Former Silverchair drummer Ben Gillies previews the first sounds from his new project Bento.
Ben Gillies has spent the years away from Silverchair (and Tambalane) working on music — and on a studio — and now tunes can finally be revealed under the moniker of Bento.
The project’s first album, with Gillies up front and singing, is titled Diamond Days and certainly retains some of Silverchair’s melodic majesty while incorporating more new wave energy.
Ben says in a press release, “It’s an album of self-discovery, of finding myself. I’ve always written songs and over the years I’ve kept a log of every idea. It’s exciting to finally see some of these ideas fully realised.”
He continues, “Being part of something as awesome and mammoth as Silverchair required so much of myself and at times there was very little energy left for other things. Now I feel as if I’m freed up and can satisfy my own creative output and get about doing what makes sense for me at this point. It’s been a while in the making and I’m excited to finally share it.”
The twelve-track album was produced by Gillies and Eric J Dubowsky (who has worked on albums by Faker and Art VS Science) and features guests including Papa Vs Pretty frontman Thomas Rawle.
Diamond Days the album will be out on October 26 and the title track will hit radio in a week, but you can already check it out on YouTube below.