Remembering Benjamin Curtis – Musician, Producer, Engineer, Inspiration

The longer you’re a music fan, the more you realize that bands – like stars and galaxies – have lifecycles.

Benjamin Curtis performing at The Bowery Ballroom in 2009. Photo by Tammy Lo.

I was reminded of that fact all over again when I heard the sad news that the musical innovator Benjamin Curtis passed away earlier this week at age 35, due to T-cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma.

Although I had heard Curtis’ work many times, playing drums with Tripping Daisy and then as a guitarist for Secret Machines, the first time I became aware of his name was when I heard School of Seven Bells‘ 2008 debut album Alpinisms. Instantly riveted by this entrancingly psychological rock, I picked up the liner notes and saw he was a cofounder of the band, along with twin sisters Claudia and Alejandra Deheza.

As a contributor to (the now defunct) Remix magazine, I insisted to my editors that we cover this album and the band behind it, which sounded like absolutely nothing that I’d ever heard before. The record label set up a phone interview, and within a couple of weeks I was chatting with Curtis about how SVIIB made their music, and why it was so different.

I’ve done hundreds – if not thousands – of interviews before and since, but my convo with Curtis that day is one I’ll always remember. His enthusiasm for music, his energetic quest to find new ways to make it, and the easy openness with which he shared tips and tricks were electrifying. I got off the phone inspired to share his insights with my readers, and equally psyched to try some of his techniques in my own productions.

For example, making the final vocal track one of the first steps in the songs’ creation – thereby allowing for the rest of the arrangement to be built around this most vital component – was a simply logical takeaway that excited me to no end. His adventurousness in putting guitars, keyboards, and even drums through exotic pedal combinations, gave another jolt to my own workflow.

Talking to Benjamin Curtis about music production and engineering helped to keep your focus on what mattered most: staying creative.

Unscripted Changes

School of Seven Bells had such a fascinating sound and such an intriguing lineup that it never occurred to me that the band would do anything but keep moving forward, keep innovating.

When their second album, Disconnect from Desire, was released in 2010 I made sure to interview Curtis again. Once more, it was a conversation that stood out for me, as Curtis explained the group’s evolution while he occupied a bench in Brooklyn’s McCarren Park. I made him promise me that we would do an interview for every School of Seven Bells album that ever came out, and he agreed enthusiastically.

So I was as shocked as anyone to learn that Claudia left the band while on tour, soon after that record came out. With its family makeup, this was one group that was never supposed to ebb, only flow.

I wondered if SVIIB could continue on while missing one of its three founding members, but the answer came soon enough when I learned that Curtis and Alejandra were back in the studio tracking another album. I got my wish for an unbroken streak of interviews, and was able to have my third talk with him in February, 2012, just prior to the release of SVIIB record #3, Ghostory.

Naturally, that record had a different recording workflow. And while Disconnect from Desire had been mixed by Jack Joseph Puig, this time Benjamin went hands-on with that phase, mixing the record in a SoHo space alongside his brother Brandon.

The permanence of his work had become particularly important to Curtis at that time. While he had also had past records mastered to vinyl, taking that step for Ghostory apparently felt extra-important. “I just like the fact that it’s a physical object that is trapped in time,” he told me then. “It’s going to be here forever. If a solar storm wipes out everything digital, this record will not disappear.”

Long Playing

When Curtis’ cancer diagnosis was made public in February of 2013, it was another – and most unwelcome – reality check.

Everyone who knew Curtis was concerned, but probably the vast majority of his friends and fans were convinced he’d pull through. It seemed impossible that such a youthful creative force could be cut down by disease, especially one that he assured his public was highly treatable. His positive messages on Facebook only added to our collective optimism.

But all bands have lifecycles. Sometimes they close out due to creative differences, or personality clashes, or financial wrangling. And sometimes those cycles must end along with the lives of its members. When Ben Curtis finally succumbed to his battle with cancer on December 29, it marked the untimely finish of a pioneering musical force.

Perhaps School of Seven Bells will somehow continue, but if it does undoubtedly its sound will never be the same. Fortunately for all of us who knew Benjamin Curtis, or simply heard the amazing things that he could do, that work really will live on. His record will not disappear.

— David Weiss

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