Ben Folds Five was an American alternative rock trio formed in 1993 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina . The group comprised Ben Folds (lead vocals, piano), Robert Sledge ( bass guitar , backing vocals) and Darren Jessee (drums, backing vocals). The group achieved success in the alternative , indie and pop music scenes. Their single " Brick " from the second album, Whatever and Ever Amen (1997), gained airplay on many mainstream radio stations.
27-649: During their first seven years, the band released three studio records, a compilation of B-sides and outtakes, and eight singles. They also contributed to a number of soundtracks and compilations. Ben Folds Five disbanded in October 2000, but reunited in 2011, and released their fourth album, The Sound of the Life of the Mind , in 2012, before disbanding again in 2013. Ben Folds Five was formed in 1993 in Chapel Hill by Ben Folds. They were
54-577: A charity selected by the band. The fully mixed and mastered album version of "Do It Anyway" was released for digital download on August 6, 2012. In the two weeks leading up to the commercial release of the album, the band hosted full previews of each track via exclusive releases through various music media outlets, including Spin , Conan O'Brien 's TeamCoco.com, AOL 's Spinner.com, Fuse , Idolator , Rolling Stone , Paste , Yahoo! Music , and MSN 's Reverb music blog. The video to " Do It Anyway ", which premiered mid-September 2012, featured
81-487: A hiatus that ultimately became permanent. Folds resumed his solo career, releasing the yMusic collaboration So There in 2015 and continuing to tour extensively. Jessee, meanwhile, released a new album with Hotel Lights in 2016, entitled Get Your Hand in My Hand , before releasing two solo albums: 2018's The Jane, Room 217 and 2020's Remover . Caleb Southern – the producer of the band's first three albums and considered
108-587: A transcript of his voice mail message that is used in the album song "Your Most Valuable Possession", encoring with some of the songs from their first two albums . In 2011, Ben Folds Five reunited to record three tracks for Ben Folds' The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective . They made their first live appearance in four years as one of the headliners of the 2012 Mountain Jam festival. They made further appearances at that year's 2012 Bonnaroo and Summerfest festivals. The band's fourth studio album, The Sound of
135-468: A trio in spite of their name, and the primary motivation behind the name, apart from the band's well-known use of humor, was simple preference, according to Ben: "I think it sounds better than Ben Folds Three." Folds once described their music as "punk rock for sissies," a reaction to the angst prevalent in '90s rock. Their first radio single was "Underground" from their self-titled debut album , released in 1995 on Caroline Records. The band's biggest success
162-464: Is featured throughout the physical packaging of the album. The single for " Do It Anyway " was originally released with artwork by Luther Mosher until the full album was released. Afterwards the album art was attached to the single. It is still being used in some places for promotion. All tracks are written by Ben Folds except where noted The Sound of the Life of the Mind The Sound of
189-547: The Billboard 200 , which is Ben Folds' first top ten album on the chart, selling 30,000 copies. It sold 67,000 copies as of August 2015. In 2011, Ben Folds Five reunited to record three tracks for Ben Folds' The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective . Bolstered by the experience, the band reconvened in Folds' Nashville studio and recorded the bulk of the album over a six-week period between January and February 2012. Following
216-559: The "fourth member" of the band by Folds – died on July 6, 2023. The band briefly reunited for a concert in tribute to Southern on August 28, 2023, at the Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill, performing five songs. The Sound of the Life of the Mind The Sound of the Life of the Mind is the fourth and final studio album by Ben Folds Five , released on September 18, 2012. It is the group's first release since 1999's The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner . The album debuted at No. 10 on
243-527: The Life of the Mind is the fourth and final studio album by Ben Folds Five , released on September 18, 2012. It is the group's first release since 1999's The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner . The album debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 , which is Ben Folds' first top ten album on the chart, selling 30,000 copies. It sold 67,000 copies as of August 2015. In 2011, Ben Folds Five reunited to record three tracks for Ben Folds' The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective . Bolstered by
270-643: The Life of the Mind was released in September 2012, supported by the single Do It Anyway , with a video featuring Anna Kendrick , Rob Corddry , and the cast of Fraggle Rock . A tour of the US, the UK, Australia and Ireland followed across the remainder of 2012. In June 2013, the trio released their first live album, titled Live . During that year Ben Folds Five toured with the Barenaked Ladies and Guster , before entering
297-528: The Suburbs in 2001, followed by Songs for Silverman in 2005, Way to Normal in 2008, and Lonely Avenue in collaboration with novelist Nick Hornby in 2010. He produced and arranged actor William Shatner 's second album Has Been , co-writing the majority of the songs with Shatner. Folds also contributed songs to the soundtracks for the animated movies Hoodwinked! and Over the Hedge , as well as forming
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#1732876317040324-423: The album worldwide. A portion of the funds generated by the campaign, by the total album sales, and by purchases of other Ben Folds Five items through PledgeMusic will be donated to Music Education and Music Therapy, a charity selected by the band. The fully mixed and mastered album version of "Do It Anyway" was released for digital download on August 6, 2012. In the two weeks leading up to the commercial release of
351-439: The album's title track. The band considered using producer Caleb Southern , who had produced their first three albums, but he was unavailable. In his place, they turned to producer Joe Pisapia , a multi-instrumentalist and former member of the band Guster . Of the sessions together, Folds noted that they have enough material for at least two more records. An unmastered version of the album's first single, " Do It Anyway ",
