Ben Kweller Set To Rock Beer & BBQ Festival In Adelaide

Acclaimed singer/songwriter Ben Kweller startrs his long-awaited return to Australia in Brisbane tonight. A pillar of the underground indie scene, Kweller will be performing much-loved songs from his discography, as well as tracks from his profoundly moving 2023 release Cover the Mirrors. This will be the first time in fourteen years Aussie fans will have the chance to experience Kweller’s tapestry of songs in live form, set to play gems from albums like Sha Sha (2002), On My Way (2004), Changing Horses (2009) and Go Fly A Kite (2012).

Kweller will also perform songs from his achingly raw 2025 record Cover The Mirrors, one of his most emotionally-charged albums to date. Written after the unimaginable loss of his sixteen-year old son Dorian, who passed away in a freak car accident, the twelve-track album explores themes of grief and soul-searching and features guest performances by long time friends and collaborators including Waxahatchee, MJ Lenderman, The Flaming Lips and Jason Schwartzman’s highly acclaimed mid-aughts musical project Coconut Records. Ben talks to Rob Lyon about his Australian tour and playing the Beer & BBQ Festival in Adelaide.

Great to be talking to you. Fourteen years! Can you believe it has been that long?
It’s really hard to believe because in my mind, Australia has always been a place that I tour all the time. I’ve been there so many times, and it’s been such a huge part of my career and who I am as an artist. I feel such a kinship with the Australian audience and the people. So how the fuck did fourteen years go by? It’s crazy. COVID, I blame for at least seven of the years, because there was time on each side of COVID. But it’s really wild. We’re coming back, and I’m not going to let fourteen years go by any longer. That’s crazy.

What have you missed about touring Australia?
The people, really. There’s a real connection also because I’m from Texas, and I’ve always felt there’s a real Texas, Australia similarity with the friendliness of the people. I’ve always felt really at home Down Under and I have great friends that live there, and I miss them. So that’s my favourite thing. Of course, I can’t wait to have some Vegemite, and maybe a deep‑fried Mars bar, even though it’s not on my diet but it will be when I’m there. So… it’s all the stuff.

Fourteen years means a lot of music in that time. That must make an Australian tour set list even more challenging?
Yeah, it is. It is a thing. I think we’re going to stay focused on what we’ve been doing, because we are on the Cover the Mirrors tour, so obviously it’s about this album, it’s about losing Dorian, and keeping his spirit alive through the music, the new songs. But it’s a nice mixture of my catalogue built in there. You get stuff from Sha Sha and On My Way and my self‑titled album. So, we’re definitely bringing the hits, along with this new message of carrying on our love for Dorian and his memory. It’s a really impactful show.

My memory of you goes all the way back to the Three Bens tour. Do you get to cross paths with Ben Lee much these days?
That’s right, and I’m going to be seeing him, I hope, if he’s around when I’m around. We definitely plan on hanging out.

Condolences about the loss of your son. Has playing those songs been a therapeutic process, keeping the spirit and memory alive? Does it get harder, or does it get easier each time you play them?
It gets easier. It’s been incredible, because when something this horrible happens, you just search for any positivity wherever you can find it. I feel really lucky that I’ve had music so strong in my life since I was a little boy. Performing on stage, being in the studio, I’ve had a lot of practice at it, and it’s the one skill in my life that I’ve honed better than all the others. So, I feel lucky that I have that, and I’m able to use my love for music to help me get through this pain.

In the beginning of the Cover the Mirrors tour, because when he died, I could never picture myself back on stage, little by little, music just came to me. I would write songs, and it eventually became the album, and then of course it was like, well, let’s go on tour and bring this message to everybody. It was really painful and really hard. It’s like that thing when someone dies who’s really close to you: you’re so sad, but then there’s a moment where you laugh about something. Me, Liz, and his brother Judah would sit and crack up about something totally random, and then you feel guilty, how can you be happy? But you realise life goes on, and the people who aren’t with us anymore want us to be happy.

Playing music for the first time on stage was really a trip. I was sad that I was doing it, I felt guilt, but I also knew it was the right thing for me because I was healing through it. It’s gotten easier over time, because now I’m used to playing the songs in front of other humans, and I’m just sitting with the grief in a new way. They say grief is like a rock we carry around in our pocket. The weight stays the same, you always know it’s there, you just get used to carrying it. I like that analogy.

It’s powerful to look at your music through a completely different lens. Even from a fan perspective it’s an incredibly powerful album, but it must be a completely different experience for you?
Dude, I see everything so different now. Even the little things. On the first tour here in the States for Cover the Mirrors, I remember feeling really nervous, I get nervous before I go on stage, I’m still human, I have regular emotions and nerves like everybody else. But I was talking to Liz before I went on stage the first night. I said, God, I’m nervous, and she’s like, well… there’s really nothing to be nervous about, because the worst thing already happened to you. Nothing can get any worse. So, you forget a lyric, or break a string, nothing could be that bad compared to losing a child. That really rewired my perspective. Now I can focus on the joy of singing and connecting with my fans. It’s a whole new level of performance.

It must take a lot of pressure off as well, that you can just like you said, it’s a joy to perform. Anything else success‑wise on top is just a bonus?
Exactly. Icing on the cake. Just to be alive is amazing, you know? Life is short, as we know, and it could be over in the blink of an eye and that’s why I’ve made a pact with myself to not let up. I’m in the most creative zone that I’ve been in since I was a teenager. As an artist, I feel like I’m sixteen years old again. It’s really wild. I’m writing songs more than ever. I already have a new album that I just started working on in between these tours. I never want to let it go, because it could end at any point.

