Off-stage, he’s all smiles. On-stage, he’s a maniac. Multi-instrumentalist Ben Herrington is one of the local scene’s most prized possessions.
In the late afternoon outside Garden District Coffee, Ben Herrington is sipping hot tea. In between questions, he’s deliberate, pacing his answers with a steady nod then finally giving way to what’s going on in his head.
This isn’t the young man Baton Rouge is used to seeing.
No, to many who have seen the pianist/trombonist/accordionist, he is a wild man, going from instrument to instrument—sometimes within the same song—with bands such as Minos the Saint.
“He has an engineer’s approach to the day-to-day; then he’s a lunatic on stage,” says Peter Simon, lead singer/guitarist of Minos the Saint. “It’s like playing music is his drug.”
Herrington’s interest in music started at a young age. At 4 years old, music chose him, he says, and he doesn’t know why.
“My parents weren’t musicians at all,” he says. “They enjoyed listening to it, sure. I just remember the thing that grabbed me as a 4-year-old was Huey Lewis and the News. Particularly, the song ‘Hip to be Square.’ I was a total fan. I wanted to be Huey Lewis.”
From that moment on, Herrington was hooked on music. He started playing piano by the time he was 5. He moved on from Lewis to Elton John, Billy Joel and The Beatles’ Abbey Road. In fifth grade, he started playing the trombone out of what he calls “youthful naïveté.” In high school at Parkview Baptist, he excelled in the trombone, then got a scholarship to LSU for that instrument.
In college, he played in as many college ensembles as he could and honed his piano playing, studying jazz under professor Willis Delony.
“When I got to college, I didn’t have much experience with jazz,” Herrington says. “[Playing jazz] opened up a new world of arrangement. It opened up my mind.”
A fan of the alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, Herrington noticed the prevalence of the accordion in the band’s sound. He bought one off eBay, adding another instrument to his repertoire.
He says he’s still learning the accordion, but one would never notice it while he’s on stage. He even admits that he gets a few gigs playing solo German and Italian-style music with his accordion.
Jazz, alternative rock, piano, trombone—once he got to college he never wanted to focus on one instrument or genre, but on playing music.
“It’s been more of a marathon than a sprint,” he says. “My key is that I’ve kept my curiosity going relentlessly. I wasn’t one of those kids who had a super-demanding piano teacher. I never felt very competitive. I was always going with the flow, being open to new experiences that would arise. I wasn’t the best at any one thing, but I did all of these different things. I’ve synthesized all those things into my particular musical voice.”
Now, at 31, Herrington lives by his calendar. He plays with bands Minos the Saint, Burris and Palmyra and has filled in for Denton Hatcher and Clay Parker, to name a few. He has a Google doc full of rehearsals and gigs.
Though Herrington has a musical education degree to fall back on, he knew coming out of college he wanted to take the chance of playing music full-time.
“Society told me it was a risk, but I basically figured, ‘Why not,’” he says. “I thought, ‘I’m young, and if I’m ever going to do it, now’s the time.’ I realized that I’m energized by performing. I could perform all day and not get tired of it.”
Update on Minos the Saint
Herrington’s main gig with Minos the Saint has become one of the staples of the Capital City’s live music scene, thanks to its folk/jazz/indie rock sounds. After an EP released in summer 2013, the band is currently in the demo phase then will go to work on recording a full-length album.
“We have more songs than what we need,” lead singer Peter Simon says.
Simon says the band is finding a way to fund it and will have a Kickstarter campaign for fans to donate to.
Fans can expect a fuller sound for the upcoming release, Simon says.
“There are a lot of musicians we’re working with,” he says. “We’ll have horn sections and string sections.”
The band will head to PreSonus’ studio space this month and work with engineer Justin Spence. facebook.com/minosthesaint