378-561: The album, the band hosted full previews of each track via exclusive releases through various music media outlets, including Spin , Conan O'Brien 's TeamCoco.com, AOL 's Spinner.com, Fuse , Idolator , Rolling Stone , Paste , Yahoo! Music , and MSN 's Reverb music blog. The video to " Do It Anyway ", which premiered mid-September 2012, featured the puppets of Fraggle Rock , Chris Hardwick , Rob Corddry , and Anna Kendrick . The album cover features an exclusive piece entitled "Submerged" by artist Eric Joyner , noted for
405-432: The band Guster . Of the sessions together, Folds noted that they have enough material for at least two more records. An unmastered version of the album's first single, " Do It Anyway ", was released by Ben Folds on his official Facebook page on May 4, 2012, to kick off a grassroots effort to market and promote the album. Though Folds was signed to Sony Music Entertainment's Epic Records for his solo work and Jessee
432-453: The experience, the band reconvened in Folds' Nashville studio and recorded the bulk of the album over a six-week period between January and February 2012. Following the main tracking session, the band met for a separate two-week session to record main vocals and a final one-week session for background vocals in the week prior to their Bonnaroo Music Festival appearance in June 2012. All but two of
459-439: The focus on "robots and donuts" as the main subjects of his work. An adaptation of his 2007 work, "The Collator" , "Submerged" is a somber yet whimsical piece showcasing a toy robot sitting thoughtfully on a mossy undersea rock as fish swim about it. The image evokes Auguste Rodin 's The Thinker ( Le Penseur ) . More of Joyner's artwork is featured throughout the physical packaging of the album. The single for " Do It Anyway "
486-685: The group disbanded in 2005. He later became the bass player in the three-piece Chapel Hill band Surrender Human, with Matt McMichaels from the Mayflies USA . Ben Folds Five made a one-off concert appearance in September 2008 at the UNC Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill as part of the MySpace "Front to Back" series, in which artists play an entire album live. The band played its then-final album, The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner , and were briefly joined on stage by Ben's father, Dean Folds, who read
513-487: The group launched an interactive pre-sale campaign for the press and release of the album on PledgeMusic . The crowdfunding campaign reached 200% in its first week. The resulting initiative, ImaVeePee Records, partnered with Sony Music Entertainment to release the album worldwide. A portion of the funds generated by the campaign, by the total album sales, and by purchases of other Ben Folds Five items through PledgeMusic will be donated to Music Education and Music Therapy,
540-417: The main tracking session, the band met for a separate two-week session to record main vocals and a final one-week session for background vocals in the week prior to their Bonnaroo Music Festival appearance in June 2012. All but two of the songs on the album are written by Folds. Darren Jessee wrote the song "Sky High" and author Nick Hornby provided unused lyrics from his 2011 collaboration with Folds on
567-401: The one-off side project The Bens (with Ben Lee and Ben Kweller ) in 2003. Jessee formed the indie band Hotel Lights in 2004, with his songs featured in television and film. Jessee released three studio albums for Bar/None Records in this time – including Hotel Lights in 2006, Firecracker People in 2008, and Girl Graffiti in 2011. Sledge played with International Orange until
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#1732876317040594-535: The puppets of Fraggle Rock , Chris Hardwick , Rob Corddry , and Anna Kendrick . The album cover features an exclusive piece entitled "Submerged" by artist Eric Joyner , noted for the focus on "robots and donuts" as the main subjects of his work. An adaptation of his 2007 work, "The Collator" , "Submerged" is a somber yet whimsical piece showcasing a toy robot sitting thoughtfully on a mossy undersea rock as fish swim about it. The image evokes Auguste Rodin 's The Thinker ( Le Penseur ) . More of Joyner's artwork
621-425: The songs on the album are written by Folds. Darren Jessee wrote the song "Sky High" and author Nick Hornby provided unused lyrics from his 2011 collaboration with Folds on the album's title track. The band considered using producer Caleb Southern , who had produced their first three albums, but he was unavailable. In his place, they turned to producer Joe Pisapia , a multi-instrumentalist and former member of
648-470: Was a cover of Steely Dan 's "Barrytown" for the Me, Myself & Irene soundtrack. The band had begun work on a fourth studio album, but following the worldwide tour in support of The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner , the band "amicably" broke up in October 2000. Tracks from the sessions later emerged in solo projects. Folds went on to pursue a successful solo career, releasing his debut album Rockin'
675-423: Was released by Ben Folds on his official Facebook page on May 4, 2012, to kick off a grassroots effort to market and promote the album. Though Folds was signed to Sony Music Entertainment's Epic Records for his solo work and Jessee was signed to independent label Bar/None Records with his band Hotel Lights , the reformed Ben Folds Five was unsigned. With no label to distribute their new album, on May 7, 2012,
702-453: Was signed to independent label Bar/None Records with his band Hotel Lights , the reformed Ben Folds Five was unsigned. With no label to distribute their new album, on May 7, 2012, the group launched an interactive pre-sale campaign for the press and release of the album on PledgeMusic . The crowdfunding campaign reached 200% in its first week. The resulting initiative, ImaVeePee Records, partnered with Sony Music Entertainment to release
729-542: Was the single " Brick " from their second album, Whatever and Ever Amen , released in 1997. It was followed by the more somber and jazz-based 1999 album, The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner . The group contributed an outtake from the Reinhold Messner sessions, titled "Leather Jacket", to the 1999 benefit album, No Boundaries: A Benefit for the Kosovar Refugees . The band's final released recording
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