Main man for the fabulous Atlas Strings was recently doing some phone interviews, I was fortunate enough to catch one & we spoke about life in the band, being a musician & eventually got around to the state of radio airplay in Australia & around the world.

I firstly asked Ben about the new single Black Water, which has received a bit of airplay around the country.

"The response to our music on Triple J has been really good. They picked up our track Miss Judas way back when it was only a single, then again when it was on the Dagger Stare album."

Talking about radio in general, we got onto the subject of the Triple J Unearthed project.

"That's been a reall great project & they've discovered a heap of bands. I reckon they've opened up the scene in those areas even without the winning bands. You know, the local bands will probably get more of a go in their local pub or venue, it's a really positive idea.

But at the same time, I'm a bit disappointed that Triple J haven't done the Unearthed thing around the Sydney region, because that's the area of Australia that has the highest population & the highest proportion of bands too, I hope they get a look in."

We got around to the topic of bands Atlas Strings have toured with, with some rather surprising insights into the touring thing.

"Well, we did some touring with a lot of great Australian acts like Dave Graney, who I really enjoyed touring with & Paul Kelly was good too. It largely depends on how much the band in question is into what they're doing."

I asked who he was referring to in regards to how much they were devoted to their music.

"Well, firstly, Jeff Buckley. He's just so far into what he's doing. he seems to forget about the fact he's in fron of a crowd. He was really good to tour with, he was interested in going to see a band every night, like it didn't matter what type of music or who the band was. He was even into going to say the Annandale Hotel & seeing who was on & getting right into the music, regardless of who was playing."

You may well ask what the other extreme is, I did.

"Funny you should ask that. I know I shouldn't be saying things about people, but Melissa Etheridge was like the other end of the scale to Jeff. It was all about being a big American star & that sort of thing. She just wasn't interested in going to see another band or anything like that, but I guess there's a lot of pressure put on people like her to just perform, so maybe it's just a bit much."

With touring out of the way, I wondered what Ben listened to as far as influencing music.

"Well, I've listened to s lot of music & I love playing, but the one thing I've never been able to do is play classical music. I hardly ever listen to commercial radio anymore, I might put on the classical station just to hear what I might be able to get out of it or even listen to some jazz. It takes a long time to appreciate jazz & I've got a lot of respect for classical & jazz artists."

Hearing that Ben didn't really get into commercial radio, I asked where he thought Australian radio should be heading & the vast number of cover bands in Australia.

"Commercial radio in Australia has a hell of a lot to answer for you know, Cold Chisel, John Farnham & bloody MAriah Carey coming out of their arses every hour or so doesn't give you much diversity does it? I think that's why there's so many cover bands in Australia. Cold Chisel's split, but for heaps of fans, they're still alive in a local pub every night.

Sorry, I'm getting a bit angry about this but radio content in this country should be bloody 70% Australian, noit the pathetic 20% or whatever it is now. I just can't ever see the day it's going to happen though. I think that's why stations like Triple J & of course all the community radio stations are so important, because that's where the groundswell support starts."

Catch Atlas Strings' new single Black Water out through Polydor.