Donny Benet Is Mr. Experience
I would argue that Donny Benet is one of Australia’s most interesting, and most inexplicable idols.
The degree to which he leans into his aesthetic is unprecedented. Everyone has a bit, a look, a style, but few if not absolutely none are as committed to authentic tenacity and character as Donny Benet has been. He is one of a kind. Mr. Experience.
His persona aside, Donny Benet creates genuinely and impressively interesting dance, R&B, and disco music. His tracks are heartfelt, earnest foot steppers, easily adapted to the night out, and leave nothing untouched. On tracks like ‘Konichiwa’ and ‘Santorini’, Donny Benet’s uptempo embellishments are difficult for four-on-the-floor junkies to resist - melodies packed with sensuality and hummable appeal, garnished with saxophone solos that work within the tracks and seal the deal on the sincere, undeniable charm of each.
All in, the melodies are interesting, the parts are hard to play, and the tempos bring one out of one’s seat. We caught Donny backstage as he prepared to play a packed house at Irving Plaza in Manhattan, New York City this past weekend.
How long have you been playing music?
37 years. 35 years?
Jesus holy shit!
I think 37 years.
What was your first instrument?
Piano.
Why?
Why? I don’t know, it’s just what I started on.
Did your parents make that decision for you?
It’s a good place for someone to start making music, and my parents were both music teachers, so music was always around the house. Singing and music are the best places to start.
How old were you?
5.
How’s that gone since then?
Yeah, good. I don’t know any different.
What is your favorite thing to play?
Probably bass. That’s what I studied on when I did a masters at University.
You have a Masters Degree in bass guitar?
Nah, double bass.
That is absolutely insane, but it makes sense. There is a lot of complexity in your composition but it is applied to this very danceable sort of music. Why aren’t you making concertos?
I had my fair share of art music when I was a freelance musician, and that’s cool. This is sort of a happy accident. On this last record, the piano thing I did was really fun and I’ll definitely do more of that instrumental music. This music - it’s good to play in front of an audience. I used to be a jazz musician which was cool but we’d play to very small audiences that weren’t my age.
Are you drawn to the demographic or style of this music?
I think I just like being a bass player, and the bass heavy music of late-’70s/early-’80s funk and R&B is fun to play. When bass is your favourite instrument, you get drawn to that.
What’s the last bit of music that you were really into?
I’m not sure. I went through a big Serge Gainsbourg phase during Covid. What I listen to regularly like when I go jogging is this ‘70s Italian Pop group… I can’t quite remember what it’s called.
Like Italo-Disco?
No, no, more like acoustic guitars. I can’t find it right now. Basically heaps of Italian shit. Oddly not a lot of classical music, I don’t know why. There’s never enough time to hear everything you want to.
Do you find that your music is influenced by whatever phase of recreational music obsession you’re experiencing?
Some of them, sure. I like to try crossing very subtle lines. I can tell in certain areas of an album of mine, what I was really into production wise at the time, whether it’s the sound of a guitar or technique or whatever. If you’re quite an astute listener, you’ll catch a lot of details in my music. Especially in America. The first time I came to America, I was in Austin, and they were playing James Brown on the bus. You guys are exposed to so much great music and have such a musical history. People will come up and be like, ‘I like how you referenced that’, and I’m like, ‘cool!’
Your whole attitude toward music, your persona, your look - it’s all very referential. Can you talk a bit about that?
It happened sort of by accident. I like humor, but I definitely don’t make joke music. An Australian radio station emailed me asking if I could talk about a Weird Al Yankovic and I just didn’t answer because they clearly didn’t get it.
“I like humor, but I definitely don’t make joke music.”
Has this always been so fully formed?
No, when I first started I was more shoegazy. A lot of really beautiful guys up on stage playing and I thought it’d be very abrasive to have this balding, middle-aged - well I was 30, but I was balding. Wasn’t that tubby then, either. Anyway, I thought it’d be really abrasive and sort of avant garde to have this balding, middle-aged guy up on stage. People didn’t know how to take it, which was good, I kind of liked that. At the time I was really into Alan Vega, Suicide - just really abrasive, kind of punk stuff. So I took that and mixed it with R&B. Alan Vega being produced by Nile Rodgers.
What about your look?
I was just watching a lot of Italo-Disco clips. I got all of my fashion from there. I’m half Italian, and the Italians in Australia are culturally sort of stuck in the 1950s.
Like they saw The Godfather and think it’s what being Italian is?
Maybe. When I was a kid going to Italian weddings, there would be the house band and they’re all into fusion, the singer was quite flamboyant. I was channeling all of that. I came from being a very serious, high art jazz musician and this was the most avant garde thing I could do. Throwing away a really established career as a double bassist- well not throwing away, just moving on.
That is incredibly punk rock.
Which is weird because I hate punk music. I think I just like the idea of it all. At the time I was really into Alan Vega, but then I was really inspired by people like Ariel Pink and John Maus. Sounds a bit shit but it’s actually really good. It’s easy to write a pastiche ‘80s album, it’s easy to do a soul record, you kind of just go about making your thing sound like all the stuff before it. If you do that and have it combine - soul music meets punk rock, that’s really exciting to me. I always try to write music that I find interesting. I liked John Maus because I thought what he was doing was really interesting and risky, because the stuff coming out at the time was more like pretty guys singing in falsetto and pouring out their emotions. It’s cool, but not for me.
How’s this going? You’re playing Irving Plaza, so pretty good?
Yeah, it’s weird. The better it gets, the harder it gets. I thought it’d be the other way around. The days when I had ten people coming to shows were so fun. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to play to any crowd, but there’s so much more involved in it now, and I do most of it just myself. I do all the writing and recording, and I could have people come play on the records but I kind of like doing it myself. I quite like Prince, and he played everything himself.
Oh, man. I wrote Prince fan mail for years before he passed.
Oh, yeah, love Prince. I’m not saying I’m Prince, I just like the style.
A similar audience, as well, I imagine.
It’s tricky, I do better at shows here [the USA] than I do in Australia. I do my own shows in Australia and it’s fine, but I definitely do better out here and in Europe. It’s like the Alex Cameron phenomenon. He does well in Australia, but much better around the world. That’s a bit of an Australian thing - you have to be accepted around the world before you’re accepted elsewhere.
Do you think that’s a cultural thing? Are Australians a bit more abrasive in their musical choices?
I think people like something if it’s good, but Australia is a very small place so there are limited opportunities for things to happen.
Is it not a continent? Quite large?
It’s big in size but in population it’s tiny. Everyone - Australians included - says that Australians are uncultured. It’s getting better now. The thing about Australians is that we’re so isolated, we come up with our own shit. Like when King Gizzard came out, they were an eight piece or a ten piece? I think two drummers? And people saw them and thought it was really cool and interesting. Australian jazz musicians are pretty cool, too. When it comes to improvising and being creative, we have a bit of an edge because we have had to figure shit out ourselves. There is a whole pub rock thing there, it’s a good vibe.
Do you feel any pressure because you come from a small place that you need to represent or produce something very original?
Not really, I just produce music that I want to perform and listen to. If you break it down that way, it’s simple. If you make music because other people are into it at the moment, you’re already behind the eight ball. That’s advice that I always give, just make music that you want to make. If no one likes it, that’s fine, so long as you like it. If someone else likes it, even better.
Fall in love, here.