As new members of the CU community, The Number One Sons are bringing a style born in Chicago but can only be raised in their new town. Energetic and multi-dimensional, the group is excited about the warm welcome they have received thus far. Guitarist/vocalist Benjamin Spoden shared his gratitude with buzz.
buzz: How did The Number One Sons form?
Benjamin: Marty (Gray, drums) and I (Spoden, guitarist/vocals) have actually been playing together in bands in Chicago for the past eight years or so. I moved to Champaign for school and Marty was starting up an organic farm [down here] and with that we broke up our band in Chicago. Once we got to Champaign, we decided to start up a new project. I guess you could say that Marty and I are the core of the group. We have since added Steve Swiggart on guitar and Dan Brown on bass.
buzz: How would you describe your sound to someone who hasn’t heard your music before?
Benjamin: The easiest way to describe Number One Sons would be catchy-multi-genre. I know it sounds confusing, but we have songs that span anything from poppy to doo-wop and even a few with a country vibe. We tend to skip around the genres but at the simplest it is catchy pop.
buzz: What has your experience been with playing in the Champaign area?
Benjamin: Champaign-Urbana has been great to us. Coming from somewhere like Chicago where people may not know who you or go out of their way to get to know you and then playing with Shooter Jennings at the Canopy Club and getting local coverage has been amazing.
buzz: What are your future plans as far as touring and/or recording? Is there anything big coming up?
Benjamin: We aren’t really looking into long-terms touring plans at the moment. We recently released an album so as of right now we are just playing shows around town, trying to work on new material and save up money to eventually record again. Hopefully, we will be ready around the beginning of the next year to start the recording process.
buzz: Who would be your dream band to play with live?
Benjamin: Definitely Radiohead. That would be more than a dream.
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