Ben Folds Five Reunites; New Album Out Sept 18

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Ben Folds Five, the groundbreaking pop trio who changed the course of indie rock in the mid-1990s, is releasing The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind, the group’s first album of new music in 13 years. The music’s genesis took place via a successful grassroots direct-to-fans campaign on PledgeMusic, where artists and fans work together with charities to create albums and other projects.

The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind will be released worldwide on ImaVeePee Records/Sony Music Entertainment on September 18.  Fans who’ve participated in the PledgeMusic campaign will receive an exclusive early delivery of the album.

The new Ben Folds Five tracks premiering on The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind include: “Erase Me”; “Michael Praytor, Five Years Later”; “Sky High”; “The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind”; “On Being Frank”; “Draw A Crowd”; “Do It Anyway”; “Hold That Thought”; “Away When You Were Here”; and “Thank You For Breaking My Heart”.

A portion of the funds generated by album sales, and other BFF items ordered by fans throughPledgeMusic, will be used to support Music Education and Music Therapy, a charity personally chosen by Ben Folds Five. PledgeMusic builds a charitable component into each of the campaigns running under its auspices.

Ben Folds Five–Ben Folds (piano), Robert Sledge (bass) and Darren Jessee (drums)–launched in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1994. The trio’s high energy gigs garnering an intensely loyal fanbase, BFF signed first with an indie before a move to the majors wrought 1997’s watershedWhatever And Ever Amen. A slice of pure pop perfection, the album introduced the ballad “Brick,” broke the band commercially and sold more than two million copies worldwide. BFF recorded its last album, 1999’s The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner, which included the single “Army,” before disbanding in 2000. (The trio reunited for a one-off live performance of The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner on MySpace in 2008).

In 2011, the original three members of Ben Folds Five came together to record three new studio tracks for The Best Imitation Of Myself: A Retrospective, a career-spanning Ben Folds anthology. The band’s magic rekindled in the new tracks, BFF gave its first concert in more than a decade to a spellbound audience at New York’s Mountain Jam Festival on June 2, 2012. In the wake of the group’s triumphal return at Mountain Jam, the group performed a short run of key US summer festival dates including Bonnaroo, Milwaukee Summerfest and Old St. Patrick’s Church Block Party in Chicago.

BFF will return to the road this fall with a major North American tour, including a gig at New York’s Central Park on September 14, with dates in the UK, Ireland and Australia to follow.  More dates in the Ben Folds Five 2012-2013 tour itinerary TBA.

 

September 13       Holyoke, MA                            Mountain Park Amphitheatre

September 14       New York, NY                          Central Park Rumsey Playground

September 16       Cary, NC                                    Koka Booth Amphitheatre

September 18       Atlanta, GA                               Tabernacle

September 19       North Charleston, SC                 North Charleston Performing Arts Center

September 21       Pensacola Beach, FL                 DeLuna Fest

September 23       Dallas, TX                                 Palladium Ballroom

September 24       Austin, TX                                  Stubbs Waller Creek Amphitheatre

September 25       Houston, TX                               Bayou Music Center

September 28       Kansas City, MO                        Starlight

October 2            Detroit, MI                                   The Fillmore Detroit

October 5            Buffalo, NY                                  Kleinhas

November 10       Melbourne, Australia                 Harvest Festival – Werribee Park

November 17       Sydney, Australia                       Harvest Festival – Parramatta Park

November 18        Brisbane, Australia                    Harvest Festival – Botanic Gardens

November 23        Bristol, England                         O2 Academy

November 24        Nottingham, England                 Rock City

November 26         Dublin, Ireland                          Vicar Street

November 29         Manchester, England                 O2 Apollo

November 30         Glasgow, Scotland                     O2 Academy

December 1            Leeds, England                          O2 Academy

December 3            Birmingham, England                O2 Academy

December 4            London, England                        O2 Academy Brixton

December 5            London, England                        O2 Academy Brixton

For ticket information on all shows, please visit http://tix.concertmaps.com/benfolds/

For more tour information, please visit www.BenFoldsFive.com