STEREOtype - Ben Wigler (Arizona)
Finally, a new STEREOtype! This time around I got to chat with Arizona’s Ben Wigler. On the Echo Mountain imprint, Arizona plays an odd, creative and complex brand of psychrock-meets-folkpop. Ben handles lead vocals and guitar in Arizona, and his smooth and whispery voice is almost as satisfying as his amazing Jewfro or his off kilter sense of humor. For example:
How many times a week do you speak to your mother?
Probably about once a week, although we gChat more often than that. My sweetheart of a mother likes to pretend that I’m actually a famous, sought-after musician. This helps her justify how little I call, even though she knows that when I’m not on tour or recording in Asheville, I’m usually just sitting around watching all the seasons of 24 continuously (without breaks) in order to fully immerse myself in the action. I have an artist endorsement with both Oh Boy! Oberto!-brand dried meat and adult diaper brand Depends.
I’ll call her up and she’ll go “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!” at the top of her lungs for 30 seconds the way I would if Lars Ulrich decided to call me out of the blue. She is hilarious!
Actually, we talk a lot more when I’m on the road for some reason. I’ll call her about every other day, and send her pictures of Owl-related memorabilia that I collect for her (she loves Owls). One time I drunk dialed my mother when I was tripping on mushrooms in Barcelona.
Your nose: friend or foe?
I used to have a very Jewish nose, and I loved it and considered it my best feature next to my comically-sized lips. Unfortunately, a home intruder invaded my apartment last summer, and I fought him, Mortal Kombat-style, on the rooftop of the building. He broke my nose. I had it re-set but it never looked the same. It gets all congested all the time now (fun fact!), but I can still sing just the same, so whateva.
Are you good with money?
Hrm. I basically only spend money on two things: musical instruments and plane tickets. I’m an amazing bargain hunter when it comes to music gear, and I’ve gotten some incredible stuff for even more incredible prices. That said, I fly at least once a month and I don’t have a frequent flyer #, so that probably negates all the good I do in my bargain hunting. I also am very compulsive about giving to charity, but I consider this to be one of the best uses of money, so…
You have a cold. You can either treat your illness with over-the-counter cold medication or stick to a diet of chicken/vegan chicken soup, sleep and a strong dose of complaining. Which do you choose?
You can probably guess by the verbosity of these responses that I’ll take ANY excuse to complain. I’m an Olympic-level complainer. I’ll actually lick the seats in the subway just to get sick so I have something biological to complain about. So my remedy for a cold is more than just a reasonable amount of complaining - as well as chicken noodle soup, of course. My mom makes the best.
However, as I made clear in my answer to question #1: I don’t sleep. It’s 24, on loop, while I sit in my “special” chair which has a helmet with clamps on it that keep my eyes pried open.
On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the most guilty, how would you say you feel on average? Now, say that you’re eating a cheeseburger/playing a show on a Friday night. How guilty are you then?
If I allowed myself to feel guilty about eating a Cheeseburger before or after a Friday night show, I would be at 115% guilty—the super saturation point. As of right now, I would say I average at realistically a 80% guilty rating as I quite often feel VERY guilty, and have never felt less than 60% guilty. Man…I didn’t write as much for this answer as I did for the others. I feel kinda wrong now.
Did you go to summer camp? If so, please share a mortifying/awesome summer camp tale.
I’ve been to three summer camps, and I can’t remember a single time that I stayed for the entire time. Allow me to complain to you, Emily:
Friends Academy Day Camp in Long Island at 6 years old. Mandatory swimming time. Can’t swim. Forced to run naked through locker rooms as counselors chase us down Freddy Kruger style. Counselors tasked with teaching children to swim prefer to play a game called “Dunkin’ Donuts” where they would hold the kids underwater for as long as possible, allow them to come up for a breath of air before yelling “DUNKIN THE DONUT!” and re-submerge the head. Man, come to think of it, some of these dudes must have gone on to be CIA interrogators.
Then I went to another summer camp because they had plays; I desperately wanted to act. I actually learned recently that my own school’s musical director was anti-Semitic (my parents had sheltered me from this until literally a year ago) which is why I never got cast in anything. In turn, probably why I slowly started to go insane over the course of my life.
I was an amazing Michael Jackson impersonator at the time (I have videos to prove it), and I finally got cast in some stupid play just so they would have an excuse to let me do my MJ impression. It was amazing—I did “Thriller” (or a weird truncated version I had cut together on my parents’ tape deck) in front of 300 people; threw my hat into the crowd, grabbed my balls and everything! The next day, a bunch of kids from that camp dragged me to the swimming pool and re-emphasized my water trauma. The rest of the summer, and also the rest of elementary school/jr. high, I was not allowed to leave the school bus until I moonwalked down the aisle to a shouting chorus of “Jackson! Jackson!” chanted by students and driver alike.
I finally went to a very Jew-centric camp in Connecticut which cast me in lots of plays. I even got to mess around with cute girls, FINALLY, ending a long period of shame and guilt that the Michael Jackson period had ushered in.
And last but not least – favorite Jewish song and the likelihood of you covering it for us.
My favorite Jewish song is “Eli, Eli” written by a heroine of the holocaust, Hannah Senesh. I would be delighted to cover it for you.