Benjamin Burnley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Benjamin Burnley
Benjamin Burnley performing with Breaking Benjamin
Background information
Birth name	Benjamin Jackson Burnley
Also known as	Ben Burnley
Born	March 10, 1978 (1978-03-10) (age 32)
Origin	Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, USA
Genres	Alternative rock, alternative metal, post-grunge
Occupations	Musician, Singer-songwriter, Lyricist, Composer, Vocalist, Guitarist
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar
Labels	Hollywood
Notable instruments
PRS Guitars

Benjamin Jackson Burnley (born March 10, 1978) is an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter for the band Breaking Benjamin.^[1] He is also known for his brutal screams and high range melodic singing voice.

Biography

Ben Burnley was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He grew up in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. He dropped out of high school and moved to Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania at the age of 18. He moved in with former Breaking Benjamin bass player Jonathan Price. He taught himself to play guitar by listening to Nirvana's Nevermind and has also claimed that Nirvana was his biggest influence. Before Breaking Benjamin was formed, Burnley had earned money by playing cover songs in various coffee houses as a solo artist under his own name "Benjamin." He later came up with the band's name, "Breaking Benjamin," after doing a performance of a Nirvana cover. At the end of the performance, Ben knocked over and cracked a microphone he had borrowed. The owner of the microphone walked onto the stage and said, "I'd like to thank Benjamin for breaking my fucking microphone."^[2] Burnley has several phobias and has even said that the name of their 2006 album, Phobia, was named after that simple fact. His most notable fear is that of flying, thus the reason why Breaking Benjamin never tours outside of the United States and Canada.^[3] Burnley is a self-admitted hardcore video gamer. In fact, he wrote a song entitled "Blow Me Away" for Bungie Studios' Halo 2, which is featured on the game's soundtrack and during gameplay. The song "Polyamorous" is also featured on the game Run Like Hell and WWE Day of Reckoning(also with their song Firefly), and "The Diary of Jane" was also featured on NASCAR 07 the video game.[4

Breaking Benjamin - Phobia

More of the same (i.e. Emo Hard Rock) from the Pennsylvania quartet.

September 11, 2006

by Spence D.

LATEST IMAGES

As part of the whole new school hard rock movement (think Staind, Cold, Godsmack, Nickelback, etc.) Breaking Benjamin has amassed a loyal mainstream following since they debuted in 2002 with Saturate. Just as with their sonically like-minded brethren, BB persist in delivering crunching guitars topped off with somewhat generic, angst ridden vocals that waffle between being plaintive and aggressive. Frontman Ben Burnley has one of those somewhat innocuous voices that is crystal clear, delivers just the right amount of emotion, fluctuating between contemplative subjectivity and growling anger. It's pretty standard by 2006 hard rock standards, as evidenced on the album's blazing single "The Diary of Jane" and pretty much every other track on the album. What's lacking in Burnley's voice is any distinction that separates it from the rest of the pack.

BB's strength really lies in the music itself, which is at turns somewhat run-of-the-mill in the way that the pummeling guitars sear and shred amidst the competent rhythm escalade. But axeman Aaron Fink manages to keep things interesting, shredding when appropriate while Chad Szeliga and Mark James Klepaski keep the rhythmic surge rolling like a bulldozer. There are nice, albeit all-too-brief, flourishes of acousticality tucked away on songs like "Breath" and "Here We Are," which add a much needed depth to the proceedings.

Meanwhile numbers like "You" create somewhat mesmerizing sonic scenarios thanks to piercing guitar and Burnley's plaintive wail/croon. This is offset by neo-ballads like "Evil Angel," which despite the title is a slightly warm lament overstuffed with emphatic emotion. The similarly doomsday titled "Until The End" begins with crushing guitars, bass, and drums, then quickly turns into melodic melodrama. The nihilistic titles continue with "Dance With The Devil," though the song isn't half as fiery as the name would suggest.

On the other hand, "Topless," which could easily have been a pole dance swagger, is all grit (at least as gritty as BB can muster) and blitz, mostly thanks to Fink, Szeliga, and Klepaski's turgid convergence. The steamroller blow-out at the end of the track is one of the few moments of true unbridled glory on the album. Ditto for the strange neo electronic scourge of "You Fight Me," which presents the band in a stripped down sound that works well with their accumulated parts. The album's closing number is an acoustic version of "The Diary of Jane," which presents the track in a stripped down version that still sounds somewhat generic, but also resonates with much more passion and intimacy than the original version.

It's easy to see why Breakin Benjamin has such a strong following. They've mastered the intersection of hard rock and emo-oriented introspection, thus creating a combination that appeals to the greater multitudes. Not a bad thing, but also not a terribly memorable or earth shattering one, either.

Link: http://music.ign.com/articles/729/729428p1.html

Breaking Benjamin

Formed in 1999 under the moniker "Plan 9," the band quickly garnered a local following before changing their name to "Breaking Benjamin" in late 2000 and signing to Hollywood Records, where they released their first major-label record, Saturate, in 2002. The record had clear influences and touches of Tool, KoЯn, and Nirvana. The first single "Polyamorous" received much radio airplay, and propelled the band to stardom. Ever since then Breaking Benjamin has released three albums; We Are Not Alone in 2004, Phobia in 2006 and Dear Agony in 2009. They have also released charting singles such as "So Cold", "Sooner Or Later", "The Diary of Jane", "Breath" & "I Will Not Bow" from their respective albums. (http://sputnikmusic.com/bands/Breaking-Benjamin/473/)