Ben Folds

This past Thursday afternoon, The A Cappella Blog had the distinct pleasure of joining other media outlets, including The Boston Herald, CASA, and realitywanted.com for a conference call with Ben Folds, who will be one of the guests for NBC’s The Sing-Off! which premieres tomorrow night on NBC. Below is a summary of the interview. An official transcript of the call is to be released shortly, at which point we will make full answers available. Please note that, unless you see quotation marks, what appears below are not direct quotes, but rather paraphrases of what Folds and reporters said.

The A Cappella Blog (ACB): “In working on the University A Cappella project, you spent a lot of time working with collegiate a cappella groups. What surprised you about this experience? What did you learn from it?”

Ben Folds (BF): I think what we learned is how many people can sing; you don't have to look a certain way, and it’s not about all the things you do; as we traveled around we were shocked by how many first and second takes we got. That was awesome.

Something else you come to realize is the power of the human voice. When you’re sitting there listening to it, the tuning doesn't have to be perfect. If you tune it to even-tuning you lose human feeling.

ACB: “As one of the judges, what are you going to be looking for from the contestants?”

BF: I’m looking for it to move or entertain me; if not, I move into producer space, and say, “There's a reason for this.” Each of the judges seem to have gone to what we’re useful for. Nicole says something anyone can relate to, “like it had energy.” Each group has its own set of challenges. An all-female group has the challenge of not having a bass, but an all-male group has challenges as well. We have to see them become inventive about how they overcome their shortcomings. At the end of the day, I want to see groups who have innovated in the genre, because it hasn't been mined for everything you can do in it.

ACB: “For people who are not in the a cappella world already, do you think they’ll enjoy the show? What do you think they’ll get out of it?”

BF: I don't see how anyone wouldn't like it. It's a matter of what you realize. This is not something that's been done a lot. There’s so much variation in how it can be produced, how it can be mixed; some of these groups are like oral drums, some are barbershop; there’s no real formula. I think once people see it, they're just going to keep watching it. It's like a circus. You wouldn't think these people could pull this off. Where it's not as much, there's really good technical reasons why they're not.

These groups sound really good. It's scary. This is much more fun than a normal singing show. I also think part of the reason this has a future in pop music is because the economy's shit. A lot of people can't afford instruments. If we make it cool, what's cooler than doing it this way?

It’s funny that people call it a novelty. I don't understand that at all. What's novelty is an autotuned dude with mascara--that's half of what we have on the radio. That's novelty, that will be gone.

ACB: “You’re in the unique position of having had the chance to hear a lot of your songs performed a cappella. But I wondered, if you could hear one of your own songs performed a cappella that you haven’t heard performed that way yet, which one would it be?”

BF: Songs where chords lend themselves to a cappella will be easier to orchestrate in general. They're the same songs that I play with symphony orchestras, that have well thought out chord changes. I think most of my songs that really lend themselves to that format have been done.

realitywanted.com (RW): When did your interest in a cappella get started?

BF: I’ve always loved vocals. I’ve always tried to work in a lot of harmony on my records. As for the actual genre of a cappella, there was this eighties Todd Rundgren record where he sang all the parts himself. I was never in a group or anything. What really piqued my interest was seeing a cover of one of his songs on YouTube. It was really good and inventive. It hit something about the song that I think I missed in the original version. From there, I started jumping around YouTube and hearing covers of other songs I’ve done. I thought some of them were an improvement. The genre is inventive and refreshing, not worn out.

RW: How did you get involved with The Sing-Off?

BF: I suppose it was probably because I made that album, University A Cappella with all the college groups. My name must have come up in their research. I worked with one of the producers of the show on a couple other things a long time ago.

RW: What kind of judge are you going to be? Are you going to be harsh, super supportive, or tell the truth to try to help them improve?

BF: The last option. My gig is to see if it's working, and if it's not working, try to delve into the reasons why the performance isn't working. I’ve landed on a formula: tell them what's great about it, tell them what they need to work on it. I hope one or two groups emerge and innovate. We all know what drums sound like and bass guitars. One of these groups could do something that will influence others and push the genre forward. That’s what this is all about.

RW: You’re working a new album with Nick Horby, due out next year. Can you tell us a bit about that?

BF: It’s not a cappella. Nick has written some really cool lyrics; I've been able to bring them to life. It's like one of my records, only Nick's written the lyrics. Since I have so much respect for what he does, I've really put the time into the instruments and the production. It has been a lot more serious undertaking than I originally anticipated.

Amy Malkoff from CASA: This is setting a precedent; there’s never been a show like this. It’s hard to capture all of a cappella; what efforts have been made to amp up sound, make sure we capture everything about the performances, so they translate over television?

BF: I have been concerned about this point, and sent many a rambling email to the producers about this. That's true, though, of any kind of music on television. Music on television is not a full experience. Depending on what they use and see, you'll really hear issues coming across on TV like you don't hear in person so it's going to be a real challenge. Some of these groups have a deficit in how they arrange—that it needs a special mix. This is something that requires a lot of thought. People haven't seen this before.

The second show ramped things up a lot in general—the audience was more into it, the judges more comfortable. The second one is better. People will get hooked.

The Boston Herald (BH): What challenges will you be throwing at them? Will it be straight swinging or will they be twists? Will it be more like American Idol with such-and-such a theme?

BF: We've done two shows so far, my gig is to show up with as little information. I show up with no preconceived notions. Really quickly, they say, let's get arrangement issues out of the way. It's pretty amazing that they can pull this off; they have to get that right really quickly or they'll be off the show. The ones that are left—their job is to elevate the genre; pop, rock, it's all been endlessly mined. This is a genre that hasn't had as much attention until now. My final vote will probably be based on, have they taken it up some, have they moved on.

BH: Will shows like Glee give this show a boost?

BF: I think what’s happening is that people are catching on to this being cool, and that trickles down through all of these shows, like Glee and American Idol.

Unknown: How is this show different from a show like American Idol?

BF: This is a genre that hasn't exactly found its place yet. This is hitting at a time when a cappella is still taking a shape. I’m encouraging groups not to fall back on what’s already been done. I haven't seen American Idol, I don't know if they win a car or fucking what. But these people are not all intending to sing a cappella independently; some of these great performers are going to go off to be doctors or science teachers; music is a part of their lives and so important they're going to take a part of their life to do it—that's when something special happens. Look at The Beatles—they didn't start with a MySpace page, they started with the music.

Unknown: What's the mainstream potential for a cappella? Do you think we might see a cappella music playing on Top 40 radio?

BF: I think it's got a long way to go probably before that happens. They'll be competing with a machine and a system that's very slow. Right now, it's like they're test driving a car. To go back to beginning of rock and roll there were a lot of covers; it's in that area now, and it’s going to be competing with a radio industry that has the song or the story of the moment. They have to find or write their own material. Right now we're test driving the car and seeing what it can do. See how many ways you can make a song that you know works work in other ways.

Be sure to check back at The A Cappella Blog for detailed reviews of each episode of The Sing-Off.