By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
It’s been a whirlwind of touring, festival appearances, an album and single release, interviews and magazine covers for The Bennies so far this year.
Shortly after wrapping up its Wisdom Machine tour in Maroochydore on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast recently, The Bennies found themselves 15,000 kilometres away, playing at a festival in Berlin, Germany.
The band toured the country and sold out shows wherever they went, including Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
The Bennies graced the covers of magazines, scored album of the week accolades and even infiltrated the charts, with the album debuting at number 40 on the ARIA album chart and number 10 on the Australian chart.
It’s indicative of the work ethic of the Melbourne band which has earned a reputation for heavy touring, building its reputation on its live sound.
But the four – Anty Horgan, Craig Selak, David Beaumont and Jules Rozenbergs – still find time to party.
“We live in the eye of the party whirlwind storm,” bassist Selak said.
“It’s pretty easy to cope with to be honest, although every Tuesday kinda seems to suck for some reason.
“I think we get some time off in August. But in true Bennies style, I’m sure we’ll find something hectic to fill it with.”
The Bennies even drew the attention of Less Than Jake drummer – and owner of Florida-based label Paper and Plastic – Vinnie Fiorello, who released the album in the UK and US.
As a follow up, The Bennies were invited to play at Belgium festival Groezrock alongside their heroes, Rancid.
Wisdom Machine’s first single, Party Machine, reached number 88 on triple j’s hottest 100, some two months before physical copies of the album were even available.
“I guess our main aim with Wisdom Machine was to try and push all our ideas as far as we could,” Selak said.
“I feel like we achieved this for the most part, but in the future I think we wanna get weirder and even more creative and strange.”
After spending April and May on different continents, The Bennies returned home from the European and the UK tour to pick up phase two of the Wisdom Machine tour.
The Australia leg tour includes 27 shows across each state, with regional shows including a Geelong gig.
The Bennies play the Barwon Club on Thursday 30 June with local support Keggin.
