Andy Benz – Høker Session#3

By Andreas BennetzenNo Comments

Totally live and uncut in Christiania

The crew from Freetown Sound Division approached me with the idea of recording a medley of 2 tracks for the Høker Session series. Høker is an old danish word originally meaning a person who sells food and drinks from a small stand.

In this context it refers to the pretty good beer named “Høker Bajer” brewed at Hancock Brewery

The concept of the Høker Sessions is that it should be 100% live and a one-take shot in the W.C.Fields club in Christiania.

I really liked the concept and the crew behind the idea, so when they asked me to do a session for them I gladly agreed and so we went ahead and made this video.

I am playing 2 tracks. In the first track I am using Live-Looping and it is a track that I made up on the spot, showcasing some of the elements I am working on at the moment. Elements such as making the kick by tapping on the bridge. Using breaks to build up tracks. Keeping it simple to get closer to the sound of electronic music genres like trance and minimalistic techno. I like to call it acoustic techno, but I will try not to label it too much. It is very much the Andy Benz sound.

The second track is Kick it! from the album Disciples. This track is performed with a backtrack that I play from my iPad and RME Babyface soundcard and a solo on top. In my opinion allowing for the best of both worlds with the backtrack being very dynamic with break downs and buildups and the live double bass giving it the improvised element.

If you like to watch more videos from my hand go to my YouTube Channel or have a look right here on this Webpage.

The video was filmed by the amazing Mark From Denmark

Concept by Kasper Boll & Freetown Sound Division

Music edited and mastered by Andreas Bennetzen

Andy Benz – HØKER SESSION #3

Watch Andy Benz conjure up a blizzard of bass in HØKER SESSION #3. Listen to many, many more great tracks by following these links:Bandcamphttps://andybenz.bandcamp.com/Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/3n2mZfOeqLrJ1YGqWG1gNOApple Musichttps://music.apple.com/bn/album/disciples/1088968243

Slået op af Andy Benz i Fredag den 1. november 2019

BASS 2018 in LUCCA

By Andreas BennetzenNo Comments

This summer saw the great city of Lucca host the BASS 2018 Double bass convention. 

I was fortunate enough to recieve an invitation to play at BASS 2018 and with the generous support of D´Addario Orchestral and Yamaha Instruments I had the funds to travel there, play a concert and also give a lecture on Live-Looping.

Silent bass showroom

It was a great event and despite only being there for a few days I saw many interesting and very inspiring performances  and met many good friends. I can highly recommend participating in the bi-annual double bass convention of BASS EUROPE

Meeting friends at BASS 2018
Danielle Roccato at BASS 2018

As is normal for me I played a full program of my own compositions from my 2 Andy Benz albums. Music created for and with the electric upright bass. If you have not heard my music yet I invite you to check it out on my BANDCAMP PAGE

Henrica Fagerlund at BASS 2018 trying my Yamaha Silent bass and Line 6 POD

There were many bassplayers there. A great mix of professionals, students and amateurs. You also have all the bass makers-bow makers-string makers. Yes, basically all you need to have a fantastic time with only bass, bass and more bass. Nobody looks at you in a wrong way if you find yourself talking about double bass for the entire day. Well maybe it is even expected from you.

The article below is a review by professor in psychology, Mads Hermansen of some of the performances that took place incuding my solo-performance. He is an amateur bass player with a lot of insight into modern bassplaying. If you want to read the part about my performance then scroll down to page 6. It is in danish.

I want to use this oppotunity to give a big thank you to Jimmi Roger Pedersen  for organizing this with the rest of the BASSEUROPE team!

BASS2018LUCCA_Resume_MadsH