CLAIRE WOODCOCK
Special to The Leader
When I first spoke with Ben Wusterland, the singer of Uncle Ben’s Remedy, I hadn’t meant to lead with it, but the first question that popped out of my mouth had to do with the band’s name.
“It wasn’t anything I ever used to call myself, and at first I was hesitant. I didn’t really want my name in the band, but then everyone liked it, so we went with it. At the time, I wasn’t even an uncle, and then my sister became pregnant, and I became an uncle.”
But there is no hesitation in Uncle Ben’s Remedy’s outlaw-country sound. Hailing from Versailles, N.Y., the band’s been tackling the local Western New York music scene with its original mix of country and hard rock for about two years now.
For a while, it has had some lively gigs at local area bars, but its regional break came over the summer, when the band opened up for Lake Street Dive during Thursday at the Canal.
Big things seem to be brewing for these guys. On September 29, the band came out with its first LP, “Yesterday’s Clothes.” Since its release, the album has been readily accessible on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music, Google Play, Rdio and will soon be available on iHeartRadio. When I spoke with Wusterland, he credited Justin Rose from GCR Recording in Buffalo with showing them how to promote their music digitally.
“I think it’s a more important thing now. I mean, CDs are nice and it’s hard to not have something to sell at your shows, and a lot of fans want the physical copy, but the reality of it is that people just download songs to their phones anyway,” said Wusterland.
Wusterland plays acoustic guitar and Harmony Griffin plays guitar, but the band also has Brendan O’Connor stationed on upright bass, Shawn Heustis on melodica and James Royce on drums. The band has only been together for about two years, but the history runs deeper than that.
“Harmony and I are cousins. We grew up right next door to each other. He was 12 and I was 15 when we started playing. Our drummer, James [Royce], who was our neighbor, used to hear us practice from down the street. He learned drums and we’ve been playing together ever since. Then we added a keyboard player from Panama, NY, because we wanted piano, then Brendan O’Connor, who was playing in our circles. It turned out he had a degree in upright bass from a college in Boston,” said Wusterland.
Wusterland, Griffin and Royce started off as hard rockers, wanting to make sure that people were jumping around and having a good time. But after a while, he says it became tiresome to focus solely on the loudness. Together, they realized that they also really enjoyed playing the acoustic music they would play around the campfire.
“So we kind of meshed the two — more of an acoustic, more of an Americana feel from our roots from where we grow up. So, we combined that with the electricity and excitement of a hard rock show. And we kind of just put the two together. So, it’s the same foot stomping stuff with a more country feel,” said Wusterland.
Inspired by the country feel they grew up with, the group drew inspiration from the old-style country of Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson along with more contemporary bands like The Devil Makes Three and Old Crow.
“We feel like it’s a good time to come into country music because what most people feel like is country music, we feel is not even remotely country music. I call it tander pop. You know, it’s just pop songs about pickup trucks and stuff. It just seems like a really exciting time to get away from that and use more traditional instruments,” said Wusterland.
And they really do employ more grounded instruments. Griffin, the guitar player, also plays the dobo, mandolin and banjo. Heustis, the pianist, also employs the use of an abundance of other instruments, including the accordion, autoharp, trumpet and feiss.
“We always laugh; people watch the shows to watch him, like, almost in a giant disaster trying to switch instruments in between songs. And we have strict rules for our drummer. He’s only allowed to have a kick, a snare and a high F symbol,” said Wusterland.
Uncle Ben’s Remedy isn’t quite sure what’ll happen next. The band members have jobs and obligations, so for now, Wusterland says that the experience is all about having a good time and making sure that others are having a good time, too.
“At this point, I have no real delusions of making a lot of money, so it’s more like I really enjoy writing songs, playing them and having people enjoy them. So if we stay around here and people have fun, I’m okay with that, and if we play Madison Square Garden, I’m okay with that, too.”
On Oct. 24, Uncle Ben’s Remedy will play at Valentine’s Place in downtown Fredonia with special guests, Two Bird Stone. The show starts at 10 p.m.