an early show from bare-bones rockers the Von Bondies in the Mojave Tent. Later, Los Angeles' Rooney finally gave that stage something that sounded local, blending Beach Boys-like harmonies with Phantom Planet-like tunes (singer Robert Carmine is Jason Schwartzman's brother). And finally, Fischerspooner treated a packed tent to a theatrical show complete with choreographed routines from dancers in feather hair extensions and fishnet bodysuits. The only group that could compete with that kind of spectacle was the Blue Man Group, who closed out their visual orgy with a cover of the Who's "Baba O'Reilly."

• A legion of Smiths fans gathered to catch a glimpse of former guitarist Johnny Marr and his backup band the Healers on Sunday, with so many of them proudly rocking vintage Morrissey T-shirts and tattoos that it almost seemed as if Marr's post-Smiths work with Electronic and other artists had never happened. Despite being cut short by organizers, Marr delivered a laid-back but potent performance of swirling tunes punctuated by his smooth croon. Much-buzzed-about English upstarts the Music were even more psychedelic the night before, invoking the spirit of the Stone Roses and basking in the glow of an impressive light show.

• While a majority of the rock bands at Coachella pounded out fierce odes to the Velvet Underground and the Clash, there were a few who offered a soundtrack for enjoying the tranquil atmosphere of the venue. Ben Harper, Jack Johnson and G. Love & Special Sauce all gathered huge audiences who toasted warm beers to their blends of blues and folk.

• In the group's first performance in more than 25 years, the Stooges (with Mike Watt on bass) treated Sunday's crowd to classics like "TV Eye" and "Fun House." Even those who had no idea who the group was ("Iggy who?" a security guard near the stage asked a friend) were able to enjoy Iggy Pop's erratic stage demeanor.

• Though Ian MacKaye has been notoriously particular about when, where and how he'll be interviewed during the two decades he's run Dischord Records and played in bands like the Teen Idles, Embrace and Fugazi, the two question-and-answer sessions he submitted to at Coachella were total free-for-alls, with kids asking him about everything from straight edge to music, politics, tour stories and the time he was kicked out of Disneyland. One member of the crowd asked the 41-year-old punk icon why he was willing to appear at an expensive festival while Fugazi refuse to play shows with high door prices. "My friend Patti Smith was saying that anyone who has a chance to get in front of a microphone right now and say they're against war should do so," he replied.

• Is Dallas the next Detroit? Two of the most talked about Coachella performances came from that city's Polyphonic Spree, whose 23 members offered a truly original orchestral pop sound, and Eisley, the female-fronted rock quintet handpicked for Coldplay's summer tour.

• Coachella would not be complete without surprises, and while Radiohead rumors proved untrue, Perry Farrell did pop into the tiny Gobi Tent for a surprise DJ set that mixed house music with the kind of tropicalia he explored on his solo album. Farrell's appearance makes him the only artist to play every Coachella.

For more sights and stories from concerts around the country, check out MTV News Tour Reports.

• Beastie Boys
• Badly Drawn Boy
• Black Eyed Peas
• Blur
• Fischerspooner

2 Many DJ's
Photo: Junkfood Inc.

For many college-radio and music-industry personnel, it's time to break out the fall jackets, earplugs, aspirin and business cards, because the annual CMJ Music Marathon is rolling out in New York again.

From October 30 to November 2, 900 artists will permeate the Big Apple with shows in more than 50 venues as part of the 2002 incarnation of one of the largest and longest-running music festivals. Mash-up maestros 2 Many DJ's, NYC "it"-sters the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Swedish exports the Soundtrack of Our Lives are among the must-see highlights, with Jurassic 5, Box Car Racer, the Chemical Brothers and Sigur Rós also due to turn in performances. Most shows are open to the public.

This year's marathon is not without its sense of humor, as comedic performances by David Cross, supporting his double-disc comedy album Shut Up You F---king Baby!, and puppet pooch Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, perhaps providing a glimpse at his forthcoming Come Poop With Me, are also scheduled.

Concerts are only half of the CMJ Music Marathon. Panel discussions on topics ranging from copyright protection and sampling to Internet radio, label consolidation and the rise of the New York rock scene take place each afternoon at the Hilton New York hotel. A Q&A session with former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, conducted by rock scribe Dave Marsh, and an intimate discussion with Tori Amos are among the key talks.

Other artists slated to perform include Ben Kweller, the Polyphonic Spree, Radio 4, Medeski Martin and Wood, Bright Eyes, Thursday, the Moldy Peaches, Simian, (International) Noise Conspiracy, Pretty Girls Make Graves and Imperial Teen.

Although the kickoff is more than a week away, the event has already been met with its first flare-up. Ipecac Records, the independent label co-owned by former Faith No More singer and all-around eccentric Mike Patton, was forced to cancel a sold-out party and showcase on October 31 because its venue, the Roxy, was double-booked with a performance by DJ Carl Cox. Attempts to find another home for Skeleton Key, Isis, Tomahawk and Fantômas Melvins Big Band — the latter two groups include Patton — proved fruitless, and the show was called off.

"We started this label three and a half years ago as a way to operate differently than what is the norm in the music industry, to be artist friendly and fan friendly," Patton said in a statement. "This show was a celebration of what we have built in such a short period of time, a vindication of our goals. Now we stand here apologizing, looking like fools, yet we did nothing wrong."

