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Incubus bassist Kenney brings solo act to Q-C

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By David Burke | Wednesday, May 7, 2008 2:01 PM CDT | () comments

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Don’t call Ben Kenney’s solo effort, which comes to the River Music Experience’s Redstone Room on Friday night, a side project.

“I honestly don’t look at stuff as side projects or main projects or whatever,” Kenney said from the road, where he’s in the middle of a nine-city Midwest tour. “Everything that I do, I try to do as good as I can, and whatever I’m doing at the time, I try to focus on and do it right.

“It’s all important to me.”

The bass player for the alt-rockers Incubus, formerly a guitarist with the hip-hop band The Roots, Kenney released his third solo album, “Distance and Comfort,” earlier this year.

The Los Angeles native said his solo music comes from a different perspective.

“It’s me playing all the instruments in the studio and I’m doing all the writing and engineering, so it ends up being my vision and my vision alone, whereas each band is a collective, five guys coming together and trying to work together.”

There are pros and cons to both situations, he said.

“There’s less need for communication in a solo project,” he added. “I don’t have to tell the band members what I’m thinking.”

“Pros and cons, honestly, it’s just a different thing when you’re working together with people — learning to enhance their strengths and work with their weaknesses. And they do the same thing for you, bring you up to their level.”

He does miss the collaborative work on a group project, he said.

“It can be a little more taxing when you don’t have people to bounce things off of.”

DJ Kilmore from Incubus will be on the same bill.

Kenney, 31, will appear on stage Friday night with a drummer and a bass player.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “We get up there and do what we’re doing and start letting go.

“It’s not so much a recital as a performance.”

Kenney will return to Incubus later this summer, with some overseas festival dates lined up as well as shows in the United States with Rage Against the Machine and Metallica.

He said it is difficult to compare the sound of his solo work to his group efforts.

“It’s hard to answer that without sounding pretentious,” he said. “It’s a different group of guys, really. ... The guys in this band have different backgrounds and make different choices than Incubus.”

David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.