BREAKING BENJAMIN's BENJAMIN BURNLEY: 'We Don't Wanna Be Rushed' Into Releasing New Album

In a new interview with Pablo of the Minneapolis, Minnesota radio station 93X, BREAKING BENJAMIN founder/frontman Benjamin Burnley spoke about the fans' reception to the band's recently released new single "Awaken". He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Everybody's been super cool about it. And we're really stoked about it. I'm the kind of guy where I try to — I wouldn't say I'm detached, but I try not to pay too much attention just because I don't want to face any failures. So I just kind of let it go and let it do its thing. And from what I'm hearing, it's going well, and, man, we're just over the moon about it. Everything that we do, we just do the best that we can, and that's all we can do. And we feel like we didn't have anything more we could have possibly done with this song. And so, yeah, if nothing else, it was absolutely our best effort."

Asked if he is one of those people who are working on new music all the time, Burnley said: "Yeah, for sure. Like if something comes into my mind, man, I grab my phone. Back before phones, I used to have all these Mead notepads and an actual little silver mini cassette recorder. So that was always my way, even before smartphones. So now it's a smartphone. But, yeah, I'm always recording little ideas and little tiny pieces here and there and stuff like that. But I was just saying before in another interview that I feel like for me personally, COVID wasn't really an inspiring time for me. I just wasn't feeling right at all at that time. Nothing was coming. Nothing was happening. I think you need moving parts, moving life for stuff. So, it does seem like a long time, but I think that's why — I mean, you've gotta subtract those years out of it. And if you do that, then it's about around the same time of how long in between our releases are. So, to me, I feel like we're on track. We might be a little bit behind, but we're not as far behind as people think, because for me personally, you've gotta subtract the COVID years, because there was absolutely nothing going on in that time. So, yeah, we always take our time with stuff just to make sure that it's right. We don't wanna be rushed. Every now and then we get messages from fans saying about how they like that our albums from front to back are always pretty consistent. And that's a thing that I actually like personally, just to have it so that every song gets the same amount of love and nothing's just thrown in there to be complete and everything has a purpose and a place, stuff like that. So that takes time, because we could probably bang out an album by tomorrow if people wanted us to, but it wouldn't be [as good as it can be]."

Regarding how much experimentation goes into the BREAKING BENJAMIN songwriting process, Burnley said: "Well, we'll push any boundary within the right means. You have two different kinds of listeners — you have people that will complain because you sound the same, and then you'll have people that love you because you sound the same. There's no way to have both. There's no way, 'cause if you sound the same, you're not gonna cater to the people that want you to sound different. If you sound different, you're not gonna cater to the ones that [want you to sound the same]. So we don't necessarily purposefully go one of those ways or the other. We just write the way that we write. I have a sound that that's just the way I sound. It's like asking a seagull to sound like a crow. So that might have a thing to some people that we don't change our sound, but to us on the inside, we certainly do. I mean, we are always using new amps, new strings, new guitars, new methods We're always doing that kind of stuff. 'Awaken', for example, does follow a certain structure, but not all the songs on that album are going to. And not all the songs on the album are not going to. So on the album, there'll be a little bit of literally everything, like a lot of different time signatures, a lot of different arrangements and stuff like that. And 'Awaken' is just one of those songs."

As for a possible release date for the next BREAKING BENJAMIN album, Burnley said: "Yeah, as far as releases and stuff go, I don't really have anything to do with when things are released or — I don't even pick our singles, honestly. I just do my best and let somebody else take responsibility. The less responsibility, the better. Yeah, so we have the bones. We're still working on it, we're still putting it together, but all the bones are there, which is the most important part. The hardest part's done. So now it's a part of just fleshing it out, which is actually a fun part. So we're busy doing that in all of our downtime. I also admittedly am not the kind of musician that I can like do anything on the road, but be on the road. I don't work on stuff on the road. I wish I could, but I don't. My brain is shut off to writing lyrics or writing parts when I'm on tour."

During a recent appearance on "Whiplash", the KLOS radio show hosted by Full Metal Jackie, Burnley was asked about the musical and thematic inspiration for the band's upcoming long-awaited follow-up to 2018's "Ember" album. He responded: "Yeah, it's been the longest we've ever gone without putting out an album, but the strange thing is, I don't know if it's 'cause of the pandemic or not, but it doesn't seem like it's been that long, to me anyway, but it has been a long time. I think that a lot of that is just that we have, with every album that comes out, there's just another whole album's worth of stuff. We have a lot of songs in our catalog, so it's kind of like it gets to the point of, like, we're not gonna add any more to this just to add more to it. We need to keep true to what this catalog… When I am gone off the earth, and that's all that's left of me behind, is my offspring and music is what I've left behind, I want it to be really solid."

