Features

The White Labels is a new series of programmes on BBC Spotlight, BBC local radio and BBC Online, running this Spring.

During each of the six weekly broadcasts an unsigned local band, hoping to make it will be profiled.

From Thursday 1st March Spotlight will catch up with each performer as they prepare for and play a gig, more information about each of the bands will be available online and from 10pm on Thursday evenings, John Govier will give you the chance to hear more on his late show on BBC Radio Guernsey.

Chaddlebuck and Larry Barry.

The White Labels slot features two acts from Devon, two from Cornwall, and one each from Guernsey and Jersey.

The Guernsey band featured are the Bensons. They were on a mini tour in England and Ben Chapple spoke to them about the trip.

If you haven't heard about the Bensons before then get to know them here:

Knocking on a wardrobe sat in the middle of L'Ancresse Common is one of the stranger things I've done in this job. The fact that someone answered that knock and let me in has to be the strangest. I descended into The Bensons' inner sanctum...

After a quick hello we settled down over a cup of Bengolian Coffee to discuss the Bensons' mini tour:

Well the first question is the obvious one - why go on tour?

Chaddlebuck Benson (CB): Cos we hadn't done so already.
Barney-Boy Benson (BB): A chance to spread the Bensons' wings.
CB: Toupé are good friends of ours and they were up for doing a kind of mini tour in the south of England. So that ended up being lots of fun as we get on really well.
Larry Barry Benson (LB): They've been begging us for ages to play with them so they could bask in some of our reflective glory. (All Laugh)
BB: It was as much a holiday as it was a tour, it was a chance for all of us to go away together and have some fun. Play our weird tunes to some err… weird people.

The Bensons - going for gold.

The Band's Exeter gig features in the Spotlight Report so I asked the band how that went:

BB: Well we had enough costumes for seven gigs packed in the van [wardrobe] and we only had five gigs in the end so we had to pick the best costume for each gig so we'd arrive at a venue, check it out a bit and see which one was the best to go with the surroundings. Exeter was quite spacey inside, lots of sheers hanging from the roof and it looked quite space like so we went for Star Trek.
CB: That gig was particularly good as we had the BBC down so we were all very hyped up about the whole thing and afterwards we had this amazing party at a place called Cat Wee House.
BB: It was really funny as when we finished that gig we all piled into a minibus that one of the organisers had and we drove to his house and had a huge party until the early hours.
CB: It was like something right out of spinal tap.

So what about the rest of the tour?

CB: The other gig that stood out was Romsley on the Friday night.
BB: It was at the Lantern Theatre which is quite literally a school theatre. Toupé do gigs there as they know the guy who runs it, so they put this gig on for the school kids which was brilliant. We dressed up as Toupé for that one – as Mad Scientists like their album cover.
CB: That was great the kids went really crazy, they put on a really good light show for us.
Jefferson T. 'Doubleberry' Benson (JT): Well the kids did everything the sounds, the lights…
LB: Big stage with scaffolding, they moshed like fury.
BB: From the very first note the kids were loving it, jumping around everywhere, one of the best audience’s we've had really. They just seemed to be really up for it. They were singing along to all the stuff, they'd never heard our stuff before but just picked up the lyrics straight away. It was great.
LB: And they weren't drunk either. I think that says something. Well I don't think they were drunk and yet they still had a good time. There’s a lesson there.
JT: They're not out burning cars and vans…

After much discussion Larry Barry summed up the lesson to be learnt:
LB: Don't burn stuff, get drunk if you want, but you don't have to, and go to gigs especially if they are Bensons' gigs.

Having made an attempt to save today’s youth we now moved on to the other gigs.

BB: Where did we play? (after some discussion) Talking Heads in Southampton on the Wednesday, then we played the Central in Poole on the Thursday, Romsley on the Friday, umm… then it was Exeter on the Saturday and Andover on the Sunday. Exeter was the Globe and Andover was…
LB: The biker pit from hell.
BB: The… the… what was it called? (after a moment's reflection)
BB: George, but you've got to put about three e’s and three o’s to spell george geeeooorge.

