1. Ambient Den was born out of the lockdown era. What was the moment or conversation that sparked the formation of the band?

The lockdown period presented many crises and opportunities. One of the opportunities was that I finally had time to finish off my previous solo album “Monsters From The Id”, which was so complicated it had been teetering on the edge of existence. But one of the crises was that the pandemic prevented my other band (Frankenfido) from getting together, so we went on indefinite hiatus. This presented some time to dip my musical toe in the water with my new pal Tim Bennetts, and chemistry happened.  

2. How did you come together with Tim Bennetts and Dean Povey?

I met Tim at a Steve Hackett show in Brisbane back in 2017. Funnily enough later we realised we had both attended the same Yes show and probably met previously in Sydney in 2003, but I digress. Anyway we clicked and decided to play a live show together, performing prog rock covers and some of my solo material. We eventually did perform under the name “ProgAustralis”, but the rehearsals mostly ended up with us getting distracted and jamming musical ideas for fun instead. Dean, of course, I had already been playing alongside in Frankenfido. He was putting together a band to perform some covers at a corporate show and asked if I’d play guitar. We also brought in Tim on bass, but at rehearsals we mainly ended up workshopping our ideas and not learning the covers properly. 

3. The band’s name—Ambient Den—suggests both atmosphere and intimacy. How did you settle on it?

The project went through several possible names, beginning with “ProgAustralis” when Tim and I performed as a duo. Then as we started recording our ideas, I favoured the name “Bennetts Craven”, for obvious reasons! Finally as we settled upon a trio configuration, it became clear that the project had grown beyond a laid-back collection of jams into a proper album of songs. New band names are a nightmare to figure out these days, since virtually every name you can think of is already taken. So we put out first names into an anagram generator and “Ambient Den” was far and away the best suggestion. It evokes an intriguing image, even though it is not necessarily an accurate description of our music. But all band names I think simply become a label and lose their literal meaning very quickly. 

4. What does a typical writing or recording session look like for the group?

The trick is to sneak up on a writing session with no expectations, intentions or awareness that it’s even happening. So one way I approach that is by inviting the band around for lunch, a barbecue or some drinks. Inevitably that combination of events always leads to our picking up instruments and jamming for fun. The tapes are always rolling, so any inspirational musical nuggets are captured, whether accidental or intentional. Now, the actual arrangement of those bits and pieces into full songs (with or without lyrics) is the hard and time-consuming work, not to be confused with the joyful and spontaneous acts of creation.

5. Was the music mostly improvised or planned out before recording?

That’s an interesting question because it gets increasingly difficult to pinpoint exactly what “recording” means these days! For instance, all the jams are recorded. The demos that we compile from the ideas are built-up on multitracks, and just get refined until they become the finished piece. We have the ability to lift any performance from the original jams and place them anywhere in the final tracks. And of course the final solos are all improvised at the end. Digital workstations have afforded us the luxury of being able to record as we go. The danger of course is not knowing when to stop. 

6. How do the different musical backgrounds of the three of you shape the sound of Ambient Den?

Our musical tastes are all a little different. Tim and I are massive progressive rock fans. Tim is probably even crazier about prog than I am. Dean is very open to all kinds of new music so he helps keep us down to earth and a little more accessible. The key part is that the final product has to satisfy everyone in the band. It wasn’t until we brought in Dean that I started even thinking about this album in terms of other people actually listening to it and possibly enjoying it, rather than just trying to please myself. 

7. Your past solo work, like Monsters From The Id, had cinematic flair. Does Ambient Den continue that approach or head somewhere else entirely?

I love the concept of “cinematic rock” so it’s not something I’m going to turn away from. But I did realise very early on that the Ambient Den arrangements would be less complicated and ornamental than my solo work. I wanted to draw attention to our actual performances and capture some of the spontaneous magical interplay between us. So, for starters, you’ll find no orchestra whatsoever on this album! Having said that, I think we still carry over the cinematic flair via the sequencing and arrangements. The main difference is that these songs might actually be playable, by us, in a live context! 

8. Did you have to adjust your role or approach compared to your solo projects?

Absolutely. I have complete say and responsibility for every aspect of my solo albums. And they come out under my own name so I get all the credit, blame or indifference. But in this band I’ve realised I can just blame the others if something goes wrong. Ok, I’m joking. The most important point of this band, at least personally, is to have fun. And by fun, I mean enjoying all the unplanned musical and conceptual interplay between the band members, and making it all sound the very best I can on the final album. And for the first time I don’t feel musically drained at the end of the process! 

9. Where was the music recorded? Was it all done remotely during lockdowns or in a shared space?

Oddly enough amongst all the talk of lockdowns, the music was all recorded in my little studio, mostly once the world got back to a new normal and we could all come and go. Recording parts remotely and sharing files is something I just haven’t had great success with, mostly because we lose that instant feedback loop between the performer and the producer, and the ability to react to each other. Or to put it less delicately, the opportunity for someone to say they don’t like where I’m going with something before I’ve already finished it! 

10. Is this a one-time studio experiment, or do you see Ambient Den evolving into something ongoing—maybe even performing live?

The album has had great feedback from fans, pretty decent reviews and the first production run of CDs is almost sold out. So I think it’s passed the “should we do another one” test and “Ambient II” is a given. Live performance is something we’re still working on. The songs need to be rearranged for a 4 or 5-piece band because I’m not keen on using backing tracks. I like the freedom to shorten or lengthen parts live and not be locked down to tempo. Also I would love to be able to combine an Ambient Den show with my solo work.

11 What’s next for Ambient Den? More recordings? Visual projects? Vinyl, maybe?

Yes, possibly, and yes! We have three leftovers from this album. It broke my heart to hold them back, but I wanted to keep it a friendly length for vinyl. Coincidentally, I’m working on the vinyl master right now and hopefully the LP will be available in a few months. Many people have asked about a surround mix in Dolby Atmos or 5.1, so that will probably happen later also as a digital-only release. We’re also hopeful for a sponsorship deal with NASA, but at this stage with funding cuts it seems unlikely to come through.  

12. What were your primary guitars/basses used on the album?

I love a good gear question and it’s more significant than most people probably realise. I was very keen that this album have a consistent-sounding rhythm section from track to track, and I actually went through great pains deciding whether to use a 4-string or 5-string bass, single coil or humbucker pickups, and a trebly progressive-rock sound or mellow fingerstyle. The final decision was simply a Fender Precision bass with EMG pickups, detuned to D, mostly played with a thumb pick. It seemed to cover all bases well enough, while not making my influences completely obvious. Guitar-wise, the album is all over the shop and is typically what was hanging on the wall closest to me at the time. Most parts are on a Fender Stratocaster, also with EMG pickups. I have an old Maton steel acoustic which was multitracked, and a superbly inexpensive Yamaha nylon string guitar that gets the intimate jobs done. There’s also a surprising amount of lap steel, which was shared between an old 1960s Guyatone Fender copy and a cheap new Haze guitar with humbuckers. But as much as I love to pick and choose gear, I’m realising more and more that it makes perhaps only 5 to 10% difference on the actual recording. Mostly, a player is going to sound like that player, and there’s nothing you can or should do about it. 

Web: http://www.bencraven.com

Email: ben@bencraven.com

Buderim QLD Australia