He continued: "I really wish I could tell you what inspires me because if I knew that, I would like really try to break it down and invoke it whenever I wanted to, control it, but I don't know. It's just compulsion, to be inspired. It's just, like, 'Oh, I have this idea,' I have no idea where it came from, but I have this idea. I pull out my phone and then I record it and then I go back and I listen to it and I keep stacking and stacking and stacking on to it until it's something. And that's just kind of how I work. Before I would just grab my phone. I used to have all these little Mead notepads — you know those little ones, little mini ones, little Mead notepads. I have like a hundred of those — probably more — I used to have them in every single pocket of my jacket and my pants and a little silver mini cassette tape recorder thing. So this is before the smartphone. I don't do that anymore; I use my phone. So it's always been that process, to me, to just have something handy, something I could… I haven't written in a really long time, I mean with a pen, like wrote something down. I can't even remember the last time I wrote something down with a pen. So I use my phone and just tap it in there when it hits me, when it comes to me. It could be at the most weirdest time, most awkward time. I'll be talking to somebody and then I'll just stop and be, like, 'Sorry, I don't mean to be rude.' And I'll go in the bathroom and I'll record a little hum into the phone, and they hear me humming. They're, like, 'What the hell is up with this guy?' If I don't get it, I'm scared it'll be gone."

Regarding how spending so much time on road informs the songwriting process for new BREAKING BENJAMIN music, Benjamin said: "Well, with these guys in particular, with this lineup, the way that we write music is really natural together. Nothing is forced. There's never been — which is really weird, now that I'm thinking about it — there's never been a time when anybody has ever had to fight for an idea or push an idea or whatever. We kind of seem to think that they the same things suck, which is really important. You can like the same things, but it's more important to know what the same things that are bad are. And so I think touring — we get together, we have like a chemistry together not just as musicians but as friends and brothers. And when we're together playing, it definitely makes us more excited and motivated to record and make new music together than being apart and not playing together. So that aspect. But as far as where the creative stuff comes from, I've been doing this — thank God, and I'm very thankful for it — but I've been doing this for 22 years now, and I still, to this day, I can't tell anyone like where the songs like come from. Honestly, it's like a compulsion. Like when you're addicted to nicotine and you're like compelled to take a puff of a cigarette — it's like that. It's not like a plan. It's, like, 'I need to do this right now' thing."

He continued: "I'm very logically minded, kind of annoyingly so, actually. People find it annoying how logically minded I am. When I break things down, they're, like, 'Just go with it. You don't need to analyze everything' or whatever. But logically wise, I really wish I knew what influenced songwriting, what influenced it to happen, because then I would break that down logically and try to evoke it whenever I wanted to. I just can't, because I don't know where that compulsion comes from. So, to answer your question in the long way around, of course, I think just physically being together and playing music together sparks us to be… 'Cause when we're at home, we don't eat, sleep and breathe music. I'm a dad, most of us are dads, and so we're doing that — we're doing that stuff, the same thing that everybody else does. You kind of forget that you're a musician. You kind of forget that you're in a band. Sometimes I'll go into like a bar to get chicken wings, not to drink, mind you, but to get chicken wings, and somebody will start talking to me and I'm, like, 'Why are you talking [to me]?' And I'm, like, 'Oh, yeah, that thing,' because I'm living normal life, taking my kid to school. So being out on tour and being together as a band, it just reminds us all that we're in a band. [Laughs]"

BREAKING BENJAMIN's first new music since 2018 is being made available via the band's new global recordings agreement with BMG. The partnership with BMG also marks the group's first new label home since releasing their debut album over 20 years ago.

BREAKING BENJAMIN guitarist Jasen Rauch said about "Awaken": "Working on this song has been something new and exciting for all of us, I believe. We've been able to explore more of who we are traditionally while at the same time push boundaries and try things we haven't done in the past. Musically we've tried hard to stay true to what BREAKING BENJAMIN is, but offer a new take as well."

BREAKING BENJAMIN have consistently dominated the rock charts since their debut album in 2002, "Saturate". With 10 No. 1 hits, platinum albums, 8.5 billion streams globally, and a social following of over 6.5 million, they've solidified their global influence and a strong devoted fan base. Their last release, "Aurora", earned them their tenth No. 1 rock radio hit with "Far Away" (featuring Scooter Ward).

Their previous album, "Ember", debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, marking their fourth Top 5 debut. Their track record includes No. 1 hits like "Red Cold River" and "Torn In Two". Both "Aurora" and "Ember" achieved Top 10 status in multiple countries, and No. 1 spots across various charts, including Billboard's Top Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums, Top Hard Rock Albums and Top Digital Albums.

In a statement, the band said: "Working on these new songs has been a fresh experience for all of us. We've stayed true to the core of who BREAKING BENJAMIN is, but we've also pushed ourselves creatively, exploring new sounds and ideas that we haven't tapped into before. It's been about striking that balance between honoring our roots while introducing a fresh take on what our music can be."

Over the course of the group's career, BREAKING BENJAMIN have earned three platinum albums, two gold albums, one four-times-platinum single, one three-times-platinum single, one two-times-platinum single, three platinum singles, and six gold singles, making them one of rock music's most highly anticipated torch bearers of new music.