What was that like?

BB: That was quite funny, it was definitely more of a rock venue and it was an all day event. So there were three or four bands on before us, then us and then Toupé last. I think they weren't really quite sure what to expect when we came out as mexicans with lots of gringo activity.
JT: It went well.
CB: We even smashed a guitar.
LB: smashed a guitar? Well you threw a guitar (said to CB).
CB: Yer, it didn't quite smash like I thought it might.
JT: It's still in one piece at the back somewhere.

The album's cover.

Was that an attempt to be rock and roll?

CB: It was, cos there was very little reaction initially from the crowd and so I tried to incite a riot. But it didn't really work. There we go another rock and roll incident.
JT: We actually got to sign cleavage that night too as well.
CB: Oh, Yes…
JT: She was hot as well.
LB: Yer! So hot I declined!

The Bensons ended their tour back in Guernsey with their Album Launch at the Fermain Tavern and if you want to find out more about that night or see pictures then look here:

BB: Cos it was an album launch we wanted to make it something extra special. As the whole album was based around this idea of the Tardrobe Wardis which is obviously a wardrobe which is our time travelling home.
LB: And dispenser of costumes.
BB: Much like Mr Ben
LB: And of course the night featured the wardrobe featured on the album cover.
CB: The theme was game show hosts and we took time to study our different characters that we choose, along with the voices and the costumes.
LB: I lived for a week as Carol Voderman, talked like her, did maths like her and even went to the toilet like her and that showed I thought.
CB: No, but it was a lot of fun and we did put a lot of work into it. I hoped that showed, that people had fun – I know we did.
BB: We wanted to involve the audience as much as possible really so everyone who turned up was given a contestant name on a sticker and we'd pick out a name at random from a tombola and we as each host did games and it was really fun.
LB: Troll Edmonds doing Deal or No Deal, Larry Voderman doing the countdown conundrum,
CB: Brucey of course. Nice to See You To See you nice (in his best brucey impression)
BB: Buck Forsyth doing Play your cards right.
CB: And scary person Gilly Savage doing Blankety Blank

Jefferson T. 'Doubleberry' Benson.

So looking back six months ago now how do you feel about it?

CB: We had a few van problems but generally it was a really good fun time wasn't it?
BB: It was quite laid back too as all the gigs were in a fairly small kind of area, apart from Exeter. So we didn't have to be racing around too much and so we could kind of chill out during the day playing games. As well as wandering round the towns just having a look at the shops and whatever and finding good places to eat.

It then emerged a lot of the days had been spent playing computer games and an argument ensued about who had been the best. Trying to bring some order I asked:

What's next?

LB: Well there’s that new Nintendo Wii, I wouldn't mind a go on one of them.

And musically?

JT: We are in the process of writing lots of material at the moment. We've probably got an album's worth already.
BB: We've nearly got another album's worth.
JT: When that will come out – who knows.
CB: But we are going to try and conquer the Channel Islands this year. We've got Guernsey gigs booked and a Jersey gig booked so now we're just looking for Alderney, Sark and Herm. So that’s the next step.
LB: We're going to play every single one, even maybe Brecqhou. That'd be nice. Get a gig in the castle.
CB: How about Jethou?
LB: That's stupid.
CB: Well seriously it is something we'd like to do, and I've always said I wouldn't mind perhaps getting over to England and play very, very low down on one of the festival bills.
BB: Low down? No not low down!
CB: Well no, just to get over to one of the festivals and play a set on a little stage somewhere it would be good fun.
BB: Whether we do that this year I don't know.
CB: I don't know if we'd be able to do that.
BB: I think we'll conquer the islands first maybe and then…
CB: There's always a chance isn't there.
LB: We've never actually played Jersey so that’s got to be top of the list.
CB: Well we're doing that.
BB: The 21st April the Live Lounge.

Well on that blatant plug we ended our 'At Home With The Bensons' and I really must say for a Wardrobe it is very spacious and surprisingly comfortable only spoilt by the hint of moth balls in the air.