Sevenstring.org Interview: Ben Carroll of Ra

Chris: Thanks for taking the time to meet up with me bro. I realize these impromptu interviews are a pain in the ass. [opens a beer] So give us the story of how you joined Ra.
Ben Carroll: Yeah, they're brutal. [laughs] I joined Ra in Dec2001/Jan2002, after 3-4 months of searching for a band that had a vocalist that could actually sing. My first real band (Absence of Faith) had just broken up. I actually found an ad [Ra vocalist] Sahaj had posted on the internet. We got in touch and set up an audition, at that time the band was based out of NYC/NJ and I was living in Massachusetts. I got the gig and moved to NJ, sleeping on Sahaj's couch sometimes, but mostly in the rehearsal studio with lots of bugs.

777: I remember catching you guys in NYC at the Hard Rock at one of your first shows with the band. You seemed to "break" more as a Mass band than an NYC band though.
BC: After a couple of months of playing in the NJ, NY, PA area, and struggling to stay showered, I persuaded the band to come up and play my old stomping ground in MA. The first show we played in MA was the NEMO music industry showcase, to a whopping 5 people if you count the bartenders. But at that show was a friend of the program director at Boston Radio Station WAAF. That friend of the program director just happened to be the vocalist for my old band AOF James Garrity (who now works with our management co. Andon Artists.) He was blown away, so I gave him a CD to bring to Carrie (WAAF) to see if she was interested, and she loved it! Carrie pulled a favor with producer extraordinaire Toby Wright, had him remix "Do You Call My Name" for the radio and started testing the song to see if it got a reaction. The phones lit up!


777: I'll bet! The song is outstanding, I remember hearing it for the first time on the radio and thinking "This is going to be big.".
BC: Tons of people called in to find out who the band was, so the single got added to regular rotation, and soon became the #1 requested song for weeks on end at WAAF. During this time I was running the quasi-street team trying to keep people at requesting the song. I ran up a 700$ phone bill that month - to all you people in up and coming bands out there, Street Teams are gold!

777:And once you got the airplay up here, Universal took notice.
BC: We started playing in the MA/NH area regularly to crowds that were growing significantly and went from playing to 5 people to playing to 1000 in just a couple months. We put together the EP "One" to release in the MA/NH record store chain Newbury Comics. At first they ordered 5 CD's I think. Those sold out in seconds. Another order was placed for maybe 10x that, and those sold out in a day. Then they placed an order for 300 CD's, cancelled that order and put in an order for 1000 CD's, cancelled that order and put in an order for 10,000 CD'S!!! In an industry that is run wholly on numbers, this turned some heads and we started getting some offers. Soon after we signed a deal with Universal/Republic Records around July of 2002.

777: And then the recording began.
BC: Yeah. They sent us directly in the studio (Sound on Sound, Manhattan, NYC) and we recorded mixed and mastered From One in 30 days! 30 days of total insanity. To make a long story short, after the album was released we hit the road and toured for a year, playing with bands I'd been listening to for years as well as a lot of other up and coming bands like: Korn, Godsmack, Sevendust, Disturbed, Stained, 3 Doors Down, Trapt, Shinedown, Evanescence, Seether, Breaking Benjamin, Stone Sour, and tons of other bands, we even did a show with Def Leppard!


777:What's your basic live and recording rig?
BC:Live, I use ESP Guitars, many makes and models. I have somewhere upwards of 12 ESP's, 6 & 7 strings. I also have an Ibanez Universe, an Ibanez S-series custom, and Ibanez RG 7 string that I never play anymore since I've been endorsed by ESP. I run through Mesa Dual Rectifier heads, Mesa Cabs, with a Boss GT-6 for effects. This was for the last tour, hopefully I'll be upgrading for the next tour.

In the studio I'm using ESP Stephen Carpenter 7 string and assorted other ESP's, as well as some Gibson Les Paul's, (always the producers favorite). Always layering guitar tracks with different guitar/amp combos to get thick tones. For amps, Mesa heads and cabs, Marshall heads and cabs, Roland JC 120, Peavy and Fender combo amps [laughs] some other stuff. As far as effects, basically whatever. I play with a lot of shit to try and find cool sounds.

777: You're endorsed by ESP now. How's that working out?
BC: Getting endorsed by ESP was probably the coolest moment in my life. ESP has been absolutely wonderful to me. I remember the day my 1st shipment of guitars came, I think I got 4 guitars that day it was better than every Christmas I ever had all rolled into one! Since then I've been to the factory in CA a few times and have grabbed a few more guitars. We make it a point to stop in every time we are in town.


777: How's the sevenstring work into it all?
BC:I've been playing 7 string guitars for 12-13years, since I was 15 and I first heard Steve Vai's "Passion and Warfare." My first was an Ibanez Universe which I still have today. The reason I've stuck to 7 strings is because, well for one they are really freekin cool, but also because of the dynamic range you get with a 7 string. A lot of modern bands today use 6 string tuned down, but the problem with that is you lose a lot of dynamic expression. A lot of the stuff I do with Ra requires having that higher range for solo's or ethereal effect sounds, while at the same time I need the lower range to get great heavy rhythm tones. We use super heavy tuned down rhythm guitars layered with lots of higher melody guitar parts or atmosphere guitar parts. We could not do what we do without seven string guitars.

777:Can't say I blame you. So what's going on now?
BC: Now we are coming to the tail end of recording our second album "Duality" which is now 10 months in the works, a far cry from the 30 days of From One. In the past 10 months we've recorded close to 30 songs and the best of those will make the album. Once we pick the lead single (maybe "Tell Me") we'll get a radio release date and start the insanity all over again.

777: Killer. Good luck with the new album. I can't wait to see you back on the road!
BC: Thanks. Can't wait to be back out!