Ben Folds Five: Tickling more than just the ivories

Contrary to what a lot of people might think, the electric guitar is not an absolute element of a pop/rock band's instrumentation. For the past six years, the rhythm trio known as Ben Folds Five has been providing ample evidence for this theory, slowly breaking free from the vague domain of "alternative" music and finding that a few people actually like what they have to offer.

The group recently began a fall U.S. tour after playing a series of dates in Japan and Australia. For pianist/singer Folds, performing for crowds on the other side of the world can be as unpredictable as playing to the ones on his home turf.

"Every audience has a different personality, even if you go to the same town three times...The circumstances are different, and new people are there," he noted. "And their perception of you as a band; if you have a hit out, it's one thing, but if you don't, it's another thing." The group found itself in the former scenario after their 1997 single "Brick" slammed into the pop charts like a ton of them.

When Folds and company go on tour, he explained, the opening act is usually a close friend whose music they respect-hence the choice of Fleming and John, who will kick off tonight's Homecoming concert. Things took a different turn this year, though, due to the time BF5 spent on foreign tours and the desire to bring a wider audience to the U.S. shows. As a result, the San Francisco-based group Train ("Meet Virginia") was picked to play several support slots this fall.

Giving the nod to a relative newcomer makes sense both musically and professionally, in Folds' view. "There has to be radio coverage of your tour at some level, and a band that doesn't have a hit needs to be with a band that does. They're not playing for crowds of the same size...This particular thing is a business arrangement, although I think their music is really good. It's just that I've been out of the country so much, I haven't been around for their record, really. But they rock; they sound great and they're great guys."

Off the road, the three players have been keeping busy both within and beyond the context of the group. Last fall, Folds raised a few eyebrows by putting out a solo album, Fear of Pop, Vol. 1. Bassist Robert Sledge has scored music for independent films, while drummer Darren Jessee uses some of his time off to play solo and band gigs at venues such as CBGB in New York.

A full-fledged solo project from Jessee may materialize at some point, but the decision is ultimately up to him. "I'm all for as many musical outlets as you think you need," Folds stated. "A lot of people maybe wouldn't want him to go out and do these things, but I would take off six months to see him find success at what he's doing...I think it makes him happy, it makes him a better musician."

The extent of the performers' outside work may bring up comparisons to the Fugees. After making a splash with The Score in 1996, the hip-hop trio's members began to pursue individual recording projects and have yet to put out another album as a group. Could the process repeat itself here?

Folds answered, "If it happens, it's just because that's the way it's supposed to happen. If Darren made a record and it was huge, great. If it takes two or three years while I'm doing something else, that's just the way the cards fall...I'm not totally into the path of least resistance, but I do think there comes a point where you just follow the right option."

He pointed to the success of Fugees frontwoman Lauryn Hill's 1998 solo album as an example of letting the right course of action present itself. (The disc won five Grammy Awards this past winter). "If I'd been in her band when she made that record, I would have been really happy for her. Everyone's competitive and they want to be a part of what's working, but if Darren or Robert or I do something that's successful, the other two are going to have to swallow it to a certain extent. But f- it. That's fine. We're all into it."

The most recent group effort is the 1999 album The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner. As a whole, these songs present a more structured and theatrical feel than BF5's two other studio discs, Ben Folds Five (1995) and Whatever and Ever Amen (1997). Folds commented on the shift away from the jolting energy of past singles.

"It's just the color of the album...You could assemble songs from the first and second ones that, put together, would sound like Reinhold. 'Selfless, Cold and Composed,' 'Brick'-those could have been on there. There's a lot of songs on Whatever that would have blended perfectly on Reinhold."

Two key components of the album's tone are the string parts, arranged by longtime friend John Mark Painter (the latter half of Fleming and John), and the horn section, anchored by saxophonists Ken Mosher and Tom Maxwell of the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Folds said that he had no trouble getting the pair into the studio, since they all live in the same city (Chapel Hill, N.C.) and are good friends. "Anytime they walk in, they're welcome to play on a record!" he joked.

Concerning the evolution of the string parts, Folds commented, "We would know that we were leaving really nice gaps for specific string arrangements that were being written into some songs, and they're much more economical. There's a lot more string notes in, say, 'Selfless, Cold and Composed' on Whatever...than there is in any song on Reinhold. The difference is that now there's a big space, a big opening for them to come through."

While the songs benefit from the added parts, he asserted, they can still stand on their own-with one big exception: "The flügelhorn part on 'Plans' ["Don't Change Your Plans," Reinhold's second single]. I wrote that as part of the song, and I can't stand to hear it without that...The rest of it is really not all that necessary; it's just fun."

During and after the making of the album, the threesome got a sobering lesson in the reality of the music industry. "There's a lot of pressure within the business to sell and to have radio play. I definitely felt that on this record, and I realized that had the band made decisions that put us in more of a pop music direction, we would have had a more comfortable year," Folds mused. "But I wouldn't do it any differently if I had it to do over again."

Reviews of Reinhold tended to be left-handed compliments, he continued; the critics were skeptical of the direction the album had taken, but gave BF5 credit for the effort. The band has learned to take such publicity in stride, mainly because, as Folds said, "We don't make lists." He was quick to explain what he meant.

"Every time I pick up one of those f-in' corporate-ass [music] magazines, the first thing I see is some kind of list. You know, like '100 Bands on College Radio You Should Listen To.' And we're never in those...There's others like that too; I think Cake is like that. They're friends of ours, and I think they fall into that category somehow."

BF5 recently shared the stage with Cake and Primus, two bands he regards as good, but stuck on the fringes of the mainstream. He speculated that the difference between getting on "the list" and being snubbed could be a social matter. "It's personality, maybe. Truth be known, Les Claypool [of Primus], myself, and John McCrea [of Cake], we're probably all just hermits." If nothing else, though, the three frontmen are hermits who each have their own strong ideas of what music should sound like.

Plans for the immediate future deal mainly with gaining wider attention for Reinhold and getting ready for the next studio effort. It took only a moment for Folds to lay out his plans for it. "I'm into making a fun record for the next one...I had a lot of things to say, and I said them on this record, and right now I just kind of feel like playing music."

The Homecoming concert is a chance for him to do exactly that-and to perform shameless acts on the keys of a baby grand piano. Steinway would either be proud or have a heart attack.

Ben Folds Five will be performing tonight at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, with Fleming and John opening. Showtime is 8 p.m. Call 894-9600 or stop by the Student Center Box Office to pick up tickets-or you can stand outside in the parking lot waving a cardboard sign. You never know what Mr. Scalper might have for you.