Clear Channel Communications, which originally booked the Ipecac show at Irving Plaza and then moved it to the larger Roxy due to the high level of demand, has filed suit against the venue, seeking reimbursement and unspecified damages, according to an Ipecac spokesperson.

The Carl Cox show, which is not part of the festival, is going ahead as scheduled.

A complete list of performers and panels can be found at the CMJ Web site.

• Tori Amos
• Box Car Racer
• Triumph the Insult Comic Dog
• Jurassic 5
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Ben Kweller
Photo: Ato

At an age when most rockers are just trying to get their careers started, singer/songwriter Ben Kweller is already working on his second musical life.

The subject of a sprawling profile in the New Yorker magazine at age 16 when he led the grunge trio Radish, Kweller has been woodshedding for the past several years, developing a new sound and vision.

"Radish was basically my high school punk band with my two best friends, ... only we got to put out a record on a major label," Kweller said. Now 20 and recording under his own name for the Dave Matthews-founded ATO Records, Kweller has released an album of eclectic, sunny pop songs titled Sha Sha.

And, for those who remember Radish's Nirvana-inspired hard rock numbers about teen alienation and "how school sucks," Sha Sha will sha shock. Mixing the piano pop of Ben Folds with the off-kilter, slacker rock of Pavement — a band Kweller said he was turned on to while recording Radish's never-released second album — songs such as "In Other Words" and "Harriet's Got a Song" rely more on acoustic guitars, dramatic piano riffs and heart-on-sleeve lyrics than angst and distortion.

"When I was 15, I wanted to sound like Nirvana and Sonic Youth," said Kweller ("BK" to his pals), calling from a Cleveland tour stop on a stint opening for benefactor Matthews. "Between finishing that first [Radish] album, touring the world and recording the second album, our styles had changed." During that period, Kweller returned to the piano, an instrument he'd started composing songs on when he was 7. He started writing more autobiographical songs and learned the most important lesson he thinks any songwriter can learn: less is more.

"When you start out, you're concerned with sounding cool and you try to use cool-sounding metaphors," he said. "But, with experience, you learn why old men don't say a lot, they listen more. I'm a big fan of keeping it simple."

The Greenville, Texas, native grew up in a musical household and was playing the drums and guitar and writing songs by the time he was in first grade. When he was 9, his demo tape won an honorable mention in a Billboard songwriting contest. At 13, already a veteran of three bands (Green Eggs & Ham, Mirage, Foxglove), he formed the power trio Radish.

Hyped as the new Silverchair, Radish signed a contract with Mercury Records and released their grungy major-label debut, Restraining Bolt, in 1997. Two years later, after the record had failed to live up to its hype and the label was not feeling the second album, Radish amicably split.

Kweller moved to New York with his girlfriend and, after having a hit single and playing to tens of thousands in Europe, he started over, throwing his acoustic guitar in the trunk of his gray Volvo and playing small acoustic shows on the East Coast. It was a phone call from a longtime hero that set his second wind in motion.

"Evan Dando was one of my first friends here," Kweller said of the Lemonheads singer. "We started hanging out, and I'd open up shows for him and it was a huge inspiration. Playing with him I realized that if you believe in what you do, anything can happen."

Kweller released a home-recorded album, Freak Out, It's Ben Kweller, in 2000, which he sold at his shows. Soon, likeminded singer/songwriters such as Juliana Hatfield and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy began asking Kweller to open for them. "Suddenly, I'm doing everything I wanted all my life but never could because I wasn't allowed to get my music out the way I wanted to." When the artist-friendly ATO label came knocking, Kweller was ready to step into the spotlight again.

Despite his frustration at some of the decisions he said were made for him during the Radish years, Kweller's songs have a cheery, forthright vibe, even when his heart is being stepped on. In the power-pop rocker "Walk on Me," one of the first songs he wrote after leaving Texas for New York, his cracked voice pleads, "If I was in your shoes, I wouldn't walk all over you/ So please don't walk all over me."

And, although it sounds like an off-the-bat attempt to disarm critics and comment on the Radish years, Kweller said it was his pal, Joe Butcher, who wrote the album's opening line. "When I was a movie star, an asteroid hit the earth and prematurely ended my career," Kweller deadpans over a carnival piano and Beach Boys-like backing harmonies on "How It Should Be (Sha Sha)."

The relentlessly upbeat Kweller admits that the life-affirming, Wilco-ish country tune "Family Tree," however, does take a few shots at his detractors. "That's verbatim," he said of lines such as "though the press might shoot me down I'm still true" and "stick to love songs kid, that's all you're knowing," something he said a boss at his former label told him.

It's not all bitter pills and broken hearts, though. The album's first single, the grungy pop poem "Wasted & Ready," is a mix of bizarre non sequiturs from filmmaker Gregg Araki's transgressive 1995 movie "Doom Generation" ("sex reminds her of eating spaghetti") and cautionary tales about altering your mind. "It's about that movie and the drug culture," Kweller said. "But it's also about the negative side of partying and waking up the next day and being bummed out about what you did."

Whatever happens this time around, Kweller said he's fine with it. "Ever since I started playing music, I knew this was what I wanted to do. This is the best time because I'm doing exactly what I want."

• Ben Kweller

MTV.com LIVE: Ben Kweller Photos 03.11.2004

• Ben Kweller

The Bens: You Hear It First Photo Gallery

• Ben Folds
• Ben Kweller
• Ben Lee

2003 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival

• Beastie Boys
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Ben Folds
• Ben Harper
• Blur