The Local City Soundtrack crew, consisting of myself and our photographer, Sunny Applegate, headed down to Will’s Pub on New Years Day for our first experience together into the local scene in Central FL, not knowing what to expect out of the resurrected “Will’s Pub”. I personally didn’t think there was any way to replace the first one. It was a legend in Orlando- open for 11 years and known nationally as a mecca for whatever the hell punk has turned into nowadays, the original “Will’s on Mills” had a decisive edge on bigger places like The Social, A.K.A. and a lot of the other venues in the Orange Avenue run. I’ll go more into the respectability of the replacement Will’s in a later article, though- just know that we think it’s freakin cool.
Sitting in the stageroom section and occupying one of only two tables in the place(really- there’s no purpose in having tables or chairs in this room), we waited for Ben Prestage to take the stage.
I was looking for a crew, maybe some friends to help him set everything up, but it never happened. It’s almost as if he didn’t want anyone to help with the particulars- drum and pedal placement, mic and cables- nothing. He seemed very particular and precise. He plays exactly like that, and having never seen him live before and only heard his music and videos on MySpace, we knew that he was a one-man band, but every one i’ve seen thus far has been mediocre at best, and cheesy as hell.
Prestage broke the mold of any one-man band I, or you’ve, EVER seen. I put my name on that. As quickly as he’s playing his makeshift cigarbox-body guitar that looks like it was slapped together with spare parts from a ‘71 Plymouth Satellite, he’s playing basslines from that same guitar, as well as bass drum, complete with sideways snare on a foot pedal. He kept time to near perfection on all three instruments seamlessly while finger-picking and harmonic-tweeking his way to the ears of a packed(when I say packed, I mean from bathroom to pool table sardine can proximity)crowd.
Most of the people there looked to be in their 20’s to 30’s, some dressed in all-black from head to toe, some sporting a natural fuzzy fro(which freaked both of us the hell out considering the dude was whiter than Einstein, and looked like him, too). Didn’t look like a crowd that would dig grassroots music, but they damn sure did. The applause just got louder and louder as the night went on.
There was lots of fiddling with equipment in between songs, and not a whole lot of interaction with the crowd other than announcing when a weed-loving song was about to be played(which worked…well), but he really didn’t need to speak to command respect or attention from the entire audience. One thing’s for sure- Ben Prestages’ original material absolutely destroys any and all Hank Williams song he could ever cover, and that’s what left the biggest impression on me. At 32, he plays and soulfully sings with the heart of a 50-year old, but seeing this guy live is the only way to go.
Make no mistake- you might truly be impressed by the many YouTube videos and MySpace songs you see and hear of him, but Seeing Ben Prestage live is a completely different experience that IS NOT to be missed. Unlike my counterpart photographer, Sunny(the best 21-year old eye i’ve ever worked with), i’ve been to hundreds of shows across the nation, and Prestage is one of the most impressive acts i’ve ever seen. Truly an artist that can bring fans of different genres into a room and amaze the daylights out of all in attendance.
-Xander