Talking of reissues albums that fit with the now, On My Way almost seems like a mission statement of sorts?
Yeah, I know! Exactly! And that’s it. That’s a reissue of my second album, this deluxe reissue we’re doing. I’ve been going through the archives of my old music from around 2004, 2005, and I found a bunch of recordings that didn’t end up going on the original album. That was really healing and interesting too. There was actually a song on On My Way called Different But the Same, and in that song I talk about having boys, teaching your son how to stand up straight when you want to run. These lyrics about… I wasn’t even a father yet, but those words came out of me when I was twenty-one or something. It’s kind of wild how that album turned twenty years old, and now we’re putting out this reissue. It comes out in August. But yeah, I got a lot going on, and I feel blessed for it.

When you find all these recordings, does it feel like you’ve struck the lottery? Even the single that’s out, Earth Destroyer, that’s a cracking single. It makes you think, why didn’t that make the album the first time?
I know! I know! I don’t even know why I didn’t put it on. But I love it. It’s a good one, a real punk rocker. I think maybe at the time I felt like it was a little too political. I never really liked to get political in my music, but that one definitely has a political bent to it. It’s funny because I wrote it back in 2004, that’s a long time ago, thinking about the environment and shit, and politicians making decisions that not everyone agrees with. Nothing’s really changed.

The new album you’re working on, is there any particular sound you’re trying to pursue or chase this time?
Funny! Well, I don’t… I rarely pursue and chase. But there’s a sound that kind of came to me because I wrote a lot of this new album in the back of the tour bus, so all I had was an acoustic guitar. A lot of the songs have acoustic… it’s like, when you say “acoustic album,” you automatically think singer‑songwriter sitting on a bench or bar stool. It’s not, it’s a full band record with drums and everything, but it’s got this real acoustic vibe to it. I was experimenting with a lot of alternate tunings. There’s a lot of drop D, so it’s a very heavy, rich sound.

A lot of the lyrics talk about my childhood, more of my teenage years, high school years, growing up in a small town. But there’s a lot of overlap with Dorian and who he was right before he died. The other night I was playing some songs for Liz, my wife, and she said she felt like ‘Cover the Mirrors’ peeled back all these layers of who I am as a person. But this new album is like another layer deep. I didn’t know there was more, but apparently there’s more. The stories just keep unfolding. It definitely has its own flavour. It’s very different from ‘Cover the Mirrors’.

It must be really exciting just to keep hitting that purple patch where the songs just keep coming?
It’s the best feeling, dude. It’s the best. It’s definitely my drug, anytime you write a new song, it’s the best high in the world. I feel like a gambling addict or something, like at the slot machine and then eventually you hit. It’s pretty cool.

Does it make it hard when you’ve got to make that choice to go out on tour, especially when you’re hitting your straps writing and you don’t want to disrupt that flow?
Well, it can be a little frustrating, because right now I’m really excited to be here in the studio. So it’s a bummer to have to leave, but I really just have the Australian tour and a few festivals here in the States, and then I’m done with the ‘Cover the Mirrors’ album cycle. I’m in the home stretch. I’ve been desperate to get back to Australia for so long, so I’m very much looking forward to that. But when I get to August, September, that’s when I’ll be in here really working on this new album.

I have the album title Agorita. Agorita is a special plant that grows here in Central Texas. It’s a real thorny fucker, prickly but it grows a beautiful flower, and it’s the first smell of spring here in Central Texas. I always wanted an album title that was one word. I never did that, so that’s kind of exciting too, from a nerdy discography perspective.

Returning to Adelaide, you’re playing the Beer and Barbecue Festival. It’s got to be exciting playing a festival with some pretty unique names as well, TISM, Ratcat for starters…
Yeah, that’s good fun, dude.

Is the approach any different for a festival?
Yeah, sure. Festivals are a totally different thing. When you play a club show and you’re headlining, you’re playing for your fans who bought tickets to see you, and I build the set differently. Festivals, there will be fans there, but there are also a lot of people who don’t know who the hell you are, so I definitely have a different mindset. Each festival is different, too. We did Kilby Block Party a few weeks ago in Salt Lake City, a real raucous festival. Turnstile was there, Alex G, some heavy bands, metal, mosh pits. For that festival, we just came out banging, heavy shit, not many solo acoustic numbers. But then this past weekend in Chicago, it was a chill block party with families. For that one, I did more sing alongs, engaged the crowd, played more mellow songs. My catalogue is so deep at this point, I feel lucky I can pick and choose. Tell me more about the Beer & BBQ Fest — what’s that vibe like?

It’s a different sort of festival vibe. Lots of beer, brews, producers, BBQ — you’ll probably go there and not want to leave. Beer, barbecue, music, and a real variety of acts over two days. Friday night is TISM, Ratcat, yourself, and a strong list. It’s a Friday night vibe, so everyone’s up for a big weekend.
I’ll have to play Wasted and Ready, for sure [Absolutely[.If you drink that’s a given. Probably close the show with that. So yeah, I’ll start thinking about the setlist. Adelaide is where I proposed to Lizzie on the Three Bens tour. We found her ring in Sydney, in Double Bay — double bay, double pay, as they say — but we were going to Melbourne the next day, so the people that made the ring were able to resize it and mail it to Melbourne. I got the ring in Melbourne, and then we were going to Adelaide, so I proposed in Adelaide. We went to the water, and it was with Folds and Ben Lee, and we just had a good day. I’ve always loved Adelaide.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Catch Ben Kweller at Beer & BBQ Fest on Friday, tickets HERE…

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