No Address Lead Singer Neither Here Nor There
Ben Lauren Thrives on Constant Need for Expression, Freedom
Sep 14, 2008
It’s midday for Lauren, hours after a show at The Music Farm, a whimsical Charlestown trendy spot. While the cell phone connection phases in and out, Lauren’s words and goals stream through clearly and well defined.
“When you’re trying to be taken seriously having songs as clout is by far the most important thing,” the engaging Lauren said. “Worry about being an artist. What you do is write songs to reach people.”
Relatively ripe in the scheme of signing with a major record label, Altantic Records brought No Address aboard just a year and half into the Tallahassee, Fla., based band’s existence. The band kept an East Coast itinerary, touring with 3 Doors Down and Staind, culminating in 2005 with the "Time Doesn't Notice Tour"
Lauren insisted fans see the same show twice.
“I’m not a jukebox,” Lauren said. “I’m addicted to the feeling that things could fall apart at any time. It’s a spontaneous overflow of emotion. Everything gets really crazy and comes back. I’m damn funny or damn cranky.”
A Natural Poet
What Lauren is, really, is a natural. At a time when most kids despise writing and expressing emotion, the young Lauren excelled at poetry.
“When I was a kid, they tried to make take learning disability classes because I refused to read and write,” he said, hinting slyly. “My mom threw a fit. And I remember they put me in these classes for like a semester or something. When I came out I was reading at a fourth grade level, and writing at a fifth grade level. The first thing that I wrote was a poem about a lion. I still have it.
“It’s almost like I was made like that.”
One of his first music memories, involved, of all genres and personas, Michael Jackson and his “Thriller” album.
“I was about five years old, my family was vacationing at Daytona Beach,” the natural storyteller continued. “A car goes blasting by with the music blaring, I followed that car over two miles dancing down the road.
A self-taught guitar player, he got his first guitar on a whim.
“My dad said ‘for your 16th birthday, I’d like to buy you a car,’” Lauren recalled in his charming voice. “He had $600, so it was going to be a beater. I told him, ‘Dad, can I be totally honest with you, I’d really rather have a guitar.’ He bought me an acoustic guitar. I still use to write songs.”
Freedom to Live
The constant need for expressiveness through words is matched with his incessant need for freedom, hence No Address’ reference to “neither here nor there.”
“There’s simpler, more obvious freedom,” he said. “Freedom from pain, freedom to be yourself. A lot of that is inner strength. We’re just going to be who we are.”
No Address has gone back and forth on keeping it all together, all the while Lauren's poems and need for creative outlet has thrived. His solo work continues to relive the Americana and generous riffs of his band, weaving delicate lyrics into aching raspy outcomes. Fittingly, his "I Can't Wait to See You Again" is a top-played single on his website.
